Re-enactors bring Wild West to life on Parrish train ride

Cousins Derek Robinson, 10, of Calvary Chapel School in Sarasota and Mason Robinson, 9, who was visiting Derek this past weekend from Baltimore, both got to draw pistols against a U.S. Marshal on a train during a Wild West shootout Sunday.

Fortunately, it was a mock-Marshal, a mock-shootout and mock-pistols, part of a popular Wild West reenactment in Parrish.

Derek and Mason and their families were among about 100 who boarded train cars at 11 a.m. Sunday at the Florida Railroad Museum, 12210 83rd St., for the “Hole in the Head Gang,” a moving train hold-up adventure, one of a handful of popular special events put on regularly by the not-for-profit railroad museum.

Founded in 1982 by a handful of railroad enthusiasts who wished to see Florida’s railroad history preserved, the Florida Railroad Museum also puts on “Hobo Campfire,” “Murder Mystery,” “Thomas the Train” and its most popular train ride, “North Pole Express,” which begins Thursday night.

The museum has an agreement with Florida Power & Light to use several miles of the power company’s track between Parrish and Willow to the north. The dozen or so reenactors also volunteer their time.

“I think people love trains,” said Greg Clarke of St. Petersburg, who played U.S. Marshal Israel Dailey on Sunday. “They love hearing the clatter of the tracks and the romance and excitement, especially when it involves a reenactment, either a cowboy or Civil War or a World War II or even when they have North Pole Express.

“I’m just trying to give back something and help people have a good time and laugh and have fun,” Clarke added.

On Sunday, the museum was running two locomotives —one from the 1950s and one from the 1960s — about six passenger cars and three cabooses that were attached in preparation for the North Pole Express.

The Express carries children and parents to meet Santa Claus on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights for the next three weekends and the Monday night before Christmas.

“We are nearly completely sold out for North Pole Express, but we do have some single seats,” said Pat Masterson, president of Florida Railroad Museum.

Drawing against an experienced gunfighter

Derek and Mason were given small pistols by Clarke, who was riding the train to protect a strongbox containing gold from the gang holed up in a nearby cowboy camp.

Perhaps to recruit some “hired guns” against the bad guys, Clarke taught Derek and Mason during the train ride how to count to three and then raise their pistols. Each boy was faster and outdrew him.

“He’s my favorite,” Mason said of Clarke. Clarke grows a full white beard and mustache for the role, wears a long black jacket and black hat and smokes a small cigar.

Of course, Clarke did engage the gang at a stop a few miles up the line and, as the crowd looked on from the train, the bad guys captured the strongbox and forced it open amid a cacophony of gunfire and dynamite, albeit blanks.

“My favorite thing was the shooting,” said Derek, whose mom, Lisa Tarjanyi, is a cosmetologist at Bradenton’s Blu Water Style Studio.

“We have loved the train for a long time,” Tarjanyi said after the 90-minute presentation was over and Clarke got the gold back. “There is a hobo train and we have gone on that and thought it was amazing, so we decided to check out the train robbery, which did not disappoint.”

The Hole in the Head Gang show returns Jan. 28-29. Information or tickets: 941-776-0906 or frrm.org.

This story was originally published November 27, 2016 at 7:21 PM with the headline "Re-enactors bring Wild West to life on Parrish train ride."