A few weeks back we were in Savannah to visit Sam’s grandma, and the highlight of the trip for the little guy was the visit to the Roundhouse Railroad Museum. Only a few hundred yards from where my dad’s store Thrifty was located, this spot was always off-limites and behind tall fences when I was a kid. Abandoned from active use back in 1960s, I often picked blackberries in the adjacent fields as a kid, and recall vividly taking photos with my Canon AT-1 as the Ranger batallion from Hunter Army Airfield practiced urban combat in the abandoned buildings in the early 80s. Anyway, it’s now a wonderful museum of train history, with at least a dozen old engines and cars, including the restored switching engine pictured above. One of Sam’s favorite books these days is The Little Engine that Could (sam loves this version the most), so seeing the tiny (not blue) engine pull the much larger full-size steam locomotive was a highlight of the trip. The ash that covered us was an unexpected memento of the visit requiring a good shower afterward, but seeing the little engine belching steam was pretty darn cool. These demos take place twice a day on weekends and are well worth checking out. For more photos, see the full gallery here.

We’re in Savannah to visit Sam’s grandmother, my brother Jerry, and his dog Scarlett. Despite the heat, we paid a visit to the Revolutionary Battlefield and Roundhouse Museum this afternoon. Here is a gallery of photos from our trip to the Roundhouse.

The Savannah Roundhouse is a National Historic Ladmark site, an antebellum (circa 1851) railroad complex complete with a restored turntable where full size locomotives and rail cars could be serviced in the ‘Savannah Shops.’ The location was also the scene of the Siege of Savannah, the 1779 battle where the Americans attempted to retake the city after its capture by the British. Polish nobleman Casimir Pulsaski died fighting on behalf of the Americans, and I recall my father’s participation in various commemorations of his actions on the 200th anniversary of his death in the late 1970s. Dad was born in Poland. The nearby old Savannah Jewish Cemetery was also the scene of some of this fighting, and although closed to the public, I remember going there with my Mom as a kid and being fascinated by the bullet markings in the headstones there.

We went across the street in the heat today to let Sam get up close and personal with his new favorite obsession – TRAINS! The museum itself is great, and Sam enjoyed all the big machinery. The gravel is less-than-stroller-friendly, and the museum shop has a bit too much Thomas the Tank Engine gear; but we had a great time. I think back to my pre-teen years picking blackberries in the rambles that surrounded the then-abandoned Roundhouse Complex, and the time that the Savannah-based Army Rangers had urban warfare exercises here in the late 70s – and I watched from my Dad’s store nearby. We tried to stop in to see what Thrifty looks like these days, but they were closing up for the day – but the old turnstile I played on as a kid is still there!