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One of the biggest hits inside Minute Maid Park, besides the dudes in the home dugout, is the train 90 feet above the field.

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.

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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. 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.

Vasquez has been on the job since 2001. He's been with the Astros since he was just 22 years old, starting out as a tour department intern before jumping on the train.

He isn't the first to man one of Houston's most beloved locomotives, though.

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. In a strange turn of events, he was "killed" by Orbit at the end of the 1999 season.

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The train that Astros fans know and love is just a quarter bigger than a real locomotive.

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.

Photo: MICHAEL STRAVATO, AP

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.

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. There is no automatic stopping mechanism so he has to brake the train manually on the track.

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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.

Photo: Craig Hlavaty

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.

Craig Hlavaty is a reporter for Chron.com and HoustonChronicle.com.