Attention Parents: Here’s How to Get Your Kids Started With Toy Trains!

Before signing kids up for our Youth Clubs, many parents often wonder how to get started the right way for the youngest toy train enthusiasts and kids who are just beginning to express an interest in the collecting hobby. Perhaps you are unfamiliar with trains, but your child has fallen in love. Where should you start?

The answer is right here! This page is your introductory resource to some of the best information on the toy train hobby for kids. Browse our collection of music, puzzles, jokes, facts about toy trains, and so much more. Better yet? Make a plan to visit the National Toy Train Museum in Strasburg, PA as a family!

Explore

The following links provide listings of some of our favorite train-related activities to spark kids’ growing interest in trains!

For Kids Under 6

Does your child’s room already look like a train museum? If not, decorating with train photos and memorabilia is a great way to support their interest. You can also listen to songs about trains, learn about train whistle signals, and so much more.

Did you know? Train Facts & Whistle Signals

Fun Train Activities

Songs about Trains

For Older Kids

The best way to support your older child’s train interest? Don’t delay in signing up for our free TCA Youth Clubs! We can help your school-age kid or teen develop their passion for toy trains in many ways—including getting to know other people their age who enjoy the same hobby!

Join the Clubs

Check Out Our Club Newsletters

More Ideas for Kids & Families

Discover a local train store

One of the best ways to get started with the toy train hobby at any age is to visit a local toy train shop. There you’ll find lots of toy trains and equipment. More importantly, you’ll find people who love toy trains and are happy to share their ideas and knowledge. If you don’t have a toy train store nearby, you can check out our Museum Shop online.

Ask around your community

The Train Collectors Associations has Divisions & Chapters covering nearly every square mile of the USA, and we can help you locate seasoned train collectors in your area. You will find that right in your community, there are lots of people with toy train layouts in their houses—but you may not find them unless you ask around.

Subscribe to train magazines and online resources

Wondering what some of the best train magazines and other resources are for collectors? These are a few of our favorites:

World’s Greatest Hobby is a great place to find lots of information about toy trains and the leading manufacturers. It also has links to many major toy train manufacturers and other railroad hobby organizations that sponsor the site, plus lists of model train clubs, hobby shops, frequently asked questions, and more.
CLASSIC TOY TRAINS is the magazine of Lionel, MTH, K-Line, American Flyer, and other toy trains manufactured from today back to 1900. In the pages of CLASSIC TOY TRAINS, you’ll find information about building, operating and enhancing toy train layouts, track plans, repair and maintenance tips, profiles of collectible postwar and prewar trains, and more. 
Model Railroader features step-by-step products, fascinating photo tours of layouts, insightful reviews, tips from the experts, and much more. 
Railroad Model Craftsmen provides monthly tips on model railroading, lists books you can order, and offers great information about the hobby. Carsten Publications also put out other material on real trains.
Greenberg’s Books, published by Kalmbach Publishing, cover a wide array of toy train information, with a special focus on toy train history, Lionel trains, operation and repair, and price guides.

We also invite you to get in touch with our professional staff at the National Toy Train Library to learn more about the resources we have in-house!

Explore the NTTL

Visit Us in “Train City USA”

Did you know that TCA headquarters and the National Toy Train Museum are located in a train enthusiast’s dream community in Southcentral Pennsylvania? Kids and adults alike love to visit us!

Our hometown of Strasburg, PA, is known as “Train City” because it is also the home to the historic Strasburg Rail Road, the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania, and the Choo-Choo Barn. You can spend an entire day here enjoying trains of all kinds! And, if you choose to stay overnight at the Red Caboose Motel—with accommodations in real caboose cars—you can continue your train-themed trip around the clock!

Plan Your Visit

Get In Touch

Our TCA Members worldwide are always eager to share the toy train hobby with young enthusiasts and their families. Find out who our Youth Clubs coordinator is for your local area on this page. Or, simply get in touch with us at TCA Headquarters and let us know how we can help connect you with other train collectors.

Shop Amazon and Help TCA

TCA members who shop at Amazon.com can have each of their normal purchases generate a modest payment to TCA! And it won’t cost you anything!

The Train Collectors Association is now a participant with AmazonSmile, which is a special website operated by Amazon that lets customers enjoy the same wide selection of products, low prices and convenient shopping features as on Amazon.com.

The difference is that when customers shop at AmazonSmile (smile.amazon.com), the AmazonSmile Foundation donates 0.5% of the price of eligible purchases to the charitable organizations selected by customers.

The process is simple. Just search for and select Train Collectors Association when you sign up and shop at smile.amazon.com.

You use your regular Amazon.com username and password, but when you log in to smile.amazon.com, you’ll see that you are supporting TCA with your purchases:

Note that if you just log in to the regular amazon.com, this benefit does not operate.

There are no costs to either you or TCA, but TCA benefits!

This is a great way for TCA to earn extra cash to offset costs, so sign up today to help support TCA.

* Note: TCA is not a party to any of your Amazon transactions, and does not endorse any products or vendors.

Helping TCA with your ebay purchases when you use PayPal

If you’re an ebay user and have a PayPal account you use to make payments, you can designate a donation for TCA when you’re checking out — any amount, small or large.
If you’re a regular seller on ebay, you can pre-designate a percentage of your sales to be donated automatically in your name to TCA as long as the purchaser pays with their PayPal account.

In both cases, you will receive a donation receipt from the PayPal Giving Fund, and enjoy applicable tax advantages.

How to do it:

Click on the image above, or use this link. This will take you to ebay, where you will see the following page (log in to ebay if you are not already):

This offers TCA as an option. Click on the “Add to My Charities” button where indicated with the red arrow. Thereafter, when you make a purchase, at checkout you will be offered the option to make a donation to TCA in any amount of your choosing. Small amounts add up, larger ones are great! It’s always up to you!

The option will appear at the lower part of your checkout page, something like this:

If you’re a regular seller on ebay, you can allocate a portion of your sales proceeds to be donated to TCA. Look at the green arrow marked “Optional” above to see how to do it. Details on how ebay calculates the donation may be read here. This is a wonderful way to share the financial benefits of your hobby with the organization that promotes it!

An added benefit to TCA is that these donations are not subject to normal processing fees, so that makes your donation work harder!

* Note. TCA is not a party to any of your eBay transactions, and does not endorse any products or vendors. PayPal issues the receipts to you for your donation, not TCA.