Monday, June 9, 2014

Amarillo Train Museum

We went on a homeschool field trip to the Amarillo Train Museum.

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This train is HO scale.  It's huge.

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The museum is building a historic replica of all the interesting train lines and train depots in the Texas Panhandle.  They've been working on it for at least a decade.  No, it's not done yet.   It's going to be spectacular if they ever get it finished.

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The best part of the trip was the tour of this armored train car.

Only four of these cars were ever made, and they were used to house armed guards that accompanied the trains carrying nuclear weapons around our country.  I'm not so sure I'm okay with the fact that nuclear weapons got shipped around our country, but at least someone had the good sense to make sure that there were armed guards in an armored train car going along with them.

Of the four cars built, three of them are at this museum.

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This is the command center.  It's up high so that the guards have a good view.  You had to climb up a ladder to get up there.

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In the living room/kitchen.

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This train car was meant to carry four armed guards, but they often took along other passengers, up to 8 or 10 people.

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These are some of the panels that could be opened so that they could shoot guns out.  That little hole under the bulletproof window is meant for a special gun.

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Connor in one of the bunks.  He said it was comfortable, even if it was a bit musty.

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