Ridin' the rails!

Altair and I took Skyler on the UTA Frontrunner commuter train to Ogden yesterday.  Skyler had quite possibly the best day of his life seeing and riding the trains!  We even went to the Utah Railroad Museum at the Historic Ogden Depot.  We even at at the Union Grill in the station.  We knew he was getting tired on the way back but he refused to sleep on the train for fear he would miss something.  He would call out "cow" or "neigh" when he would see the livestock outside.  He would call out "toot toot" when he saw another train or even train cars parked on a siding.  He was so tired, that when we got to the station in Salt Lake and made it to the car, he fell asleep STANDING UP while I took off his jacket.  Poor little guy!  I had a great time with Altair and Skyler and it was nice to have a day of fun instead of our usual weekend routine. 

Our train.  The cars are built by Bombardier out of Canada.  Double decker too.

"Better have a juice before we depart".

Chugging along at 79mph, why not play with a JD dumptruck toy?

We were going faster than the cars on I-15!

Passing another train in Farmington. 

Skyler really wanted to open the display case housing the UP Big Boy model in the museum.  I did too.

Skyler took Altair's menu and started pointing to the different items.  He had an order of steamed veggies.  I had quite possibly the best beer battered fish and chips ever, and Altair had the chicken tacos on pita.  I highly recommend the Union Grill!

Standing next to UP's 833 steam locomotive's 80 inch drivers.  This is the sister locomotive to the mighty UP 844 we chased all over this summer.  Unfortunately, the 833 isn't in operating condition and most likely won't ever be.  This locomotive used to be in Salt Lake's Pioneer Park until 1999 when it was moved to the train museum in Ogden.

"Thanks for the greatest day of my life Mom and Dad!"  He was sooo tired!

Last night, Altair and Skyler made ornaments for our mini Christmas tree that we'll probably end up buying today.  The tree will have to be small and on the counter so he doesn't destroy it.  I even have a JD H.O. scale train to put around the base.  Stay tuned.

 The Frontrunner is overall a real nice experience but it's desperately in need of some ballast adjustment to the roadbed.  There are some spots that we hit at 79 mph (GPS checked on the magic iPhone) it felt like the cars were going into a harmonic sway and we might tip over!  The locomotives are Motive Power built out of Boise, Idaho and are 3,500 horsepower and weigh 389,000 pounds.  The train flat out hauls ass!  Top speed (checked with the magic iPhone) was 83 miles per hour!  It feels like you're going 40.  We may go check out the new Provo line on December 8th when it's free to ride with a donated can of food.  I think Grandpa would like it too.  :)