Pennsylvania Dutch Country. The name conjures up images of men in black riding horse-drawn buggies on country roads carved through rolling hills.  Until they get there, however, few visitors realize that the region also has a rich railroad legacy.

The steam-powered Strasburg Rail Road, America’s oldest operating short-line service, takes passengers on a nine-mile, 45-minute round trip through rural Amish farmland.  Across Route 741 from the East Strasburg station, the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania has tracks, trains, turntables and artifacts dating back more than a century.  Not far away are the National Toy Train Museum, featuring five operating layouts, and the Choo Choo Barn, with 135 animated figures and 17 running trains packed into a 1700-square foot display.

Thoroughly smitten rail buffs can even opt for overnight accommodations in the Red Caboose Motel & Restaurant, where rooms are in real cabooses and dinner is served in an old dining car. Owner Larry Demarco has transformed 19 Pennsylvania Railroad cabooses, weighing 25 tons each, into a 40-room motel that offers the most unusual overnight accommodations in Lancaster County. The Red Caboose marks its 40th anniversary in 2009.  For information, call 888-687-5005 or visit www.redcaboosemotel.com.

Many out-of-town railroad buffs begin their day at the East Strasburg Depot, a handsome Victorian edifice moved in nine sections from its original 1882 location, 20 miles away. It is even older than the line’s antique locomotives (including one built in 1902).

Since some of the Strasburg’s rolling stock consists of open-platform coaches from the turn of the century, fresh country air makes a pleasant substitute for air-conditioning. Photography is also easy from the slow-moving train — with Amish buggies most visible at any of the railroad’s four crossings.

The right-of-way is flanked by farms that depend upon wind, water and animal power, since many Amish disdain the use of electricity or motorized vehicles.  There’s also a unique tourist attraction called the Maize Maze, where kids carrying tall, flag-topped poles try to find their way through a maze carved out of a thick cornfield.

Also along the Strasburg route is Groff’s Grove, a picnic area typical of 19th century short-line railroads. A siding at the site marks the spot where trains headed opposite ways can pass.

The railroad, founded in 1832, runs daily trains during the summer, operates on weekends into December, then shuts down for the winter. Adult admission to Strasburg Railroad is $12 while admission for children 3-11 is $6.  Weather poses no problems for the adjacent railroad museum, a deserving member of the National Register of Historic Places.

Exhibit highlights include a 1915 depot, 62-ton freight engine, vintage World War II coach, and a Hall of Locomotives — all housed in a giant room designed to look like an old train shed. Counting the outdoor displays, the railroad museum has more than 100 locomotives, many of them retired from the Pennsylvania and Reading railroads.

Inside the museum, administered by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, visitors can enter the cab of a mighty steamer, view plush parlor cars, and even walk underneath a 62-ton steam engine in the simulated repair shop. The museum will salute Veterans Day weekend Nov. 8–9 with troop train rides during the day and a Swing Train ‘40s dance on Saturday night.

The Toy Train Museum, which doubles as national headquarters of the Train Collectors Association, also has hands-on activities — every Friday during July and August. Videos and railroad films run continuously, and visitors can run many trains themselves.

Strasburg is located in Lancaster County, tucked into southeastern Pennsylvania 57 miles west of Philadelphia.  The area is best known as home of North America’s largest contingent of “Plain People,” some 70,000 members of the Amish, Brethren and Mennonite faiths. Half of them wear traditional clothing and more than 25,000 still use horse-drawn vehicles.

Horse-drawn buggies are dark, travel less than 8 miles per hour and are especially hard to identify at night. But all display triangular warning signs with orange centers and red borders. The best bet is to leave impatience at home.

For many of the locals, little has changed since they fled Germany for religious freedom a half-century before the American Revolution.

The Historic Strasburg Inn is equidistant from the outlets and the railroad attractions. The home of an annual Summer Craft Fair, it is also next door to Gast Classic Motorcars, a year-round museum that does for auto enthusiasts what the Strasburg Rail Road does for train buffs.