<http://schema.org/articleBody>
"When we celebrated my grandson Eli's third birthday a couple of weekends ago, we had a train party.\u00A0 I know it's an opportunity that not a lot of people know about.\u00A0 It really is a tremendous experience and all the kids and the grown-ups, too, had a great time going back in time to the historic railroad engines and rail cars of the past.We booked space on the Belton, Grandview, &amp; Kansas City Railroad as we took a step back in time to the first half of the last century and rode a train like my grandparents may have ridden.\u00A0 Little boys love trains and railroads, so you can imagine the fun the kids had. Half of our 1920's era passenger coach was blocked off for the party gang. Once everyone was seated our 1950s diesel locomotive pulled out from Old Town Belton.The train took us on a five mile, 45 minute round trip.\u00A0 Midway through we made a stop so everyone could pick out their Halloween pumpkins and do some face painting.\u00A0 There were also goodies served.\u00A0 Once back in the train station, we all disembarked again and went to a parked passenger car where we had gifts and cake.\u00A0 The train itself was ready to pull out on another trip.Eli had a wonderful time opening presents and enjoying cake and ice cream with his party participants.\u00A0 He was enthralled with the train.\u00A0 He asked me to go into the adjoining car which was the gift shop.\u00A0 He knew exactly what he wanted, a replica of a steam engine.\u00A0 There were a lot of things to choose from, but Eli wanted this scale model replica of a steam engine.\u00A0 He was thrilled when I got it for him.The Belton, Grandview, &amp; Kansas City Railroad is operated entirely by volunteers.\u00A0 They are a\u00A0 non-profit organization dedicated to preserving rail travel and railroading.\u00A0 They do it in fantastic fashion.\u00A0 They are all so helpful and gracious.\u00A0 The regular season and its regular\u00A0 schedule are over for this year.\u00A0 The regular season resumes in May 2013.However, there are still special event trains.\u00A0 The Santa Trains run on Dec. 1 and 8.\u00A0 It is a winter train ride with Santa and trains depart from Old Town Belton at 9 a.m., 11 a.m., 1 p.m., and 3 p.m.\u00A0 The Santa trains cost $14 a trip.\u00A0 I guarantee your youngsters will have a great time, just like Eli did for his 3-year-old birthday party.Larry Moore"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.kmbc.com/article/nov-19-2012-belton-grandview-kansas-city-railroad/3673184>