On June the 23rd (my birthday) I will be taking my family with grandaughter to this event at Strasburg Railroad PA. Its my first time. Anyone do this, and what did you think? I bought the combo tickets for a ride on both Thomas and a Strasburg loco.
Thanks!
Lucky people!!! Along with my grandsons, I am a Thomas fan myself…Sounds Great, enjoy the day…
BDT
i saw him in st louis but we did not ride him…heres a video you might find interesting…there are a ton on you tube if you just type in a day out with thomas…
To all the others!
Thanks for all the great replys!
[(-D] [(-D] [(-D] I was joking, peckerwood or whatever your name is.
I did this with my then two-year old son at the Great Smokey Mountain Railway in Dillsboro, NC some years ago. It was … okay. The “ride” was a 20 minute forward and back across the stream and in and out of the tunnel. Thomas himself is obviously phony, but the kids don’t know that. There is, of course, some mope dressed as Sir Topham Hatt (known more accurately as the Fat Controller or, for us non-socialist types, the Fat Director), and you can have your picture taken with him and “Thomas” for the low low price of $14.
All in all a gyp, but a nice gyp for young children. I was more excited by the stainless steel ACL coach car that was gently (but beautifully) rotting on one of the sidings.
I’ve also done this and plan to do it again at the Illinois Railway Museum with the soon-to-be-five year old. See http://www.irm.org/thomas/index.html
I go to ride the streetcars around the loop [;)]
Thomas ‘pulls’ a gigantic train out on the main then it backs up out again. That’s it. It’s a blast though.
We are expecting this to come to a local short line in October. We will bring the kids. regardless of what we think of it, if the kids have a good time, it is worth it. They put up with my “fun” often, so a little fun for them is priceless.
dennis
I’ve done this a few times with my daughter and with friends. The kids love it, but the ride, at least for us, wasnt really too long, and just went up and back about 3 miles. They usually have a lot of other activities too, ranging from clowns, to petting zoo, to other rides. My daughter got a temporary tattoo of Percy and was quite happy with that. Make sure you bring a ton of $$$ for the gift shop, or keep away from it as much as you can!
PJ
Have you seen there is a touring show called THOMAS LIVE?
Thomas Live will be in Grand Rapids, Michigan in the coming week.
Andrew
It is a great time!! It would have been better if it wasn’t 96 degrees!![xx(]
Check out the post a couple rows down about sesame place…Strasburg has ALOT of train related places and things to do. I would like to go back again!
Forum: TOY Trains…
Thomas: TOY Train (imaginary??)
Enjoyed a great day with Thomas at Tweetsie Railroad in the Blue Ridge Mtns of NC a couple of years ago. When you see the awe and fascination on a kid’s face at seeing Thomas and Sir Topham Hat, combined with a theme park, or other train related area, how can you go wrong? True, the souvenirs are a bit pricey, but they do have some things at the usual MSRP. Great fun!
Thomas, Annie and Clarabelle, Sir Topham Hat and a couple of conductors make regular runs on my layout - My grandson has named it the Island of Sodor, complete with Muffle Mountain!
Enjoy!
Lisa
I’ve done IRM for the last 3 years. It’s a good time for the kids. As an adult it gets old. Leave your wallet at home. They started bringing layouts last year which was nice. Do a morning run with thomas. as the day drags on, the crowd gets bigger.
The scenery is nice also.
I have done this a million times, i myself am aa thomas the tank engine fan, alot of people my age stull are. its amazing how they got an american engine to look so british! still, its great fun, the realt steam train are better though lol
One word of advice, GO EARLY. Strasburg becomes one big parking lot on Thomas days. That includes the roads in and out.
Tweetsie! There’s a blast from the past. I last rode on Tweetsie as an 8-year-old in 1975. I think my son would love that, come to think of it.
I love how at the IRM you walk through seemingly acres of tents full of Thomas stuff before getting to the trains - more power to them if it brings in revenue and visitors.
Thomas is a marketing juggernaut and one messes with him at one’s peril. [8D]
It cracks me up that George Carlin narrates those Thomas shows on PBS.
Thanks for all your advice!
Bella is excited for this Saturday…
thanks
Anyone going, stop by the Strasburg Train Shop, they have a great selection (mostly train cars)