Tag: Family Activities

Choo Choo Barn – Traintown, U.S.A., Strasburg, Pennsylvania

by jbcowgill, posted in Uncategorized

The railroad did not begin in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania, but the state has many great railroad sites.  The state is also famous for its railroad towns.  One of these towns is Strasburg, a suburb of Lancaster.  The Strasburg Railroad is the oldest continuously operating standard gauge railroad in the western hemisphere, and this railroad has been giving railroad excursions through the Amish countryside for many years, and it is one of the most popular train rides in the entire world.  As many enjoy the Strasburg Railroad, it overshadows another great attraction that is just one thousand feet away.

Welcome to the Choo Choo Barn.  What is the Choo Choo Barn?

Some of you are saying, “Well, duh!  It is a barn, but instead of housing farm animals, it houses choo choo’s.”

Well, you are partially right.  It does not house full sized choo choo’s like the ones you see at the nearby Strasburg Railroad and Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania, but it is the home of a model train display.

Some of you are saying, “Yeah!  I know.  It is one of those model train displays where a model train goes around and around and around a small circle.  It is just another boring model train display.”

If you enjoy boring model train displays, then you will be very disappointed when you visit the Choo Choo Barn.  How great is the Choo Choo Barn?

You may have heard of Northlandz in the town of Flemington in the U.S. state of New Jersey, home of the largest model train display in the world, and you can still visit Northlandz today.  Then you have places like Roadside America in Shartlesville, Pennsylvania and EnterTrainment Junction in the West Chester Township, a suburb of Cincinnati in the U.S. state of Ohio, two other large model train displays that are sadly defunct.  All three of these train displays was the dream of one man.

How does the Choo Choo Barn compare?  It began as a dad giving a gift to his son.  It began in a basement of a house.  Like many great train displays, it outgrew the basement.  It was then relocated to an old maintenance barn, and the Choo Choo Barn came to be as it was opened to the public for millions to enjoy, and it remained under family ownership until 2023 by a man named Gary Russell.

As you enter the room, you see the 1,700 square foot model train display before you.  You see a big village with handmade structures.  No kits were used in this display.  You are mesmerized by the many trains as they go around and around and around.  You see a construction crew doing road construction.  You can take a peek at the zoo.  You can go to the circus  You can gaze at the waterfalls.  Yes, it is real water going over the falls.  As you tour the display, you might want to take in a baseball game.

Through the years, the Choo Choo Barn grew from being a model train display to a gift shop to a small shopping center with model train stores.  It went from being the Choo Choo Barn to Choo Choo Barn: Traintown, U.S.A.  They also have the Choo Choo Barn Foundation which is a non-profit foundation which acquired the Rocky Springs Carousel.  They do have future plans of moving to a new location in the Strasburg area and expanding their attraction while trying to attract younger people to the joys of model railroading.

The Choo Choo Barn: Traintown, U.S.A. is located at 226 Gap Road (Pennsylvania Route 741) in Strasburg, Pennsylvania just a short distance from the Strasburg Railroad and the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania.  It is open every day (closed on certain holidays) from 10:00am to 5:00pm.  It is suggested that you give yourself an hour to visit the model train display.  It is all on one level making it easy for those in wheelchairs.  Parking is on site.  You can get information on admission and read more into the history of Choo Choo Barn at https://choochoobarn.com/.

The next time you are in Strasburg, Pennsylvania, ride the Strasburg Railroad.  Tour the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania.  See the great model train display at the Choo Choo Barn.  Oh, they do have animals.  You will see the animals along with the many model trains.

Wildlife Prairie Park, Hanna City, Illinois

by jbcowgill, posted in Uncategorized

The U.S. state of Illinois is commonly called ‘The Land of Lincoln’ became it was this state where Abraham Lincoln’s rise to fame took place.  The state is also famous for the city of Chicago, but it is also a state with much farmland and open space.  West of the city of Peoria is an open space where you can watch animals roam free.  Well, there are in enclosed spaces, but they are not stuck in a case.  The Wildlife Prairie Park is a place where you can feel like you are on an open plain, but you really are in a wildlife park.  You can ride a hay ride with benches known as Adventure Trek where you can ride through the bison and elk pasture.  If that is not enough, you can even spend the night here.  Ladies and gentlemen, they do not call this place a jewel of the North American Midwest for nothing.  When you visit here, you will truly see how the park gets that name.  If you enjoy seeing wildlife in large and natural habitats, you will enjoy a day, and a night, at Wildlife Prairie Park.

