The Santa Maria Valley Railway Historical Museum (SMVRHM) is within walking distance of Alvin Elementary School. This organization is relatively new having just opened its doors to the public a month or two ago. In fact, our visit was their first official school classroom visit.At left, Wayne Peterson, SMVRHM member and one of today's hosts, asks the class, "What might these black chunks of material be called that fuel the fire of a steam locomotive?". Coal, of course, is the correct answer, and he even had samples of the rather rare rock (for this area) to pass around. 
Skip Purper, SMVRHM member and host, shares a map of the various railroads that ran in the Santa Maria Valley. There were a surprising number of different railroads of different gauges, and each was a different color on the map. The blue river, however, was not a railroad!The Railroad Museum is currently open to the public on Saturdays and Sundays from 1:00pm to 4:30pm. See the student's Thank You! Notebook. 
The entire class stands in front of their hosts after presenting them with Thank You notes that included an Alvin All-Star Railroad patch. From right to left in the back: teacher Mrs. Foster; SMVRHM hosts Wayne Peterson, Dan Alves, and Skip Purper; and Mr. Foster. Each member of the class was wearing their AASRR name badge.
One of the more popular stops on the Museum tour was the switching puzzle track. Here, Skip Purper is helping a youngster spot railroad cars at different locations around the platform. As the young engineer said, "It's not as easy as it looks!"Below left, some of the children watch as the steam locomotive train travels by on the Museum's front window layout. At right are children watching the train on Skip's layout which is based on the Sedona, Arizona area. 
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