Homeschool Adventures Osceola and St Croix Valley Railway Train Trip

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When:

Saturday, May 22, 2010 - 10:30am - 12:30pm

Where:

Who: This is for the entire family! Bring along grandma and grandpa, too, and don't forget your aunts, uncles and cousins!
for the entire family

How much:
Cost for Adult/s: $7.00
Cost for Child/ren: $7.00
Cost for Babe/s-In-Arms: $0.00

Please register by: Thursday, May 13, 2010 (All day)

Description

Registration for this field trip is now closed. If you wish to join us, you may purchase tickets directly from the Minnesota Transportation Museum at www.trainride.org. Regular fare is $17/adult and $8/child. Thank you. 

Travel though the beautiful St. Croix River Valley in vintage railway equipment -- children are allowed and encouraged to explore the cars which usually includes a variety of coaches, a box car or two (with grates over the open doors), a mail car, and a caboose. Volunteer crew members are always happy to meet passengers and answer questions.

We are scheduled for the 11am Regular Schedule to Marine on St. Croix, MN (90-minute round trip). We may be boarded onto reserved coaches, but we will still have the run of the whole train once we are underway. Round trip train ride is 90 minutes in length. Ninety minutes may sound long, but the train trip is always done before we know it. It is one of my family's favorite things to do.

Ticket price is $7/person regardless of age although babes in arms are free. If your child is old enough to know that s/he's on a train and to appreciate being there, you should pay the $7. 

This is not a sit in the seat and watch the scenery go by ride (although you may do that if you want). Families may be up, moving and exploring the entire length of the train. You'll want to travel from one end of the train and back again as each car is likely to be quite different from the next. (Personally, I do not recommend investing a lot of effort into selecting your seats as you will spend very little time sitting in them. Put your picnic lunch and other belongings in the rack above, so as not to be burdened with them, and explore!) 

Exactly which cars will be part of the train is hard to predict as it will depend on what's in the shop for repair, refurbishment, or restoration and how many other trains are running at the same time as ours. You can find a list of available cars at <http://www.mtmuseum.org/jsr/roster/>. Click on the car name for its history and technical specifications.

You can expect to see: 

• a variety of different dining cars (NOTE: So that other families may enjoy the experience of dining-car dining, I suggest that families clear their table in the dining cars when they have finished eating and move to coach seating. Food is permitted in the coach cars as well if you are unable to find an empty table in the dining car.)
• a variety of different coach cars from different eras. Our son loves to try out each one. Look for the Great Northern 1213 Streamlined Coach, a 60-seat coach designed for short-distance passengers with two restrooms/lounges and a small office for the conductor, this is one of the nicest streamlined cars in the museum's collection. There's also four additional Great Northern Streamlined Coaches, two Rock Island commuter coaches, and way too many more to list here.
• the windy open baggage doors of the Great Northern 265 Streamlined Baggage/Express Storage-Mail Car (parental anxiety note: there are grates over the open doors, so your children won't fall out, but crew members will ask your children to not climb on or rattle the grates). This is also where you'll find the concessions stand (snack food and trinkets)
• the Northern Pacific 1102 Heavyweight Triple Combine - my favorite and a very typical branch line car from between the world wars which includes coach seating, a baggage compartment, and a small railway post office which has been restored to look like it did in operation and is used for mail-catch demonstrations at 1:00 PM following our train trip -- I strongly encourage you to stick around and watch the mail catch from the side of the track
• viewing platform at the back (or the front) of the Great Northern A-11 Streamlined Business Car (children may be allowed to sound the horn with the assistance of the conductor or other crew member)
• a variety of tiny bathrooms!
• nesting raptors on the bridge
• meet all the crew -- conductor, trainman, brakeman, fireman, and even the engineer.
• the connections between cars (these are old cars, you can see the plates moving, and you can stand at the doors (half-doors; top open, bottom closed) and feel the breeze
• The train turns around after 45 minutes; you may be able to watch the uncoupling and coupling of the engine as it is moved from old front to new front, however there is a very limited viewing area. If you wish your child/ren to see this, I recommend that you get to one end of the train early. (Please help your child/ren ensure that as many children as possible can witness this exciting part of the trip.)
• the engine can be toured after the train trip, and can usually be seen from the first car of the train during the ride