Some of you are saying, “Wow!  This place sounds like it is a jewel.  I love animals, and I enjoy seeing them at the zoo.  There is a big problem.  As you can see.  This is a wildlife park.  This park is about wildlife.  This is not a railroad park.  Therefore, I will not be paying a visit to this place.”

Well, Wildlife Prairie Park is a park that specializes in wildlife and not trains.  Why visit this place?  Yes, it is a jewel of a park and a place worth your time.  As you enter the park, you will see why you want to visit.

As soon as you pay your admission, the very first thing that you will see is a railroad crossing.

Some of you are saying, “I have been to many places where you have to cross train tracks to get to the attraction.  Many railroads run alongside of parks and historic sites.”

This is true, but if you are fortunate enough, you may be stopped by a train, it is not an ordinary train.  The train is the Prairie Zephyr.  You have read correctly.  This is the Prairie Zephyr, and the train station is to your right.  Well, one of the stations is to your right.  There are three stops on this line.  What are you going to do?  Well, of course, you are going to ride the train.

You enter the station, and you board the train.  The train leaves the station.  You pass by trees and see animals along the way, and then you stop at the Pioneer Homestead.  From here, you return on the same track, and you arrive back at the station.  It is the end of the ride, but it is not.  Remember.  There are three stops, and you only have been to two of them.  The passengers board and deboard, and the train continues on.  You pass by the train yard and pass through a tunnel.  You pass by more animals, and you arrive at a playground, and you have an opportunity to go down a big slide known as the Gollywhopper Slide.  After a short stop, you return to the station, and you get off the train.  By the way, your train ticket allows you to ride the train all day long.

Some of you are saying, “Well, that is it.  No more trains at the wildlife park.”

Ladies and gentlemen, you are wrong.  While at the main train station, you can visit the railroad museum.  Yes, there is a railroad museum here.  The museum has a collection of toy trains.  How often do you get to visit a wildlife park that is about wildlife that has a railroad museum?

Some of you are saying, “Well, you have a point.  I do not know of any wildlife park or zoo that has a railroad museum.  Anyway, I guess that is all of the railroads that we will see at this park.”

Not exactly.

As mentioned.  You can spend a night, or many nights, at this park.  Yes.  There are other wildlife parks that allow you to spend a night there, but how many wildlife parks let you spend a night… in a caboose.  Yes.  You have the option to spend a night in a Santa Fe Railroad Caboose.

If you think that you do not have a reason to visit Wildlife Prairie Park, you now have many.  Along with the train, the railroad museum, and the cabooses, you have a variety of wildlife you see.  There is also laser tag, hiking and biking trails, fishing, disc golf, kayaking, and events throughout the year.

Wildlife Prairie Park is located at 3826 N. Taylor Road in Hanna City, Illinois south of Illinois Route 8, Interstate 74, and U.S. Route 150.  Although the park is open year-round (open 361 days and closed only four days of the year) from 9:00am to 4:30pm (9:00am to 6:30pm from Memorial Day to Labor Day), the Prairie Zephyr runs only at certain times of the year.  Although much of the park is wheelchair accessible to include the Prairie Zephyr, there are some steep paths.  You can information about admission, lodging, activities, the history of the park, to look at the map of the park, and read more into their conservation efforts at https://wildlifeprairiepark.org/.

Wildlife Prairie Park in Hanna City, Illinois is a great place to visit.  When you visit, you will see why.  You will see why they call this place a jewel.

A special thanks to Cody Miyler, Lelonie Luft, and Calli Dicks of Wildlife Prairie Park for the pictures of the recently painted cabooses.