Re: Park Trains @ Busch Gardens VA

Call me starved for real narrow gauge. We went on a short family trip to Williamsburg, VA. last weekend. Saturday we spent at Busch Gardens and we were able to check out the Crown 4-4-0 powered train.
There were only 2 out of 3 train sets running, the Blue and Green trains. The red train was down for boiler work, as far as the not too concerned "conductor" could tell.
The blue train, the Balmoral Castle was made up in a convincing European style, aside from the arch bars on the passenger cars. Decent train though, for an amusement park.
The green train, the Alpen Express, was a pleasant suprise. Instead of a Euro-flavored steamer, it was an American style Crown, in a Tweetsie green paint scheme. It was numbered 17, and had a bit of a Colorado feel to it, as it sported a huge red wedge plow, similar to 463's on the Silverton branch in the '50s. Exhaust had a nice bark to it, on the short stretch of track on which it actually had to work. I could have ridden all day, as we had the Crown caboose to ourselves, but other people in our group wanted to visit the faster rides. What do they know?
Mike Stillwell