And speaking of rails, the real one is running today.

All the bedtime story train metaphors apply. The little engine from 'Ewa Beach could. It can. Come what may. The true believers are making sure of it.

The Hawaiian Railway Society, a nonprofit group of people who love, love, love trains, offer the tours on vintage sugar cane train locomotives. Society members, all volunteers, have worked over the years to restore 100-year-old tracks that run from their little Renton Road depot to Kahe Point. Someday, goes the big dream, the volunteer engineers — sturdy men in stripe-y overalls, grayed and grinning like excited children — can take her all the way to Nanakuli.

The Sunday afternoon rides feature slow speeds, hard seats, miles of dry brush to look at, and are yet completely magical and endearing. For a small fee, you can ride the trains these men have rebuilt, sit with their collected stories and see the world through their orderly, optimistic eyes; a world where rusty things have great value, where hard work makes things possible, and where the trains run on time.

Last weekend, a brushfire took out more than 250 of the carefully placed wooden ties between the rails.

The regular train buffs have been out on the tracks every day this week doing what they can to fix the damage. New people have been showing up unannounced to offer their help.

Theresa Chordas, administrator of the Hawaiian Railways, says, "We've had people come in during the week. They just walked in to the yard and said 'Hey, we're here to help' and they went out with the guys. Other people just met the crew down on the track."

Both Campbell Estate and Hawaiian Electric came through with donations of $6,000 apiece to buy new wooden ties. Until those arrive from a Mainland supplier, the Society volunteers are making do with spares they had around the train yard.

Instead of a 90-minute tour that goes out to Kahe point, the train will stop before the track damage, so for now, the ride will last an hour. Tickets are $5 and the trains leave at 1 and 3 p.m.

Chordas is hoping the newfound volunteers will be willing to come back after supplies come in from the Mainland. And even after that. There's always work to do around the train yard.

Chordas says, "The thing is that these people are actually doing it. A lot of times you have little groups that just love trains or whatever and they have all these great ideas but things just don't get done, but these guys work hard out there."

Even better, they're so thrilled to share their love of those rusty old trains.