It’s going to be a good weekend to be a railroad buff in Douglas County.

The Baldwin-based Midland Railway Historical Assn. will display all its vintage railroad equipment during its “Railfans Weekend” on Saturday and Sunday.

The association will provide rides along its 12-mile track on a variety of trains, including:

• A 10 a.m. “all caboose” train both days.
• An 11:30 a.m. passenger train ride each day.
• A 1:30 p.m. mixed freight train ride each day.
• And a 3:30 p.m. “grand finale” excursion with all the engines in service together.

Special features include a 1922 Chicago-Burlington & Quincy combine car, as well as vintage locomotives from the Rock Island, Katy and New York Central railroads. There will also be a Kansas City Southern Railway Railroad Post Office car, which will demonstrate how mail was carried, sorted and distributed during the country’s early years.

The train has been running the past 15 years from the Midland Depot in Baldwin to Norwood. The association will soon extend that route to Ottawa, thanks to a federal grant to renovate rail lines along the route that have been abandoned for 50 years.

Renovation of the track will mean replacing more than 4,272 wooden cross ties, installing some 5,850 tons of rock ballast and rebuilding eight grade crossings, Midland officials have said.

For more information about the weekend, contact the association at (785) 371-3410, or visit the Web site at www.midland-ry.org.