Sunday Ride on Union Pacific Passenger Train

Living in a railroad town, there are perks every now and again...one of them presented itself today. Union Pacific Railroad was promoting their Operation Lifesaver, which strives to educate people/motorists on how to remain safe when driving in their cars, crossing crossing areas, etc. As an endeavor to get folks to listen to their educational promotion, they brought in a passenger train, and offered free rides to people this weekend. A ticket was needed in advance to reserve seats, but the tickets were free. We got some "VIP" tickets at the radio station, so Bruce, Allison and Bruce's mom and dad, and myself went tonight on the 5:00 excursion. In all, I think there were three or four daily rides on both Saturday and Sunday, and the train ran anywhere from 140 to 200+ passengers. Miss Allison while waiting in line to board the train.

We were EXTREMELY fortunate to be able to ride in the one and only dome car on the train. It was very cool. We were up high, and the windows were large and the scenery was very visible. It was WAY COOL!

Barely visible from the tracks, just to the north of the starting point of the train excursion, our house is peeking through the trees, thanks to no leaves yet. Here is a smidge zoomed in picture of our house. It was pretty cool to see it from this angle.

Not a great picture obviously, but I wanted to get a picture of one of the many trains that went past us while we were on our trip.

Here is a view inside the dome car. The lady in the front is a volunteer with Operation Lifesaver, who gave the program presentation, and answered any questions.

The excursion was a 25-mile trip to Steele City, Nebraska, where we switched, and went backwards back to Marysville (there was an engine on both ends of the train). The picture below is just of the scenery just to the south of Steele City, again just to get a feel. We were able to see deer and turkeys, as well as the Big Blue River and the Little Blue.

Bruce's dad and mom along with Allison on the trip.

We even got a mini family photo ahead of time, Bruce, Lesa, and Allison.

And a sideways picture of Allison and her daddy ahead of time, before we got on the train. Allison was really looking forward to this trip, and she commented afterwards that she had a really good time.

This is a sweet photo. Allison did VERY well on the trip, very patient. The trip was about 30-45 minutes each way. On the way home, however, she was getting tired. She got out her Leapster and laid on the floor at our feet, on the jackets, and played her game for a little bit...a little quiet time.