Bill:
Excellent sharing. Thanks you for taking the time to type it out and share it with the rest of us.
Reminds me of similar situation that happened over a decade ago:
Had a green Conductor working with me on a backwoods branch line. He mentioned he had a 4 year old son that was crazy about trains, and if it would be possible for him to ride in the engine "one of these days". The next train this Conductor was to be with me was going to be at night, so I called the Conductor and said it would be a good time for his son to come along if he wanted to.
That night, sure enough, he brought his son along. He was a curly headed little chap that was cute as he could be. He was dressed in stripe overalls and a striped "Engineer's hat", complete with some little boots. His dad helped him climb up into the cab. His eyes lit up when he saw the inside of a railroad locomotive for the first time. (The lead unit was a GP38, if you're wondering! 
) He was the perfect little gentleman. He rode with eyes wide open for a while and just soaked it all up. However, soon it was getting on into the later part of the night/early morning... and when I looked over toward the Conductor's side, I saw that he was out like a light. We both got a kick out of that.
SO, you have a fellow that's not so little now, one that I'll bet still likes trains, that also had a train ride one night in which he can't remember all of it!
Yes, railroading was very different then in as short as a decade or so ago. For several years now, such a ride is simply not possible.
Andre
