Have you or someon you know been here?

[pEtAl mIsFiT]

Our 22 month old son is really loving trains now. He loves to watch Thomas the Train on tv. We are planning to take him to Calera, Al in March. Calera is right outside of B'ham. They have all kinds of train rides and ecvents. Thomas is on tour and will be in Calera the last weekend of March and the first weekend of April.
My sister did the Polar Express in December and said it was awesome. I am sure we will do that this year.
But I was just wondering if anyone knew of anybody or has went there and done any of the train rides?

Here is a link to the place....

http://www.hodrrm.org/

[carsalesguy]

we did the mcswain museum in downtown b-ham when mom had her transplant......

absolutely the best darn time i have ever had.......

maybe SoMissTV can tell you more

[SoMissTV]

You're thinking the McWane Center. It's a hands-on childrens' learning museum. Very cool place. I used to live in Alabaster, which is ten miles from Calera, and my wife taught at the high school in Calera. Small town, but growing quickly. I haven't been to the museum there, though. It must be pretty small or I would have seen it.

[pEtAl mIsFiT]

Is that the same thing as the heart of dixie railroad?

[SoMissTV]

Is that the same thing as the heart of dixie railroad?

That's the place in Calera.

[SoMissTV]

If you do intend on going to Calera, let me know. I'll give you a shortcut that will keep you out of Birmingham.

[carsalesguy]

i'd get a bunch of videos and a train. i don't know about the whole traveling 3 hours to see something that a 22 month old is probably going to forget.

i hate to say it, but i was 13 when i went to spain last, and i have forgotten a lot of it.

my daughter loves to play with her trains it's not funny. i think i did good spending it on that then taking her 3 hours to see something once

my opinion tho.....

[pEtAl mIsFiT]

SoMiss,

We are planning on going March 24. I would love a shortcut. Thanks for offering the directions.

[Conveyor Belt]

We went to day out with Thomas in Nashville a few years back.

Honestly, if you kid loves trains, not just Thomas, there are better places to go that are less crowded.

DOWT might be great in England where they have more than just Thomas, but in America, it's just a plywood shell over some wheels. Thomas isn't even an engine at the event.

Here's what happens: You get your ticket for whatever the time, and you go to the event. At the event, they have a HUGE layout of the blue plastic thomas set. I mean, it's enough to fill your home. All the battery powered trains are going around, stopped by little hands here and there on the track. There are a couple of playtables set up, but, again, there's going to be at least 200 2-5 year olds at any time, so you can just imagine the scene. They have those blow up things, like slides and jumps, but those cost money to play on. You can get your picture taken with Thomas(the plywood mock engine), but that costs money too. They setup a shop full of Thomas stuff, some of it you can't buy in stores, and then they have t-shirts.

When it gets your time to ride 'Thomas', you get on some musty old car the local clubs have for trips or something. There's a diesel engine at the back of the cars pushing them. Thomas is at the front. The diesel pushes you about 1 mile down the track, then pulls you back. That's it. Wa-hoo!

We were kinda disappointed. ND wasn't that impressed either. They have a little bit of steam rigged to come out of Thomas, and he blows a whistle., but that's pretty much it.

If your kid likes all trains, you're money would go farther, and you'd enjoy yourself more if you did a trip on amtrack. Go to the website, and plug it in. It's really less expensive than going to DOWT. I've devised 3 different Amtrack trips.

1) Hattiesburg to Laurel. you can have someone meet you in laurel to bring you back home. 30 min trip.
2) Hattiesburg to meridian. 4 hour layover from the time the hattiesburg train gets to meridian to the time the meridian train leaves for Hattiesburg.
3) hattiesburg to Tuscaloosa. 1 hour layover. IMO, this is cutting it a BIT too close, cause we know how reliable those trains are. However, it's 8 hours on a train, and you can't beat that for shear fun.

Our son is going to be 5, and we're going to Chatanooga for his birthday. Lots of trains, lots of STEAM engines, a hotel where you can stay in a train car vs. a room. Incline railroad, etc. We're going to have fun with that one.

[pEtAl mIsFiT]

thanks yall for taking the time and responding. I am now torn on what to do. I might just do the amtrak thing and see how that goes.

[justme]

A bunch of the day cares around here do that train trip to Laurel. I think the pre k at sacred heart is going today. I wish my son's class would have done that last year he would have loved it!

[SoMissTV]

Careful with Amtrack. The outbound (north) leg is generally on time, because it starts in New Orleans. The inbound (south) leg is coming from New York, and I've seen it run as much as 10 hours late.

[Elle May]

My granddaughter did a trip with First Baptist last year and she had a blast.