When Alex was nearly two years old, my wife and I thought it was about time for him to get a good look at a real train. Like other children of his age he was a big fan of Thomas the Tank Engine specifically and of his train toys in general. The Hocking Valley Scenic Railway is an easy roadtrip from our home in Bexley and provided just the opportunity we needed.

Our friends Lynn and Suzy agreed to be our спутники (sputniki, traveling companions) for the day, even offering to drive. On a lovely day—October in Ohio is full of them—we set off, heading southeast down U.S. route 33.

We opted to eat our picnic lunch down near Old Man's Cave, one of several state parks well worth a visit. A bit further down the road was the Nelsonville Depot, the station from which we would be able to board the train we wanted.

The day turned out to be unseasonably warm which was not at all a problem. Until that is, we hit upon the only disappointment of the day: the coach that we were able to take turned out to be a 1960s era car operated by the Metra in Chicago. I had just recently been in Chicago and took such a car to visit my grandmother in Aurora from where I was staying downtown. The real problem was that it had very little in the way of ventilation, and consequently it was absurdly hot.

Despite the heat, we enjoyed our trip immensely, able to talk with one another and to have a good view of the beautiful fall countryside. The train stopped at Robbins Crossing. We disembarked and walked through the small village. Its log cabins are the real deal. I had a seat—all of that sitting in the car and then again on the train really wore me out—and speculated about what the settlers who built those cabins in the middle of the nineteenth century would think about their homes and village being a tourist destination in the twenty-first century. Certainly very few were dressed for a proper visit.

We returned to the train and were taken back to the depot, from which we found our car and went into Lancaster. Dinner at Shaw’s was quite nice, an excellent way to end the day. After dinner the remainder of our drive in the car was enough to put Alex to sleep.

It was a day well spent.