Table of Content
Oranges have filled the coal tender of the train engine since 2002 when Minute Maid assumed the naming rights for the downtown ballpark. Workers at Enron Field lift a replica of a 19th-century locomotive onto a roof track on the west side of the ballpark Saturday, March 18, 2000. The locomotive will run on 800 feet of track on the left field wall.

One of the biggest hits inside Minute Maid Park, besides the dudes in the home dugout, is the train 90 feet above the field. Jack Vita is a baseball writer for Fastball on Sports Illustrated/FanNation, and host of the Jack Vita Show, a popular sports podcast available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube and wherever podcasts are found. Later in the inning, the Astros would add another run, thanks to a Christian Vazquez RBI single, putting them up 4-1, entering the seventh.
A brief history of the train at Minute Maid Park
He spent eight hours in the train during Game 5 of the World Series last year. The rest of us at home got bathroom breaks though. Bobby Vasquez, aka Bobby Dynamite, has the enviable job of conducting the train at Minute Maid Park. Every time the Astros get a home run, Vasquez moves the train down the track to the roar of the crowd.

In a strange turn of events, he was "killed" by Orbit at the end of the 1999 season. Construction workers prepare to lift a replica of a 19th century locomotive onto tracks that run alongside the moveable roof at the Houston Astro's new downtown baseball stadium called Enron Field in Houston, Saturday, March 18, 2000. Construction workers lift a replica of a 19th century locomotive onto tracks that run alongside the moveable roof at the Houston Astro's new downtown baseball stadium called Enron Field in Houston, Saturday March 18, 2000. Get your Astros fans the perfect gift this holiday season. From Season Tickets to World Champions Bricks to concerts and more, the Gift Guide has everything you need. Several options are available to make your holiday card stand out this holiday season.
Team
The 15-foot-high and 56-foot-long replica of an 1862 steam locomotive was manufactured in Porter, Minnesota. It was brought to Houston on March 13, 2000, to serve as an attraction for baseball fans and citizens. At first its cargo was logs but once Minute Maid bought the stadium's naming rights in June 2002 that switched to oranges. A 15-foot-high and 56-foot-long replica of an 1862 steam locomotive takes up almost all the space at the SMI Hydraulics Inc. shop in Porter, Minn., Tuesday, Feb. 29, 2000. The 48,000-pound train has a chimney, a steel boiler and a cow catcher.
Your purchase of each photo opportunity is a donation to the Astros Foundation. This year the Topps baseball card company honored the Astros train and Vasquez with its own card. Many visitors to the park have asked just why we have a train inside our stadium. Before it was a ballpark, the west end of Minute Maid Park was Union Station, making a train a very apt addition. For home runs, it makes a 40-second trip back and forth on its track. With the group of guys the Astros have, Vasquez can be very busy.
Top Podcasts In Sports
Wheeler opened the bottom of the sixth inning by hitting Martin Maldonado with a pitch. On the next play, the Astros traded base runners as Jose Altuve grounded into a fielder's choice, as Maldonado was thrown out at second base. Then, Jeremy Pena came up with a clutch, one-out single, advancing Altuve to third. Phillies starting pitcher Zack Wheeler cruised through the first five innings Saturday night, allowing just two hits, one walk, and no runs.
For Houston, attempting to win its first World Series title since 2017 despite two more appearances in it in and 2021 , it means a 1-0 lead in their best-of-five series with the wild-card Mariners. The longball marked just the second time in MLB playoff history a team down to its final out walked off via a homer, joining Kirk Gibson’s infamous 1988 World Series dinger. Vazquez told Chron.com in 2013 that he drives the 60,000-pound train at a slow and safe 2.5 mph. It can go 10 mph but it's not the safest thing to do up there.
Stop by the Astros Tickets booth for answers to all your questions. Be sure to check out all the unique offerings for gifts for anyone on your holiday list.

On July 8, Vazquez will turn 40 years old aboard the train that has afforded him one of the best seats in the house every season for 81 home games. Minute Maid Park train conductor Bobby Vasquez is silhouetted against the sunset outside the stadium during the third inning of a Houston Astros game against the St. Louis Cardinals on Tuesday, June 25, 2013, in Houston. The heroics were necessary after the Mariners jumped out to an early 4-0 lead in the first two innings against Astros starter Justin Verlander. The veteran Cy Young candidate lasted four innings, giving up six runs on 10 hits, striking out three and walking one in his first postseason action since 2019. It marked the second-most runs the 39-year-old has ever given up in the postseason. Alvarez’s parents, Auguistin Eduardo Alvarez and Marilyn Cadogan Reyes Salazar, traveled from Cuba to see him play a major league game for the first time this season.
Construction workers lift a replica of a 19th century locomotive onto tracks that run alongside the moveable roof Enron Field, the Houston Astro's new downtown baseball stadium Saturday March 18, 2000, in Houston. Michael Kenny piloted it during the team's inaugural season at its new ballpark. He previously did time as the General Admission mascot during the Astrodome days.
There is no automatic stopping mechanism so he has to brake the train manually on the track. Installed back in 2000, it became a national hit during the playoffs in 2017. Every time the Astros score a run, Bobby "Dynamite" Vasquez, the force behind Minute Maid Park's home-run train, sound its bells and whistles.
We'll even have a wrapping station for any items purchased at the Team Store. This year Vazquez even got his very own Topps baseball card. He will sign them for you if you send them to the stadium. We're waiting on the team store to start selling his replica overalls and orange Astros T-shirts. Artist Eric Kaposta works to finish painting his sculpture of oranges that will soon fill the coal tender behind the 1860s replica locomotive at Minute Maid Park Thursday, March 26, 2009, in Houston.
