National Train Day Approaches

National Train Day was started by Amtrak around 2009 and discontinued in 2016.  There used to be large exhibits in Phil, Wash and Chicago but they are all gone. All that remains are a few small local events sponsored by the cities and towns.

From wiki:

In 2015, it was announced that the community program called National Train Day would be replaced by a company sponsored event called Amtrak Train Days. The format changed from multiple events on a single day in many cities to individual events over the course of the spring, summer and fall.

So the last National Train Day was in 2014.  Since then it's been Amtrak Train Days, but sadly it's mostly history itself as well due to budget cuts.

Hebanator posted:

As I'm sure most of you guys probably know, national train day is this coming Saturday.

It's actually also my wife's birthday, so no, I had no clue.

In years past, Portland, Oregon had a nice display at the main depot downtown. I drove down to it a couple of time but parking was always a pain. Usually, either SP 4449 or SP&S 700 would show up. A constant parade of freight and passenger traffic through the depot would keep everyone interested and plenty of railroad-related groups had booths and displays inside the waiting room.

I can’t remember the year but it was probably 2013, a group of modelers from Olympia bought out a bunch of seats on the Southbound Cascade that day and arranged for tours of local layouts and hobby shops. I got on at Centralia with a pal of mine and we had a great day, hitting hobby shops, layouts, and later going to Powell’s Books (a must-see for anyone who reads) as well as looking over the trains at the depot, of course. Later that evening we hopped a northbound Cascades, in the lounge car, and returned home. I was very disappointed to find they quit doing that soon afterward and I never got that experience again.

Hmmm...well, according to the NC Transportation Museum, National Train Day is Saturday, May 13! At least that's when they are celebrating the day. Here's the link to their event page which includes the annual model train show (now held Fri/Sat in the Backshop building), train rides, seminars, special tours, and more.

http://www.nctrans.org/Events/...6X0tMCFZ6KswodVmYI6A