Lee,
that's funny. Convoy was the morning motivator on K102 this morning. Last week, it was Teddy Bear! People cant get enough of his songs!
For the excursion in the fall--yes, reservations are a must. We purchased a package this year--which was super good timing. We're going with another couple so there are 4 of us. DSNGRR sent me an email with a package deal including a cab ride. 4 premium tickets, 30% off gift shop stuff and VIP yard tour tickets and the cab ride. We were able to use the 4 premium tickets with that deal so one of the guys gets to ride another day in the cab--YA! that's cool! That was a grand, but it was a good deal since the ticket for the fall excursion were going to run us over 250 ea anyway.
For everyday rides, I dont think reservations are necessary, but I always do given we are traveling so far. It'd be an awful bummer to get there and have that be the one day they are full up. Course that probably wouldnt happen, they have 3 trains running each day I think.
Summer of 05 we took two weeks but we did other stuff too. National parks and the GC railway, like I mentioned. Just before Christmas of 05 we took 5 days, zipped out there, took the Saturday Winter train ride and zipped back. That was awesome! It was like an extended road trip. Course, we might be getting a bit old for road trips. Sleeping in the van isnt very comfortable. This fall we're taking 12 days, spending a good 6 between Durango and Silverton (planning on taking a jeep through the San Juan forest) and the rest seeing a few national parks and meandering through scenic SW corner of SD.
It's a GREAT trip! CO is so beautiful. I'm used to I35--flat, so I70 across N CO is a treat. As is everywhere else. The mountains are so beautiful, and the whole trip along the animas river is super scenic. Silverton is full of old western charm, too. The streets are all still dirt. They have a jail you can eat in! Ya, you can have your lunch or dinner right in a jail cell if you'd like. And Hwy 550 is just a treat too. If you go, try not to be the driver! Its hard not to look around!
Mesa Verde is right close to durango, that's a neat national park. Arches National Park is very fun--that's in Utah (North and West a few hours from durango. then that hwy 550 is amazing. there are so many neat town to see when you go through the mountains from durango back toward Denver.
Here's a pic of the train.
This is on the ride on the way up.
This is the train sitting in Silverton waiting for everyone to board again.
And just before we left, we were lucky enough to see a double header come into town with the next load of passengers. That was neat. It was SO loud! That sound, you feel it all the way through.
!!! (sorry if it does),
) I tell you what, when you are sitting on a train pulled by an engine looking as nice as that, you feel like some sort of royalty--people line up in town after town, crossing after crossing, just to see and wave. By the time the 6 hour ride from Minneapolis to Milwaukee was over, I felt a though I waved to everyone in both Minnesota and Wisconsin. What side will you be on, when going North? Does the railway go through the town of Bruno itself? If so, it will make planning easier...Either way, I will wave at everybody I see!! It's too bad that you did not know about that ride. You can call the number on the Milwaukee homepage, like my Grandpa did, and ask specifically about this ride. The tickets were supposedly 'sold out' when he tried buying one too, but he asked about standby and they were able to find an open seat fairly quickly. If you are an adventurous type of person with nothing better to do, you could also drive all the way down to the daparture point and wait 
There were so many people to see them. I even got mistaken for involved. EMT-Railroad 
I guess all uniforms are the same.
All the same it was the perfect day, paid to see a steam train.
