Tricycle Buying Guide
Tricycles
With a couple of young girls, we’ve bought a couple of tricycles and I wanted to pass on this information which will hopefully help you choose the right trike for your tyke.
Steerable/Pushable Models
The first tricycle we purchased was a Radio Flyer Radio Flyer Deluxe Steer and Stroll Trike
. This model allows the child to pedal or coast as a parent pushes and steers the tricycle. I think it’s ideal if you have a 2-ish year old and you are eager to get your child out on a tricycle. However, the plastic and paint faded quickly on ours and I do not think it’s the best way for a small child to actually learn how to pedal. Pedals fixed to the front wheel, like on a traditional tricycle, are best for little ones to learn how to pedal.
The Traditional Tricycle
I highly recommend a traditional tricycle like this Radio Flyer Classic Red Dual Deck Tricycle
. Since the pedals are fixed to the front wheel, children can learn how to pedal for themselves quite quickly. The paint on this metal tricycle also holds up quite well compared with the steerable/pushable model. This model is ideal for 3-and-up-year-olds.
I wish you and your children a happy three-wheeling experience!
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Train Tuesdays
I wrote recently about watching the Norfolk Southern Heritage Fleet, but a couple other areas of interest for railfans are seeing foreign power (locomotives not belonging to the railroad) and business trains.
Here are a couple of recent pictures illustrating foreign power and business trains. The first shows CSX and BNSF power on a Norfolk Southern freight train and the second shows Norfolk Southern’s Office Car Special on its way to the Masters Golf Tournament.
Foreign Power on the Norfolk Southern
Norfolk Southern Office Car Special
Train Tuesdays [Published on Wednesday this week]
There is big news this week pertaining to Norfolk and Western Class J number 611. FireUp611.org continues to raise the funds necessary to build a servicing facility once she is restored to operation, but the iconic locomotive is scheduled to be moved from Roanoke, Virginia to Spencer, North Carolina. In Spencer, the 611 will be the star attraction at the streamliner’s event to be held May 29 – June 1, 2014. The restoration of 611 will also take place at Spencer.
Railway Age reports on the significance of this restoration:
“They were the most technically advanced steam locomotive design of any type that was ever in service anywhere in the world,” says William Withuhn, Curator Emeritus, History of Technology and Transportation, Smithsonian Institution and editor and co-author of Rails Across America: a History of Railroads in North America (Smithmark, 1993). “The J was—and is now —under its graceful skin the apex and epitome of its era of design, helping to make Americans the most mobile people on the planet. They were built using American ingenuity, design, and engineering. Even today, 611 is the pinnacle of steam locomotive technology, the final fruit of more than 120 years of engineering development. A Class J could produce more than 5,000 net horsepower, and reach 110 mph. There was nothing like it.”
WSLS.com reports the Virginia Museum of Transportation is planning a send-off event on May 24th.
WSLS 10 NBC in Roanoke/Lynchburg Va
Music Mondays
Last night, my wife and I watched a Belgian movie entitled The Broken Circle Breakdown
. It’s a very sad movie about a couple whose daughter dies of cancer. The father plays banjo in a bluegrass band and the mother joins the band as a singer. The movie has subtitles for the dialog in English, but the singing is done in English.
The Broken Circle Breakdown (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
was good. My favorite tracks were their versions of:
Again, this isn’t an uplifting movie, but if you are a fan of bluegrass music you will want to check it out.
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