So how do people on a train get a run in the cab with the driver?

[John_Bredin]

I operated an electric train at the Illinois Railway Museum back in 2001. It was only for a couple of minutes, all I did was hold the throttle and blow the whistle, and a real motorman (a regular museum volunteer, I doubt they have any employees) stood at my side, but still…

[Senegoid]

@Snnipe_70E

I don’t know about the run from Felton to Santa Cruz. But you can be an “Engineer for a day” on the narrow gage steam train that goes up the mountain and back. The cost was $200 for the day.

Okay, if that’s the line that has this, then I could be mistaken. There are two trains running out of Roaring Camp at Felton: One down the mountain into Santa Cruz, and one up the mountain through the forest. AFAIK, the one up the mountain doesn’t actually go anywhere – just a scenic jaunt through the trees. (Originally, hauled lumber down the mountain.) I wasn’t sure which of those lines had the Engineer For A Day. But yeah, it’s not just a $10 ticket to ride in the cab.

[Dorjan]

@wolfpup

Interesting. Most of the incidents I can specifically recall of my son visiting the cockpit were on Air Canada, although at least some of them were in US airspace, so it sounds like airline rules rather than FAA rules. My recollection from those days was that the cockpit door was often (but not always) open during flight anyway. I recall on one occasion he was up there so long that he sat himself down on the floor behind the pilots and had a grand old time observing the proceedings through most of the flight. We were in business class right behind the cockpit and there were relatively few passengers, so the attitude was very informal. One of the flight attendants even told me I should go up and have a look myself as he was having such a good time.

ETA: Needless to say, all AC flights now follow the locked reinforced door rules of all other airlines.

When I was three ('78), I was invited up front on a 747 flight deck while on an overseas flight from Houston to ??? en route to Tehran. My parents say I stayed up there for a good hour, too. All I remember is lots and lots and lots of glowing dials, and a firmly implanted love for aviation

[Ionizer]

Back around 1995 or so, one of my sons was 8-ish years old, and we lived in Twin Falls, Idaho next door to a guy who was a train engineer/driver. One day, the guy (friend and overall great guy) calls and asks me if son would be interested in spending the nightshift working on a train with him - basically just sitting in cab and watching stuff happen. Nothing paperwork-like done, just on a whim of friend since son frequently asked him about trains and how he worked them.

Son got to do a few things switch-like and what-nots, and it was mostly a night of bumping railcars amongst different tracks, but he did get to make two quick runs between Burley and Rupert instead of just short starts and stops at switchyard place.

No idea if the ‘drivers’ themselves can do that nowadays with trains (probably not) - but it was done, in my case, without the guy even needing to call for permission, afaik. He just showed up with son in tow and got to work. Son bragged a lot about it for quite awhile, too, of course. Kinda wish I could’ve gone myself (invited me, too), but I was on-call at hospital…sigh.