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Payment information

Payment must be received by: Thu, May 13, 2010 (All day)

If you register ON OR AFTER TUESDAY, MAY 11, please choose "PAY VIA PAYPAL" to ensure the organizer receives payment by the payment deadline. IMMEDIATELY AFTER YOU REGISTER, YOU WILL BE SENT AN EMAIL CONFIRMATION AND PAYMENT INSTRUCTIONS from "admin at homeschoolrecess dot com". Make sure your email filters recognize this address as a legitimate sender. If you don't receive this email within an hour or two of registering, please check your spam, junk or bulk mail folder. Contact the organizer if you are unable to find it; if you receive no response to your email, please call the organizer. Please FORWARD YOUR PAYMENT INSTRUCTIONS to the organizer to confirm your registration. You are not officially registered until you forward the message. If the organizer doesn't hear from you within 48 hours, your family may be removed from the registration list. This protects the organizer from non-payment due to payment instructions blocked by overly aggressive spam protection. PLEASE MAKE YOUR PAYMENT PROMPTLY. When the organizer receives your payment, you will be emailed a payment confirmation. If the payment deadline is approaching, and you've mailed your check but haven't received a payment confirmation, contact the organizer. If the organizer doesn't receive payment by the payment deadline, your family may be removed from the registration list.

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Cancellation information

Cancellation deadline: Thu, May 13, 2010 (All day)

Please do not register for this event unless you're able to make a personal commitment to attend barring illness or other unexpected emergency. If your circumstances change and you find that are unable to attend, please let the organizer know as soon as possible via email. No refunds will be issued after the cancellation deadline. If you must cancel for any reason after the cancellation deadline, you will be responsible for finding someone to take your family's reserved places and for letting the organizer know about the substitution. Reimbursements will be handled privately between you and your substitute. If you find that you are unable to attend on the day of the event, please let the organizer know as soon as possible by email or phone. Please also attempt to find a last-minute substitute for your family. It is not acceptable to just not show up. 

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Additional information

Please arrive by:

Please plan to arrive no later than 10:30am in order to have plenty of time to find parking, check in with the organizer, visit the bathrooms and otherwise prepare for our train to leave promptly at 11am. Boarding will begin at about 10:45am. Please plan to be early to avoid being late due to inadequate maps, confusing road signs, road construction, heavy traffic, parking difficulties, inclement weather or uncooperative children. There's stuff to do and see, wonderful people to meet, and beautiful weather to enjoy (at least, I'm hoping for beautiful weather). If you arrive later than 10:45am, you may retrieve your tickets from the ticket office inside the Depot (unless you see me still by the tracks handing out tickets to other late arrivals). If the train has left the station, you will be out of luck. If you find that despite your best efforts, you are running unavoidably late, please let the me know! You may reach me by phone or email on the day of the event.

Where to meet:

As soon as you arrive, please retrieve your tickets from the organizer who will be standing by the tracks wearing a bright yellow hat and a Homeschool Adventures button. (If it is raining or otherwise foul, I may choose to stand inside the Depot in the lobby area ... not in the gift store.) Expect a conductor to pass through the train punching tickets! 

Food policy:

You may bring a picnic lunch to enjoy on the train. I do recommend that you bring something to eat. You might not think your child/ren will get hungry during a 90-minute ride, but eating on the train is part of the experience, and your child/ren will want to join the other children enjoying a meal. There are also a variety of junk-food snacks for sale in the Streamlined Baggage/Express Storage-Mail Car along with the usual gift shop trinkets. 

Alternate plans:

This Homeschool Adventure will not be cancelled due to weather. Please plan accordingly and dress appropriately.

Parking information:

Free parking. There are a few spots right by the Depot, and many more down the hill (a half-block walk).

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