While this page is more for parents, it offers up a few ideas of train-related activities that families—especially those with younger kids—can do together! Want more train fun? Getting involved with our TCA Youth Clubs is a fantastic and free way to embrace your child’s interest.
For some of the youngest kids, coloring and solving puzzles on paper is a favorite pastime. Print these train-themed pages for a rainy day.
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!
Learn how to get started putting together your own train-themed playlist! There are tons of songs about trains, railroads, and “riding the rails” to discover!
There are lots of books about real and toy trains. Check out our selection of train books for younger kids!
Being around real railroads can sometimes be dangerous. Check out Operation Lifesaver for great information and puzzles, coloring pages, and other train safety activities for kids of all ages.
Learning about trains is even more fun when you can share your enthusiasm with others. If you’re not yet a member of our TCA Kids Club (under age 13) or TCA Teens Club (ages 13-18), get your parents’ permission to sign up for free to experience more of the toy train collecting hobby and meet new friends!
When you join, you will receive a membership certificate, member card, and more.
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.
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.