June 11 – Mammoth Cave and the Historic Rail Park Museum

June 11, 2012– Mammoth Cave and the Historic Rail Park Museum

 

Entrance to the cave

In the first big room where they mined saltpeter

The tower from above - 155 steps above the bottom. Rich took the photo - I didn't get anywhere near the rail!

Mammoth Cave is about 45 minutes away from Baileys Point and is accessible through Cave City or Park City on I-65 in Kentucky. There are campgrounds at the park, but we opted to stay outside the park to be able to see more of the surrounding area.  

The park is beautiful and, though the visitor center was very busy, it was well-staffed and the wait to buy tickets was not long at all. I’d suggest that you read about the 19 cave tours and Ranger led programs prior to arriving and talking to a ranger before you  buy your tickets.  There were a number of small (1-5 years) children on our 2 mile, 440 step, 2 hour tour and several of them were unhappy most of the time.  The steep trail to and from the cave added an extra challenge. We took the Historic Tour and while it did not include dripstone formations, it was a remarkable trip. Some spots were very low (not even 5 feet high – and Rich is 6 feet 3 inches!) and in one 20 foot long 5 foot high passage, you are going down stairs as well. Let’s not forget “Fat Man’s Misery”, a passage of about 75 feet where it was low and very narrow and winding, but a woman and her two sons who were about twice our size ahead of us and they didn’t get stuck, so we figured we were safe. It made for a challenging but fun time. Next time, we’ll take the New Entrance trip, but I think we’ll do some more serious walking before we tackle that 500-stair trek.

E-8 engine # 796: Originally built in 1951, the locomotive represents one of eight E-8 engines used by the L&N for passenger service (not available tours at this time)

RPO #1107: Railroad Post Office Carwas built in 1921. Of the original 18 L&N RPO cars, this is one of the only two still in existence.

Towering Pine Sleeper Car: was one of 22 luxury sleeper cars built and operated by the Pullman Company in 1953 for the L&N. It was retired from service in 1971 when Amtrak took over passenger service.

One of the third-class beds on the Pullman car

Duncan Hines Dining Car: built in 1949, by the Pullman Standard Company. It was sold to Amtrak in 1975 and retired in 1976 following a minor accident.

Kitchen in the dining car - notice how narrow the aisle is.

More of the kitchen - there would have been the chef and three cooks working here.

Dining room in the owner's car.

Presidential Office Car #353: oldest surviving intact car of the L&N. It was built in 1911, upgraded in 1942, and used into the 1960's.

One of the displays in the museum

Hobo signs

 Upon leaving Mammoth Cave, we went to the Rail Park Museum in Bowling Green. The first floor has an interactive exhibit with five operating HO gauge trains on a display that has models of a number of original Bowling Green structures, displays showing travel schedules, Civil War and the railroad photos, and other exhibits.  The second floor of the of the museum explores the way railroads influenced business in America, famous name trains and how they got their names, information and memorabilia about passenger experiences, history and life style of the American hobo, images and history of the first depot and its burning by the Texas Rangers. 

The Museum is located in the depot built in 1925 to replace the original, which was burned during the Civil War. The Friends of the L&N Depot is an all-volunteer, non-profit group which searches out authentic, historic railroad cars for display at the museum. They are currently restoring a hospital car, and a red caboose is available for rental for birthday parties. 

We also took the tour, which starts at the model train setup, goes to the old waiting room, and then goes through four of the rail cars. The tour is included in the very reasonable admission. All-in-all, if you’re ever in the area, it’s well worth the admission price and time.