Best Friend Homecoming

Best Friend, Charleston, S.C.

I am a bit of a train buff. I am not freaky about them, but I do like them and have ridden on some very cool trains and routes. It caught my attention the the Best Friend of Charleston replica was coming home and when I had dinner at Rue De Jean on Friday night I spotted the colorful engine in the building across the street and caught a picture through the glass with my handy pocket camera.

CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — Charleston's second best friend is coming home.

An 85-year-old replica of the Best Friend of Charleston, the first train in the nation to offer regularly scheduled passenger service, returns to Charleston this weekend. The replica of the engine, tender and two passenger cars, based on the original plans, will be installed in a new free city museum in one of five old railroad sheds dating to the 1800s. The new museum is the last of the buildings to be refurbished during the past two decades; the first was the nearby city Visitor Center that opened back in 1991.

The replica "is an important part of Charleston history," Mayor Joseph P. Riley Jr. said Tuesday. "We're very proud to install it in a historically appropriate and a very accessible place."

The steam-powered Best Friend of Charleston made its inaugural trip along a 6-mile stretch of track reaching northwest from Charleston on Christmas Day, 1830.  The Charleston Courier reported at the time that "the one hundred and forty-one persons flew on the wings of wind at the speed of fifteen to twenty-five miles per hour, annihilating time and space."

 The "Wings of Wind". How lovely that sounds.Welcome home!

Halloween countdown - Charleston style

Charleston Railway Museum, Citadel Mall, Charleston, S.C.

I dropped my car off at Sears Auto at Citadel Mall for an oil change and stopped by the Railway Museum while I was putting in time waiting for them to call me. They never did call so I did a lot of wandering. Hanging around a mall can get expensive.

I had my pocket Canon camera in my purse and was trying to get the shot of the miniature Halloween decorated tree in the scene as the train came by. Tricky! One of the gentlemen came by and said, "You want to catch the train in that spot? I'll use the kill switch". So, there ya go. All we needed was the Kill Switch to stop it in it's tracks.

The Best Friend of Charleston Railway Museum contains artifacts, videos and Lionel's limited edition operating model of the Best Friend train. The museum is located at The Citadel Mall at 2070 Sam Rittenberg Road in Charleston SC. Visitors are invited to visit the museum Tuesdays and Thursdays from 5 to 9 and Saturdays and Sundays from 1 to 5.