Track or Treat – October 19, 2024
A Halloween special train ride
Union Station
Springfield, Massachusetts
On Saturday, October 19, 2024, the Amherst Railway Society, CTrail, and Springfield Union Station kicked off Halloween with the Track or Treat special train ride between Springfield and Hartford.
300 children and adults – in costume – rode from Springfield to Hartford and back.
Maggie the Railroad Clown was on the train creating smiles with her juggling, magic tricks, and balloon artistry. And, there were lots of Halloween treats in Springfield Union Station to greet the returning riders.
Adding to the Halloween atmosphere in Springfield, the Hexenbruts (dancing witches) added music and fun to the festivities.
The Track or Treat Special Train Ride is the collaborative effort of the Amherst Railway Society, CTrail, and Springfield Union Station.
Kids ON TRACK – at Springfield Union Station
August 3 & 4, 2024
On August 3 & 4, the Amherst Railway Society, CTrail, and Springfield Union Station are jointly sponsored Kids ON TRACK at Union Station in Springfield, Massachusetts.
Area model railroad clubs had operating model railroads set up in the Union Station concourse, and children (of all ages) had a chance to run trains.
In addition to the operating model railroads, CTrail ran special roundtrip train ride between Springfield and Hartford on both mornings.
As part of the Kids ON TRACK weekend, Maggie the Railroad Clown (Nicole Portwood) appeared at the event both Saturday and Sunday performing magic tricks, juggling, and creating balloon wizardry.
Maggie is a graduate of the prestigious Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Clown College. She spent four years traveling with the Greatest Show On Earth.
Kids ON TRACK is an emerging national effort by the model railroad industry to encourage young modelers, and link model railroading to STEM education.
video – Kids ON TRACK – July, 2023
Kids ON TRACK – at the Northeast Large Scale Train Show
April 27 & 28, 2024
On Saturday and Sunday, children 15 and under had an opportunity to be part of two make-and-take model railroad programs at the Large Scale Train Show.
The first – Build a Flatcar Load – gave kids an opportunity take a G-scale flatcar and build a load for the car using a variety of materials provided by the Amherst Railway Society. Then, all the flat cars were run together as a train on the New Hampshire Garden Railroad’s G-Scale railroad.
The flatcars and the loads the children build were theirs to keep.
The second program – Decorate a Building – gave kids an opportunity to decorate a G-scale building using paints and other materials provided by the Amherst Railway Society. The buildings the children decorated were theirs to keep.
Kids ON TRACK
Kids ON TRACK (KOT) is an initiative of the Amherst Railway Society (ARS) designed to give elementary, middle, and high school students experience with railroads and model railroads.
Kids of fall ages are fascinated with trains and model railroads. Give a kid a chance to ride a train, or put a throttle in a kid’s hands and they light right up. Parents are fascinated, too, because they see the effect that trains and model trains have on their children.
There are two parts to the program.
Part One – get kids riding trains and running trains
ARS works in partnership with CTrail and Springfield Union Station to provide train rides for children and their families. Among the train ride events are the Kids ON TRACK weekend each summer, the Track Or Treat train ride each October. In addition, ARS sponsors train rides during the Large Scale Train Show weekend in April, and the Railroad Hobby Show weekend in January.
Train rides are fun, but there is a sense of adventure, too. It’s an experience that sticks with you.
ARS has an HO-scale modular display railroad that travels to a variety of events. The layout is setup for operation by children, and their parents, too. The purpose of the display layout is to let children experience the pure joy of running trains.
Amherst also has several sets of BRIO-style wooden trains that we set up at events. The wooden trains give children that might be too young to operate the modular railroad a chance to enjoy running trains.
Part Two – get kids building a railroad
Aimed at middle school and high school students, Part Two is intended to get kids building model railroad modules, programming engines, adding scenery, and operating the railroad. Our goal is to come up with classroom and after-school programs that will engage kids in model railroading.
Part Two is STE(A)M education – science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics.
Collaboration
Kids ON TRACK is intended to be a collaborative effort to promote model railroading – schools, manufacturers, clubs, retailers. After all, the things we are learning could benefit others, and, it’s likely other organizations are learning things that could help us.