The National Train Day event at Los Angeles Union Station will feature free kids’ activities sponsored by Chuggington, interactive and educational exhibits, model train displays and giveaways. Visitors will have the chance to tour private luxury railcars, freight and commuter trains, as well as current Amtrak equipment.I really want to go since luxury railcars are like tiny houses on wheels (and I love tiny houses!). I also want to know if Chuggington is a sentient being, an anthropomorphic train, or an abstract marketing concept.
I also suspect there will be lots of train enthusiasts at this event, and it would be fun to chat those folks up. Someone once told me I was obsessed with people who are obsessed and I think that's quite accurate. I don't have the attention span to be a true obsessor (at the moment, I'm simultaneously into knitting, fly fishing, and banjoes - I like to call myself a serial hobbyist) and so I live vicariously through those who can devote themselves without reservation. Train people are like that. In fact, hardcore train fans are called "foamers."
On a related topic, John McPhee had a great two-part article about coal trains in a 2005 issue of the New Yorker.
Update: I'm apparently very out of the kids' television programming loop - Chuggington is an animated talking train show.
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