We had booked tickets on the Austin Steam Train 
which departs from a suburb north of Austin, Cedar Park, and travels about 60 miles northwest into the 'hill country' which we wanted to see to a town called Betram. We had two options - either take the 2pm train to Betram with a 15 minute lay-over or take the 10am train to Betram with a 2 1/2 hour lay-over in Betram and that town does a re-enactment of a shoot-out on Main Street. You have the opportunity to look around the town, shop, eat in a local restaurant. We opted to take the 2pm ride - getting back to Cedar Park by 5pm, with another 45 minute drive then back to Bastrop. Glad we did - the town of Betram is quite desolate. I am sure the shoot-
out would have been fun, however we have seen these activities before - in Montana on a previous trip, and in Tucson with the grandkids years ago. We had arrived at the train depot around noon - they said to be there 1 1/2 hours before departure, so we went to Double Dave's Pizza right beside it. Was this good! We hadn't had pizza for a long time and it was buffet style - or order the kind you want and they make and put out for everyone else to eat also.Once on the train we were settled in we noticed that this southeast area of Texas has had a drought and therefore many streams and rivers are dry. We are not sure how things are 'greening' up, but they are. The train was fun, I still want to take a FAST train ride. The picture above shows the car we were in - the Santa Fe - which is restored back to it's original 1930's days. And we had the only car that served beverages and snacks - without an additional charge. On the way up to Betram the engine was in front of us and we could hear the 2 long, 1 short, 1 long blast of the horn as it went through each crossing. On the way back they engineer and conductor plus the brakeman disconnected the engine and swung it to 
the end and therefore we were the last car. We traveled over the oldest railroad tressel in Texas, over the south fork of the San Gabriel River. Saw some really sad places along the way, saw alot of granite boulders on the side which are there because of train wrecks in the past and these pieces fell off at that time. Convicts quarried the stone from Marble Falls, a town north of Betram to Austin via railroad and this granite was used to make capitol buildings of Austin. Boulders are too heavy to pick back up so they still sit there today. Once we returned to Cedar Park and the train was 'parking' or getting backed into the deport - we had to stop traffic while it was moving back into the station. I don't think I would have been happy sitting in this traffic waiting. For the most part people would wave like crazy from the crossings and there was one gentleman who rode in his car along the route and we saw him taking pictures at most crossings - both going up to Betram and return. A real train buff. Since we have ridden a couple of trains - we can now say, been there done that and not do it anymore. Wasn't cheap to do this either. The train had seven cars - one was strictly a concession car - and it was full of people. Good business for Double Dave's Pizza as well as the train!
which departs from a suburb north of Austin, Cedar Park, and travels about 60 miles northwest into the 'hill country' which we wanted to see to a town called Betram. We had two options - either take the 2pm train to Betram with a 15 minute lay-over or take the 10am train to Betram with a 2 1/2 hour lay-over in Betram and that town does a re-enactment of a shoot-out on Main Street. You have the opportunity to look around the town, shop, eat in a local restaurant. We opted to take the 2pm ride - getting back to Cedar Park by 5pm, with another 45 minute drive then back to Bastrop. Glad we did - the town of Betram is quite desolate. I am sure the shoot-
out would have been fun, however we have seen these activities before - in Montana on a previous trip, and in Tucson with the grandkids years ago. We had arrived at the train depot around noon - they said to be there 1 1/2 hours before departure, so we went to Double Dave's Pizza right beside it. Was this good! We hadn't had pizza for a long time and it was buffet style - or order the kind you want and they make and put out for everyone else to eat also.Once on the train we were settled in we noticed that this southeast area of Texas has had a drought and therefore many streams and rivers are dry. We are not sure how things are 'greening' up, but they are. The train was fun, I still want to take a FAST train ride. The picture above shows the car we were in - the Santa Fe - which is restored back to it's original 1930's days. And we had the only car that served beverages and snacks - without an additional charge. On the way up to Betram the engine was in front of us and we could hear the 2 long, 1 short, 1 long blast of the horn as it went through each crossing. On the way back they engineer and conductor plus the brakeman disconnected the engine and swung it to 
the end and therefore we were the last car. We traveled over the oldest railroad tressel in Texas, over the south fork of the San Gabriel River. Saw some really sad places along the way, saw alot of granite boulders on the side which are there because of train wrecks in the past and these pieces fell off at that time. Convicts quarried the stone from Marble Falls, a town north of Betram to Austin via railroad and this granite was used to make capitol buildings of Austin. Boulders are too heavy to pick back up so they still sit there today. Once we returned to Cedar Park and the train was 'parking' or getting backed into the deport - we had to stop traffic while it was moving back into the station. I don't think I would have been happy sitting in this traffic waiting. For the most part people would wave like crazy from the crossings and there was one gentleman who rode in his car along the route and we saw him taking pictures at most crossings - both going up to Betram and return. A real train buff. Since we have ridden a couple of trains - we can now say, been there done that and not do it anymore. Wasn't cheap to do this either. The train had seven cars - one was strictly a concession car - and it was full of people. Good business for Double Dave's Pizza as well as the train!
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