I’m an advocate of shopping at home – not from your home but at home. If whatever you want to buy or do is offered here, do it here.

What we don’t have here, and what I’m recommending you try, is a visit to Tennessee Central Railway Museum in Nashville, specifically its excursion train rides. I’ve been several times and each time has been worth the trip.

If the thought of riding on a train isn’t enough to get you online searching for it, then maybe this will: They offer themed train rides. Throughout the year, they offer a DelMonaco Winery Trip, Valentine’s Day Murder Mystery Trip, Easter Bunny Trip, Spring Mile-Long Yard Sale Trip, Dogwood Spring Festival Trip, Train Robbery Trip, Super Fall Foliage Trip, and North Pole Express Trip with Santa.

I look forward to going on at least one trip a year. I’ve taken the Murder Mystery, Train Robbery and Valentine’s Day. I’m going again this year. It’s always so much fun and I never get bored. I would like to go on the DelMonaco Winery Trip, but it's 168 miles round trip. The ones I’ve been on have been 90 miles. Wine combined with a train ride and I’ll probably sleep half the time.

Of the themes I have been on, my favorite was the train robbery. It’s awesome. I took my children once and they loved it. We had so much fun being robbed on the train (money voluntarily collected for a scholarship fund). Then, the gang of robbers followed us to Watertown and had a shootout with a U.S. Marshall. It was hilarious. Those guys always bring a little humor into their acting.

If you are searching for an opportunity for family pictures to commemorate the moment, being robbed on a train and a shootout in town square will do it. The guys, good and bad ones, always take time to pose with you.

I really liked the murder mystery too. The actors came through the cars on the way to Watertown. They set the scene on why a murder would probably occur by voicing discontent. Then, they came through again telling details about the murder. In the end, they tell you who the murderer was. I got it wrong, but it was still a lot of fun.

The actors aren’t the only ones in character. There are hosts on the cars with you. They are dressed the part of the 1950s, the Golden Era of American passenger train travel.

The Tennessee Central Railway Museum is a volunteer, nonprofit organization. Its mission is to preserve, restore, interpret, and operate historic railroad equipment to educate guests about America’s railroads. The organization has a growing collection of historic equipment, but its specialty is operating historic trains, providing a unique opportunity to ride a 1950’s vintage train through beautiful Middle Tennessee. Since 1989, TCRM has been running passenger excursions from Nashville.

 If you haven’t been, you should go. You’ll be hooked, just like I am.

Standard reporter Lisa Hobbs can be reached at 473-2191.