LET'S RIDE THE TRAIN!

Our adventure on the Copper King Express was fabulous!! The train consisted of two Engines and two Passenger cars. We met the train at a unused depot in downtown Butte, and actually boarded the train right in the middle of the street! They just stopped right there and the traffic patiently waited for us to depart. Strange.
The entire ceiling of both passenger cars are actually covered in copper..after all, he was the Copper King and owned this train all those years ago.

It was a great ride and traveled at a slow speed so we could see everything and the gentleman did a narrative about what we were seeing.

The ride to Anaconda took about an hour and 1/2 and we saw deer, and even some Antelope near the tracks. The town was holding a "Alive After 5" in conjunction with the arrival of the Copper King Express. There was a band playing music from the 60's and 70's and the park across the street had booths offering food, crafts, and some raffles. They also had a classic car show in the street put on by the local car club.

I found a wonderful Ice Cream shop not to far from the main street. Yum!!! It tasted good right down to the bottom of the cone!!! Yes, Strawberry is my favorite flavor.
There were many buildings of this beautiful brick work in Anaconda. This is the old Fire Station that they have preserved as are many building here.

The train returned at about 8:15 to take us back to Butte. It was of course, still daylight but the train had trouble with the generator 3 times so we had to stop several times while they worked on it. So, unfortunately, it was dark before we returned to our drop off point so our sightseeing was limited on the return trip.

But we did have a stroke of luck on this great trip. When we boarded the train in Butte we invited an older couple to set at our table with us. Great decision! This two were born and raised in Butte and attended school there then married 56 years ago. They shared so much of the history of the area that we certainly didn't mind the delay in returning to Butte. Yes, we were lucky enough to get to sit together on the return trip too.