Staunton: Taking a train ride, back in time, on the Gypsy Express

We had friends in town, they have a young’un, and they’d read about the Gypsy Express, the mini-train in Gypsy Hill Park in Staunton that has been taking kids on rides since 1958.

I had to look that last part up, about the train dating all the way back to 1958.

I was born in Staunton (when the city still had its own hospital!) in 1972, and remember riding the train as a kid, into the early 1980s.

My wife, who grew up in Augusta County, rode the train as a kid, too.

We knew, thus, that the train dated at least to our childhood.

But, 1958.

My mom, rest her soul, was 5 years old in 1958.

The Gypsy Express goes back, literally, generations.

I took my first ride in four decades on Saturday.

It took more work to fold my 6’1” frame into one of the cars than it would have when I was in elementary school and somewhere in the four-foot range.

The memories flooded back in an instant.

Used to be, when the train would go into the tunnels, we’d scream.

I learned yesterday that we’re not supposed to scream anymore.

(Sorry!)

I know for a fact that I had more fun than any of the young’uns on our train ride.

Well, OK, there was the one 8-year-old who, as we were being seated, turned toward a buddy and exclaimed, “This is the most awesome day ever!”

There was also the lady my age who watched her grandkids take a ride around the track, and said to them as they disembarked, “If you want to go again, can I go with you this time?”

For a few minutes, we were all 8-year-olds.

Four trips around the track, indeed, took me back 45 years.

You can go home again.