All aboard: Visitors flock to Walkersville for a ride on historic steam engine

May 30—Thomas Germroth remembers the fascination he felt growing up in Baltimore and watching the trains go by with his dad. On Saturday, some 70 years later, he sat on a locomotive chugging through Walkersville, wearing a hat whose bright lettering proclaimed: "Still plays with trains."

Germroth was among the hundreds of visitors from across Maryland — and up and down the East Coast — in Walkersville on Saturday, riding an antique train pulled by an engine that dates to 1928. They range from infancy to old age, from railway fanatic to casual observer. And once a year, they flock to Frederick County to experience the sights, sounds and smells that can only come from steam.

"It's a total sensory experience," said conductor John Meise.

Every summer, the Walkersville Southern Railroad hosts a steam engine for three weekends. It's a special treat, especially for train enthusiasts, Meise said, and a change of pace from the rail's usual diesel-powered cars.

The engine is one of five owned by Barney Gramling and his father. Based in Indiana, the pair travels the country with their locomotives in tow.

"It's a hobby that got out of hand," Gramling said. "We bought the second one to get parts for the first one. We bought the third one to get parts for the second one. The fourth one was because I opened my mouth. And the fifth one was because I'm an idiot."

It started when Gramling was 14 and volunteering on a tourist rail line. He was already well-versed in helping repair antique tractors, and the owner of the train he volunteered on convinced him to try his hand at restoring an antique steam engine.

Now, he and his father use trucks to haul them to small tourist lines that only have diesel-operated engines. In 15 years, they've been to 20 states — as far west as Oklahoma and as far south as Florida.

And in that same timespan, Gramling estimates he's taught 5,000 people to operate the uniquely challenging machines.

"A steam engine is as close to a living, breathing animal or person as a machine can ever get," he said. "They each have their own personality. They all have their own quirks. If you treat 'em badly, they'll treat you badly. If you treat 'em good, they'll treat you good."

The engine currently visiting Walkersville was built in 1928 in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, to haul away overburden — the rocks and soil that block access to a coal seam. Gramling bought it behind a diner in New York and spent six years getting it operational.

It's one of only about 150 functioning steam engines in the country. On Saturday, it took visitors on an hourlong ride into Frederick and back, winding through woods, farmland and over the Monocacy River. It will do the same thing next weekend, before Gramling packs up and heads out of town.

Observers stationed at various points along the tracks, many of them set up with tripods and cameras, waved and clapped as the train rolled by. Inside, it was filled with families and crawling with small children who bounced between cars with excitement.

Alice Nehring was one of them. It was her 3rd birthday, and her cousin, James, was turning two. Her father rode the same rail line when he was three.

"Every 3-year-old likes a train," he said with a laugh.

Jerome Meise, 4, of Virginia Beach, dressed in a Thomas the Tank Engine sweatshirt for the occasion. His eyes lit up as he watched plumes of smoke explode from the engine and listened to its whistle pierce the air.

"Growing up, my dad was really into trains," said Jerome's father, John. "He exposed me to it, so I'm just trying to do the same."

And for the Fluitt family of Ohio, the trip meant a welcome break from electronics. The five children laughed and played games with each other as the train chugged toward Frederick.

This year alone, the Walkersville Southern Railroad has trained more than 80 volunteers, said director Paul Kovalcik. It's a huge commitment, he said, and no one — not the conductors, the engineers or the event planners — gets paid.

As rain began to fall in earnest Saturday, Kovalcik smiled at the crowd of families around him. In the more than 20 years since he's been with the railroad, he's actually lost money, he said.

But he's sure it's been worth it.

"The big railroads spend a million dollars a mile maintaining tracks and cars," he said. "We do it for fun."

Follow Jillian Atelsek on Twitter: @jillian_atelsek