Including 4-6-0 No. 12 in its ET&WNC paint scheme:http://www.ngdiscussion.net/cgi-bin/NGDFcook.pl?noframes;read=63995

I was able to attend the Railfan event on Sunday morning and it was great fun. Tweetsie has been on my "must do" list for a long time and my only regret was waiting so long to go. I will certainly return.Alan Maples

I was there Sunday, too. Had a great time!I just wish they'd either ditch the robbery or at least get some kids who can act. The robbery on the first trip wasn't too bad, but the trip I rode just before leaving was awful. I've seen high school drama clubs do a better job.Despite that, the railroad is fantastic. There were several spots where it was quite easy to imagine that you were looking at the original ET&WNC. And we foamers had all access -- not a word was said about walking down the track for pictures. They even mowed a path up to the trestle for us! I enjoyed the shop tour, too.I should also mention that the foamers I encountered were all extremely well behaved. One guy started to walk across the trestle and got yelled at by the other fans -- "Climb down the bank!" Most everyone took pains to stay out of others' pictures. "You were here first, so where can I stand so I'm not in your picture?" was the motto of the day. If only all railfan events were so well coordinated, open, and attended by such courteous fans.

Matt - I guess I met you at the trestle/crossing...sorry we didn't talk more but I was focused in on getting some decent photos. Thanks for being agreeable to my suggestion. Courtesy is a good motto. Why don't more people give it a try?Alan - I saw you walking in "town"....tried to throw a rock at you from the hill, but missed. :-) (for the record, I didn't REALLY throw a rock)

Matt, I thought the cornball train robbery was great fun. It's pure camp, but at least they had a script and some choreography, and a sound system that works. I've seen some amateur efforts on tourist railroads that were truly awful. Of course, after doing the same show all day long there's bound to be a lazy performance sooner or later. And I agree with you, Tweetsie was most hospitable and the railfans well behaved.Steve, try a bigger rock next time! . . . after 20+ years in the railroad business I don't notice the little ones anymore . . . :-) Sorry I didn't see you.Alan Maples

As I said, the first show was decent. The actors were professional and the daisy-pickers enjoyed it even if I didn't (I love a good comedy, but camp has never appealed to me). The second show I suffered through was shortly after lunch -- about halfway through the day. I guess my complaint was that that second cast threw professionalism out the window. There were far too many giggles and flubbed lines. It really did seem like a high school drama club. Campy is one thing, bad acting is quite another.I agree, the sound system was excellent. I'm actually slightly curious how they managed that. Obviously the actors all had wireless mics, but I'd love to know how the sound system in the train is set up and how much automation it has. The transition from live to canned narration was seamless, and the narration was almost perfectly synchronized with the train.

I'm incredibly sorry I missed that weekend, but I did go out there on the following Friday and got a cab ride on 190. I was quite disappointed that I didn't get to see #12 under steam (did get to see her in the shed, though). Oh well, it's all good, at least I got to ride a former WW2 US Army locomotive (my other true RR love). The staff were all very nice, and had good things to say about the railfans that had flocked the place.