The Ride to Paradise on an old-time train departs from Strasburg Rail Road – America’s oldest short-line railroad – and takes guests on a 45-minute jaunt through several miles of farmland.

I’ve taken the trip to Lancaster plenty of times…..a very kid-friendly vacation. My boys adore every detail of our trip. I must say that it almost rivals Disney for younger kids. So let me make a couple of recommendations:

The history of warfare is linked indelibly to transportation.”Trains & Troops” was a two-day event in Strasburg that celebrated those joint histories with an array of memorabilia, much of it exhibited by uniformed re-enactors who knew the stories behind each item on display.

In 2005 Strasburg Rail Road began giving five cents from each ticket it sells — excluding Thomas the Tank Engine events — to Lancaster Farmland Trust to help preserve farms in the railroad’s viewshed. The partnership between Strasburg Rail Road and the Trust is thought to be the first arrangement of its kind between a business and a private farmland preserver in Pennsylvania, and perhaps in the country. Other local businesses, such as Turkey Hill, have also joined forces with the Trust by contributing a portion of proceeds to support farmland preservation.

On the Strasburg Rail Road in Lancaster County, PA, the oldest continuously operating railroad in North America, engineers still synchronize their watches to each other’s and to the station’s clock when they hand off an engine. “Our trains are run on a timetable schedule with set departure times, and train orders are issued based on standard railroad time,” says Linn Moedinger, president and chief mechanical officer of the Strasburg Rail Road Company.

Thomas the Tank Engine is set to roll into Strasburg, in Lancaster County, for the “Day Out With Thomas 2007: All Aboard Tour.”

The Past Players, 18 actors and Civil War re-enactors dressed in period attire, spent Thursday afternoon in Strasburg, strolling the grounds of Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania and riding the rails at Strasburg Railroad…

The 18 members of the Pennsylvania Past Players, which includes several Lancaster County residents, were recruited earlier this summer and underwent extensive training to prepare for their roles as guides and interpreters of the state’s Civil War and Underground Railroad history….

As part of the celebration for the 175th anniversary of its charter, Strasburg Railroad will unveil the refurbished Reading No. 10 President’s Car today. It was built before World War I for George F. Baer, then president of Philadelphia & Reading Railroad, and reportedly used on Harry Truman’s famous 1948 “whistle stop” presidential campaign.

The last of the local fireworks are set for tomorrow evening, but for some people they’ll only mark the beginning of the Fourth of July holiday.

With the Fourth falling on a Wednesday this year, people have the option of slicing their week to take a vacation before or after the actual holiday.

For local tourist sites, a mid-week break presents the risk of diluting business, but also a chance of multiplying visitors with two consecutive holiday weekends…

Strasburg Rail Road Shops announced Wednesday it has sold products involved in the June 13 recall of 1.5 million Thomas & Friends Wooden Railway sets made by RCS Corp… Consumers who purchased the affected products from the shops between June 14 and June 18 may receive a refund by sending the product and a copy of the receipt to: Strasburg Rail Road Shops…