The Strasburg Rail Road is going green and expanding its freight operation at the same time.

Ask the conductors of the country’s oldest short-line rail road, and they’ll tell you things move a little slower in Paradise. Paradise, Pennsylvania, that is. Every day this month, the Strasburg Rail Road will leave from East Strasburg Station—about 60 miles west of Philadelphia—and set out on a leisurely nine-mile, 45-minute trip that passes through small towns of mostly Amish farmers whose un-plugged way of life has remained largely unchanged since the railroad opened in 1832.

These days our kids are experienced travelers. Their journeys are tricked out with high-tech car seats, portable DVD players and handheld video game devices. But in this era of travel by minivans and jets, have your children ever traveled by passenger train?

Scenes shot at Strasburg Rail Road by separate film crews will appear in two upcoming shows, “The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln,” (PBS), Monday, and “Stealing Lincoln’s Body,” (History Channel), on Feb. 16, Presidents’ Day.

Famous for its train history and culture - is still chugging along, with museums and railroads that excite locomotive enthusiasts.

Santa makes his presents felt on the Strasburg Rail Road.

Need an idea for a stocking-stuffer? Try tickets to ride on a “real” Thomas the Tank Engine.

When Santa Claus first started riding the rails at Strasburg Rail Road a half century ago, Strasburg’s station was hardly bigger than a phone booth and the engine pulling the passenger cars was powered by diesel, not the trademark steam the railroad is known for today.

What would happen if you told your train-loving tot that he could take a train ride with a real, full-size, honest-to-goodness Thomas the Tank Engine?

Strasburg Rail Road mechanical shop helps keep nation’s historical locomotives hammered together.