Several of the characters, including the mother's suitor, a monosyllabic, retired fireman (Andy Backer), were occasionally played for laughs - and won them.
Each locomotive had its own personality, a retired fireman explains in the film that accompanies the exhibit.
A retired fireman, Bernie made his place available for the rescuers who were pulling charred bodies from the wreckage.
"You just can't turn the key on," Gene O'Reilly, a retired fireman, told two boys visiting from Manhattan.
The host is a retired fireman (Ned Beatty), crusty but soft at the center.
As family members compile material for it, his uncle, Leo Piro, a retired fireman, reminds people that his nephew's career started and ended with a disaster.
Three retired firemen are traveling on the bus.
For me and for a lot of other retired firemen, it reconnects them to their friends and camaraderie.
He's a retired fireman.
He played Ken Boon, a retired fireman who opened a motorbike despatch business and later became a private investigator.