This weekend the family made our 2nd Annual Spring Tweetsie Trek. We visited on Friday afternoon, then back all day on Saturday. The weather was pretty Amazing and all of us had a great time! The kids were great (as usual, really! I have some great kids). My mom and some in-laws joined us for the weekend. We had a Blast! While shooting the breeze with the Fireman (Scott, 11 years: full time at Tweetsie) he asked if I’d ever had a “cab ride”-nope…well, “you want one?” uhhhhhhhhhhhh, Yeah! Looked around, kids ok, and looked after…and I jumped on! Scott introduced me to Tim, who was the Engineer (also Lead Engineer for Tweetsie 13ys on clock), and allowed me to sit on the Fireman’s bench…a little small talk and a few min later,off we go. WOW… for those of you who have ridden in am Engines cab, I will spare you…but for those who haven’t…you need to! I was amazed at the work involved! It was the highlight of my weekend, and everyone knew it…I got home and reserved my room for the Railfan Weekend in Sept…
here is a link to my Webshots account that has about 60+ pics of the train for anyone interested… http://rides.webshots.com/album/559121195EECUHt?vhost=rides Cale Seems Tim likes the original #12 engine the best…(she had blown an oil line a few days earlier) and Scott’s pick is #190…Scott is the Assistant Engineer for Tweetsie…The two guys are full time employees at the Park and work in the shops when not running trains. They are full aware that they have landed some of the coolest jobs on the planet…Both men very humble and generous…answered all my questions and worked hard to explain and make sure I knew what and why… They said #12 is a much better puller on the grades…guess it really was a Mountain Loco…and the Queen pulls better on flats…#12 celebrates her 90th birthday this year! Thomas will visit Tweetsie in a few weeks and #190 will Push him around the mountain…he is a ‘dummy’ loco…they believe that there is a NG Thomas in the works? Tweetsie celebrates it’s 50th Birthday on July 4th this year…they recently signed a 4 year extension on their land lease…not sure what will happen in '11?
