The Austin Steam Train has several routes. We chose the Hill Country Flier to Burnet, TX. It's a 2 hour train ride to Burnet with a 2 hour layover in Burnet before heading back into Austin. Dragon, C.M. and I along with my mother and Dragons parents headed out to a perfectly nice train ride. The weather was perfect, sunny but still very cool. Drinks and snacks were available as well as souvenirs. Kids 3 and under are free as long as they sit on your lap (only a hand full of seats were not occupied ) but I recommend buying a ticket anyway. Not a lot of leg room and if your toddler is as squirmy wormy as mine is, it would be more pleasant with that extra seat. The train only goes about 20 miles an hour. We were riding coach so no climate control but the window were wide open. It really was a lovely day for it. 
When we got into Burnet they were having a market day at the town square. Lots of little tents selling trinkets, wood carvings, chickens and more. We looked around all the while trying to find a place to eat. We found one. Service was good but the food took a long time. There was hardly anytime left to sightsee when we finally finished eating. We headed back in a hurry. While we were running to the train I saw a little sign that said: yarn shop. <gasp> nooooo! I knew I should have googled to see if there were any in the area. It looked really lovely but I don't remember the name. Its in the square facing the courthouse. I wish I had more time to stop in but I definitely will next time.
I wasn't able to take may pictures. The historical district was small. Some of the buildings were very much original to the turn of the last century. Some were vacant but most were nice country stores. I don't think this will be the one and only time going. Next time we'll try to manage our time wisely. And now that we have a map of the town (provided by AST) we can plan our route ahead of time.
The train ride back into Austin was very long. We waited almost an hour for another train to pass before we could make a track change. That's okay that just meant more knitting time for me. I was able to start and almost finish a pair socks for my C.M. All and all it was a good day for traveling
