I think the fact that this scene was included indicates that the Disney folks don't really understand rural life. From an urban perspective, racing the train may luke cute. But country folks figured out that was just S-T-U-P-I-D dumb a long time ago.
I remember a story my great grandmother used to read to me. It was about a horse that pulled a milk wagon but the farmer bought a truck. The horse raced a train in that ancient story to prove that it was still worthy to pull the wagon.