Mother of a Train-obsessed Son

The NorthCentral O-Gaugers: http://www.ncogtrains.com/ set up monthly at Fremont Library in Mundelien and always have people on hand to answer questions and teach. They also travel around to other libraries and events. They have a ton of info on their site as well.

There is also a HUGE train show in Milwaukee and there was one in Hinsdale two weekends ago.

What aspect of trains does he like? How they run, what they look like, where they go, building them, narrow gauge, freighter, the history of locomotives in the US? Depending on his interest, you can go in many different directions with your support to expand his thinking about trains.

I'm not from Illinois, so I don't know anything about your area. However, my son loves trains and we have found train museums all over our area. He always has a great time. You may want to see if there are any train museums nearby.

"The child psychologist who thought she had all the answers to parenting until she became one herself." www.themommypsychologist.com.

My BIL is obsessed with trains!! He had a model train track started in his yard with tunnels and such.

Every Christmas the train club in our area used to set up their train set in the rotunda of the Government Center. It was beautiful to watch the train go round and whoo as it went by.

Every Christmas we gone on the Polar Express. We ride the train and they read the Polar Express to us and serve hot cookies and hot chocolate. It is a great time. They have a great little museum inside the train depot and they have a lot of neat books on trains and the breaks and such.

Before my husband I wear married, I found this train ride on the Cumbress and Toltec. It took us from Northern New Mexico to Southern Colorado. My husband was so mad because this ride took the whole day. I finally gave the option to opt out and he agreed to go with me. He LOVED it! He even went to the restroom and disappeared for a long time. He was in the open car letting the wind blow in his hair.

I found a great train book at Costco years ago. It showed trains all over the world. Some were old coal trains and some elaborate sleeper cars with beautiful suites.

For now, a great trip on the Polar Express should do. You can look online for depots who offer it in your area.

Here's a great gift ride: http://www.20thcentury.org/Trip%2012-M%20West%20Virginia%...

I don't know about train clubs, but at the Morton Arboretum, a local train group sents up a fantastic model train display every year at Christmas time. I think it is available for viewing from Thanksgiving to New Years. I would highly recommend it.

We have been to the train museum -- our little train lover loved it. It is basically a huge piece of land with thousands of old train cars of all sorts. You can walk around and explore and go inside some of them.

train-obsessed son. that's an oxymoron! aren't they all? In our area there is a vintage railroad that runs between tourist spots. YOu could check around your area. We ride the tram from city to city, just to ride every now and then. We also drive down to the train yard and watch the trains switch tracks, back up, get uncoupled, get serviced, etc.
There is also a model train club here that we follow. We don't belong because I don't want to build a train! It's mostly adult men, so, no we did not join. But when they have events, we go see the elaborate setups.

The train clubs that I am familiar with are mainly adult clubs. Then again, I'm not from IL. Does your son like Thomas the Train? Thomas comes in April and May to the Henry Ford Village in Dearborn, MI. We've already gotten tickets. I'm sure Thomas is probably showing up in IL somewhere also since he's originally based in PA and takes a yearly tour around the country. My older son used to be obsessed with trains, not as much anymore, but once in a while, we take a train ride. I also enjoy trains!

There is a national train day at union station in Chicago coming up in the next couple of months that we went to last year and loved. Also in downers grove there is the all aboard diner at 75th an lemont road that my 3 year old loves. There is also a Thomas musical that was here in April last year not sure if it is coming backs this year. And the Thomas day at the union museum was in August last year and so much fun. Does he have a conductor costume to wear and train whistle?

Usually train clubs are not for children. However, it is worth a call to one
and find out if they know of any childrens club. At 5, must husband was
obscessed with trains. Fast forward 62 years and we have 750 Lionel
trains, O gauge. We love travel ing by train. Have gone around th entire
US and across Canada by train. Oh one of our first dates, he took me to
a train museum. What the heck did I know. Right. It was outside, and
winter time. Can't fight them, join them. I now know more about trains than
I ever thought I would LOL. A great hobby like that, keeps them out of
trouble when they are older. I would enourage it. It is a great hobby

When my son was about that age we took a weekend trip to Cass WV.
The have a few restored steam engines that take you on a day trip up to the top of Bald Knob.
You pack a picnic lunch and the view from up there on a sunny day is very pretty.

http://www.cassrailroad.com/

There's a trans Canada train trip (modern train) that we want to take someday but it costs about as much as a cruise ship.

Check out the Museum of Science & Industry.

Here's a couple links:
http://www.msichicago.org/whats-here/exhibits/pioneer-zep...

http://www.msichicago.org/whats-here/omnimax-3d-theater/r...

http://www.msichicago.org/whats-here/exhibits/the-great-t...

Can you take your son for a trip on a train? That is the ultimate! And, he's old enough to enjoy and remember it.

My kids and I rode the Pacific Starlight from Redding, CA to Santa Barbara, CA and back. We were fortunate to have a couple weeks in between returning as it was quite a long ride, but oh...what an adventure. It was the trip of a lifetime.

I don't know about train clubs. Contact the train museum in Union and ask them if they know anything about that. You can be sure to find a multitude of train enthusiasts there.

The library is always your best bet as far as getting your hands on learning materials.
I posted just one of many links about Neil Young and the love he shares of trains with his special needs son.

By all means, perhaps for a birthday, look in to planning a train trip for your son.

Best wishes!

http://thrasherswheat.org/tfa/trains-neil-young-1993.htm

The Thomas Day Out at the museum in Union, IL was a lot of fun. It looks like they already have the dates set-up for 2012 too!

http://www.irm.org/thomas/index.html

My coworker had also suggested we check this place out, although I haven't been yet:

http://www.hesston.org/