At the other end of the country--
Many years ago, I did the engineer for an hour at the Portola Railroad Museum. The loco was a Western Pacific switcher, an S-1 or S-2 if I am not mistaken. We managed to lose both the film
and the video of this somehow
so I can't be more specific. I really enjoyed it.
My wife got me as a Christmas gift "Engineer for a Day" at the Roaring Camp and Big Trees near Santa Cruz, California. There are four runs up the mountain and you get more responsibility each trip until the last one when you're doing all of the driving except for the switchback. All of your moves are "up" and the actual engineers do all the "down" since that's a lot more difficult. What a thrill, and what a mess I was after it was over! I also know
exactly how water towers work, since I got to do that too.
[And how did an Easterner come to do both of these? My wife is from San Jose and we visit at least once a year.]
I also got to drive a former NYO&W 44 tonner up in Lake Placid for about 100 feet, but that was just happenstance-- being in the right place at the right time. But a great surprise, and a real tie to history.
So I would highly recommend the experience, regardless of the venue. I may need to check out the Connecticut possibilities.