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Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 290 mm — ¹/125 sec, f/6.3, ISO 8000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Passing The Time
waiting to start his shift driving the train

As I mentioned in the previous post, on Friday we went to KidZania, a wonderful place covered in these many posts.

Unlike the first time, which was crammed full of families at absolute capacity, this time was on a school day that Anthony had off, and there were only about half the kids (capacity is 800 kids, and there were about 400, we were told). The breathing room made it much more enjoyable, especially for the parents because you could move easily when you wanted, and sit when you wanted. For the kids, there was a lot less waiting... often, Anthony didn't have to wait at all, and was the only one doing an activity, such as the radio announcer of yesterday (which normally is a task shared among six kids, as seen in this post from last year).

Last year Anthony's must-do-first job was working at a gas station. This year it was driving a train, so when we got in, he made a bee-line directly to the train station. The combination of there being fewer kids and our getting in earlier (we had checked in and gotten our entry number earlier, before having lunch in the mall) meant that he was actually the first kid at the train station, so he could pick the train job he wanted: driver.

Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 78 mm — ¹/160 sec, f/5, ISO 8000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Suiting Up

Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 290 mm — ¹/8 sec, f/6.3, ISO 8000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Hanging Out with His Colleagues
waiting for some starting ceremonies to be over

Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 140 mm — ¹/80 sec, f/5.6, ISO 8000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Freshman Orientation

Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 420 mm — ¹/30 sec, f/6.3, ISO 8000 — map & image data — nearby photos
On the Job
with tongue buried firmly in cheek

That's about the most we could see him while he was on the job... the boy working as the conductor stood at the doorway window the whole time, as that gives him the proper vantage to take care of his job of dealing with the train doors when they're at a station (and I have the impression that the distance between each station during their 15-minute shift was covered in mere seconds, to give more station-arrival and station-departure fun).

The train was laid out with three separate driver cabs, so three kids could drive at any one time. Earlier, I had snapped a picture of one of the driver consoles that was more easily visible from the outside, so I could see what he would be working with...

Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 116 mm — ¹/160 sec, f/5.3, ISO 8000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Driver Console

As sparse as it looks, it's quite accurate (much more so than the 747 cocpit he was in last time for his flight school). Even the old pre-computer style train console was pretty sparse, as seen in this photo.

Above the two yellow buttons is a pocket watch sitting on a bed of green felt. A real train driver brings his pocket watch with him and sets it in the bed of green felt when he takes his station... I've seen it in real life and thought it was a great personal touch (it's the driver's responsibility to be on time, and there's no blaming the clock when you're responsible for the clock). In this pretend train the watch was sealed behind plastic, which is too bad... it would have made a nice touch here as well.

Continued here...