Standing still, silver shining like a brand new quarter right out of a roll, the SAM Shortline Excursion Train waits with a slight hum for its passengers to board. Eyeing the massive train from the depot door is a young boy, under the age of 5 who says, “I’ve never ridden the train before.”

He grabs his grandmother’s hand, and says, “Let’s go. I want to get on.”

And he is not the only one. Over 179 passengers, coming from Tallahassee, Hampton, Valdosta, Atlanta, Macon, Byron, Pinehurst, Cordele, Plains, Montezuma, Americus, Thomasville, and even the great state of Indiana, were on hand to enjoy the special FAM tour run on Monday.

In spite of the anxiety over the prospect of funding being deleted from the state for the excursion line, staff members and volunteers, bound and determined to keep the SAM Shortline Excursion line on track, were all smiles and prepared to make this trip “the most enjoyed ever” for the passengers.

Al Mills, a conductor on the train and volunteer, stood at the gate, looked at the line gathering on the sidewalk in front of him, and with a loud and enthusiastic voice, hollered, “All aboard?”

When Mills got the answer he wanted, he smiled and said, “That’s the ticket,” and released the rope gate.

A couple from Valdosta were on the train with friends, and she commented upon boarding, “I am so excited about this. I have never done this before.”

He said, “I was in the military, and that was the only way we were able to be transported was by train.”

The SAM Shortline covers only about 50 miles of track: from Cordele to Archery, where the rails run right through a peanut farm that was former President Jimmy Carter’s childhood home.

The trip on the train is round trip and a day-long affair with frequent stops, and passengers can visit interesting places along the route. There is a divine snack and souvenir car as well.

Each of the passenger coaches are refurbished and restored, fitting of the territories for which it covers.

Karen and Ron Kiraly, originally from Maine, are volunteer car hosts.

“We had good friends who told us we should come down,” Karen Kiraly said.

“We visited the Georgia Veterans State Park, and the head ranger there told us that we should try to be hosts on the train, so we thought, sure, why not?

“We volunteer from Nov. 1 to May 1,” she said, watching her husband walk through the car giving basic instructions to the passengers regarding safety.