Thomas. {365 - Day 267}

All week, Sarah Beth has been anticipating going to see Thomas the Train at the NC Transportation Museum.  Today was the day.  We got there early (we thought) but were met with long lines to get tickets and lines for your photo op with Thomas and lines to get on the train.  I guess Thomas is more popular than I thought. 



Day 267 {Canon 5D Mark III + photoshop}

Waiting in line, above.  Sarah Beth with the main attraction below.

I don't quite get the whole Thomas thing, frankly.  The faces on the trains are kind of creepy in my opinion, and the constant worry about being a "useful engine" sends a weird message.  Like if you're not useful you'll be sent to the scrapyard?  Anyway, I must be in the minority because the preschool set was out in full force, parents in tow, paying an exorbitant amount of money to ride the train powered by a full size Thomas the Tank Engine.

Here we are, all aboard the train.  The train cars themselves were very cool.  They blew the whistle and had music playing and the conductor walked through to greet everyone.  Sarah Beth was mildly impressed.  When asked what she thought of the train ride.  She said it was "good."  

What did impress us was the museum itself.  The place is enormous. The site was once Southern Railway Company's largest steam locomotive servicing facility. J.P. Morgan, Southern's owner, chose the site because of its location midway between the railroad's terminal points of Washington, D.C., and Atlanta, Ga.  When steam locomotives were rendered obsolete, it was  used it as a freight yard until it was donated to the state in the 70's.

The buildings themselves are beautiful, and they are stocked with antique cars, wagons, a plane or two and of course lots of trains.

I always said driving Kurt's Honda Element felt like driving a milk truck and now I have proof.  This milk truck looks nearly identical.

This is the roundhouse where the trains "live."  We got to ride on the turntable (where the track is in the foreground)  that slowly spins to bring trains in out out of the roundhouse.

We were really blown away by the coolness of the museum and grounds.  It would be an amazing place for a photo shoot.  We'd love to go back on a weekday when the Thomas fanatics aren't around and explore some more for ourselves. 

After our adventure, Sarah Beth fell asleep in the car, and stayed asleep when we brought her in the house.  So we ended up taking a nap too.  We all woke up groggy at 6PM. After scrounging up dinner, we went to Whole Foods for some gelato and shopping, since we knew Sarah Beth would be up all night anyway.  True to form, she stayed up 'til midnight watching Cars with Kurt.  I hope she decides to sleep in a little tomorrow.  Thomas wore me out!