Based in the historic town of 4,000 residents named after Gen. Andrew Jackson -- who camped there during the War of 1812 -- the steam-powered locomotive pulls two open coaches on a scenic, six-mile, 45- minute trip every Saturday and Sunday afternoon, weather permitting.
"We have a real nice ride here and people get a good slice of the history of the area," engineer Andy Martin said as he adjusted the locomotive's pressure valves before pulling out of the clapboard station. "I don't know what it is about trains -- but the kids just go ape over it. Their eyes get so big."
Operated by volunteer members of the Republic of West Florida Museum, a replica of a bygone Southern village, the narrow-gauge train entertains and educates several thousand visitors each year from mid-March through November. Now in its seventh season, the train also pumps tourism revenues into a small town situated some distance away from major highways.
Old Hickory Railroad conductor T.W. Prewitt, a retired East Feliciana Parish school supervisor, said "the train is the cornerstone of the museum complex and it adds to the annual Antique Festival (April 1-3) and the Highland Games (Nov. 18-20). We' re trying to develop tourism and recreation in the Jackson area rather than just depend on state employment."
The area's economy primarily depends on government employment, with more than 1,000 residents working at the Dixon Correctional Institute and the East Louisiana State Hospital, according to parish records. Several hundred others work at the East Feliciana school district and the Louisiana War Veterans Home.
But the train ride was the focus of more than 80 visitors on a Saturday afternoon earlier this month as Old Hickory Railroad rolled into a new season.
When engineer Martin pressurized the brake lines, the coaches shuddered to life and several children shouted "all aboard" in anticipation of the train's departure.
After winding along a creek behind town, the train crawled up a forested hill to stop in a clearing. Next weekend, riders will witness a "holdup" being staged at this location, featuring Confederate re-enactors "who will search the train for Northern spies," conductor Prewitt said. "If they find any -- they'll be shot!"
The Jackson area's original Clinton-Port Hudson Railroad tracks, which carried cotton and lumber to market, were torn up by Union troops choking off supplies to nearby Port Hudson, Prewitt said. The current tracks were laid just for this train, which is a two-thirds size working replica of an actual 1850s-era locomotive.
"It was built in the 1960s by Crown Metal Products in Pennsylvania specifically for park rides," Prewitt said. "The company built 21 others like it before it went out of business in the 1980s."
"Number 2's" sister locomotives pull visitors around places such as Six Flags in Texas and Disneyland in California. The most well-known model is at Michael Jackson's Neverland Ranch.
Old Hickory Railroad's locomotive originally burned coal, but "nobody wanted to shovel coal, so we changed it over to propane," Prewitt said.
After stopping at a memorial where passengers learned over a loudspeaker system that Confederate sentry Joe Fluker was killed by Union troops in 1864, the train also halted at a number of other locations. These included a Confederate cemetery, an Indian mound, an historic building that once housed Centenary College (now located in Shreveport) and Feliciana Cellars winery which sports a large mural of the Fluker incident.
"It was very educational," said Bailee Taylor, 10, of Watson, who rode in the front seat with her sister, Emilee, 6, and friend, Andrew Wilkins, 4, of Baton Rouge. "I learned a lot about the Civil War."
Her grandmother, Georgia Wilkins of Zachary, who sat behind the children with their mother, Dawn Taylor, agreed: "I've lived around here a long time and didn't know there was that much history."
Aaron Page, 4, and his sister Courtney, 10, of Zachary also sat on the front row with their mother, Cathy Page, sitting behind them. The family has a season pass, Cathy Page said. "We ride it nearly every weekend. They just love it."
"It was fun," Courtney Page said afterward. "I learned about Indians and where they got the train."
David and Carol Brown of Baton Rouge sat in the very last seat with their two grandchildren, Emily Brown, 4, and her brother Julian, 8. The couple has ridden the train several times with family members and keeps coming back.
"The kids are really into Thomas Train on TV and can't get enough of trains," David Brown said, referring to the television series, "Thomas & Friends," starring an animated, talking locomotive. "One rainy day, we were here and the train didn't run, so we spent the whole day in the museum."
The museum consists of several large rooms full of artifacts ranging from dinosaur bones to Civil War weapons to Space Shuttle items. Tucked among some antique cars is a black, horse-drawn hearse used in the movie "Interview with a Vampire."
A nearby building is filled with eight operating model trains of various gauges managed by The Greater Baton Rouge Model Railroaders.
"There is a lot more to interest people now that the train is running," said Bob Schilling, a Model Railroader who visits nearly every weekend. "It gets him out of my hair, too," added Schilling's wife, Patricia.
Betty Bryant, a museum volunteer from Zachary, said that in recent months, she has met visitors "from all over -- England, India, Chicago, New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. There is a lot to see here, but not a lot of people know about it."