Amy Lisenbe/Nevada Appeal Mark Owens, left, a volunteer at the Nevada State Railroad Museum, operates a hand car as Corey Beaton, center, and his brother Collins ride along Sunday afternoon. The Beaton family visited the museum while passing through Nevada on their way from Massachusetts to California.
Maddox Berry sized up the giant red wheel on the legendary Engine No. 22 inside the Nevada Railroad Museum Sunday morning.
"It's big, real big - and goes fast," speculated the 3-year-old visiting with his father, Bobby, from Lancaster, Calif.
Maddox wasn't able to ride No. 22 Sunday, as the locomotive star of film and TV for Paramount Pictures for more than four decades will run only Independence Day weekend this year.
But young Maddox the train enthusiast had plenty of other historic trains to keep him occupied.
Whether it was Boxcar No. 1005, one of the oldest U.S. freight cars in existence, or a ride around the museum's tracks on its Tucson Cornelia & Gila Bend R.R. Motorcar No. 401, museum officials and volunteers literally cried "all aboard" this weekend as its busy spring/summer season kicks off.
"Well, this is it," said the museum's administrative assistant John Frink. "Starting right now, we get a lot of visitors, a lot of train enthusiasts - and even some curious (locals) who stop in and check out the trains for the first time.
"Summer is our season."
Last year, some 38,000 visitors came to check out the museum and catch a ride or two, Frink said. This year, he speculated even more may come with the soft dollar drawing tourists as well as the need for locals on a budget to find something interesting close to home.
"We draw all kinds," he said. "We just had a couple in from England last week. Germans are really interested in the old trains - so are the Japanese.
"Chinese folks are also coming in more regularly - they've got the income now too."
Indeed, visitors of all stripes were on hand Sunday. Swinging through the museum's gift shop while waiting to board the motorcar, was Fairhope, Ala., residents Ike and Pat McKelvain.
The couple came out west to visit Ike's boyhood friend and Carson resident Dick Farmer.
The railroad museum stop was the first of their week-long stay, said Ike, himself a retired train engineer.
"I put in 42 years on trains," he said, "but none like this. My company was the first to go all-diesel.
"Yep, I got on one of these old locomotives when I was a kid - and didn't like it. My dad (drove trains) for 49 years. A place like this, a nice, clean - wonderful museum, it's just great."
As the McKelvains spread southern charm throughout the gift shop, complimenting Frink on his museum's selection of memorabilia, the whistle blew on the motorcar.
"I guess they're calling for passengers," Frink said.
Though this weekend was a test run of sorts for the museum's moving attractions, next weekend, Mother's Day, will officially kick-off summer with the 139th anniversary celebration of the Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroads' completion of the transcontinental railroad.
"When they met at Promontory, the governors all tried to take a swing at the last spike, the Golden Spike," Frink said. "They all missed.
"We'll be reenacting that, in some capacity, on Saturday."
• Contact reporter Andrew Pridgen at apridgen@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1219.
At a glance
A sampling of upcoming events at the Nevada Railroad Museum:
Saturday, May 10 - a Mother's Day weekend celebration honoring the 139th anniversary of the completion of the first Transcontinental Railroad. Reenactments will take place between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Steam train rides will take place from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Summer schedule - The museum's motor car or steam train will run weekends through September. For a full schedule and museum hours visit www.nsrm-friends.org.