I admit it...I'm a railroad brat. My grandfather was Yardmaster for the Milwaukee Road in Minneapolis and I grew up riding the rails from Kenosha to Minneapolis. I rode the rails for free and pretty much had full run of the train. All of Grampa's railroad buddies knew me as "Scoop", the railroad nicknamem my Grampa had given me.
I never outgrew my love of railroads. As an adult I belonged to an HO model railroading club.
So when a client asked me if I would plan a railroad birthday party for her 6 year old son, I was...
Sorry, I couldn't resist
Venue
When it comes to party planning, I'm a perfectionist. I want to create a party atmosphere that takes partygoers to another place and time and out of their daily lives.
Sure, one could hold a train party in one's house...but it just doesn't come close to the experience of riding the rails. I want something more GENUINE.
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I wracked my brain for venue ideas for this party. The cost of renting a private railroad car for a party was waaaaaaaay out of the budget. Besides, Amtrack had quit doing that I was told. I suppose I could've persuaded my fellow HO model railroaders to hold it in our model train setup room but I didn't want to take the chance on the kids accidentally wrecking any layouts or trains.
I was driving back from a medical appointment in a neighboring city when I saw and remembered it...
BAZINGA!!! There it still sat in someone's yard...an old railroad coach I'd forgotten all about.
I got out of the car, walked around the coach and peered in the windows.
This old baby was in really rough shape...but I had an idea. You know...one of those grandiose ideas that cause me to plan my parties up to a year in advance because I get some hairbrained idea in my noggin...
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Well? All I could do is cross my fingers, ask and the worst the owner could do would be say no.
I walked up to the front door of the house and rang the doorbell.
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An elderly gentleman answered, eyeing me suspiciously. I figured this was going to be a tough sell.
The man's name was Glen and I got the impression he didn't get many visitors, much less someone wanting to use his train car.
He was hesitating and still eyeing me suspiciously. I had to find some common ground between us and fast!
"So did you used to work for the railroad that you have a coach sitting in your yard?" I asked.
"Yeah. Why?"
"My grampa worked for the railroad. He was Yardmaster for the Milwaukee Road in Minneapolis," I explained.
Glen's eyes grew wide. "Your grampa was BILL REED?!!"
"Yup, sure was. Did you know him?"
He was staring at me intently. "Sweet Jesus...are you SCOOP?!!"
"The one and only," I smiled.
Glen was going to test me to make sure I was who I said I was. "If you're Scoop, then you remember Jake Monahan..."
I launched into the railroad ditty Grampa and all of railroad guys recited when they worked.
"Oh ta deedle aye, teedle aye, teedle aye, ta dum. Somebody called Jake Monahan a bum. Jake got mad and rose up his hand and he swore he could lick any chicken in the land!"
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Glen's eyes grew to be about the size of dinner plates. "Holy...Sweet...Jesus! It really IS you, Scoop!"
"Yeah, a little older version but it's me all right."
And just like that I was Glen's new bestest friend. Or maybe that's oldest new bestest friend given he'd known me since I was 4 years old. Talk about a small world! What were the odds Glen and I would run into each other so many decades later and he'd even remember that snot nosed little railroad brat that had ridden the rails with him?
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Glen and I spent the rest of the afternoon talking and catching up. He'd bought the old railroad coach when he'd retired and had planned on restoring it in his retirement until his health took a turn for the worse. I seized the opportunity and laid out my proposal..."Tell ya what Glen...If I could use your coach for a birthday party of little boys that love trains, I'll ask the members of my model railroading club if they'd help me restore that coach for you. He was not only delighted with the offer but said he'd pay for all the materials if they guys agreed to pitch in and help me restore the car.
I phoned Don, the head of our club and laid out my proposal. Either the gods were smiling on me that day or there was some Divine orchestration going on. Don wasn't busy at that particular moment, he'd drive out and take a look at the coach to see how big of a job it would be to restore it.
Glen was beside himself with excitement.
Long story short, all the guys said sure they'd help and we spent our weekends during the next 2 months working on Glen's railroad car. We had to make some modifications to the car to stay within a reasonable budget but it turned out beautifully.
We involved Glen in every step of the process and he was thrilled with the final results.
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I hadn't said anything to my client yet. I didn't want to until we knew we could finish the job in time.
I phoned her and told her I'd found a venue and that if she and her son liked, he could have his party in a real railroad coach and it wouldn't cost them a penny apart from the gas to drive there.
She and her son were over the moon!
And bless her heart, she said to make sure to invite Glen to her son's birthday party.
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Little did I know what a fateful decision that would turn out to be.
Invitations
Because we'd spent so much of my planning time restoring the coach, I kept things real simple with the invitations, designing a railroad ticket in my computer graphics program that I could easily mail out.
The invitation would be used just like a train ticket to board the coach.
Two of the guys from the railroad club volunteered to come dressed as an engineer and conductor and the conductor would punch the tickets as the kids boarded the train car.
(Honestly I think those two just wanted to regress to childhood for a day.) But if nothing else, they'd be good company for Glen and add an additional touch of realism to the party.
staging & Props
A coach car is a pretty confined space so we didn't have a whole lot of staging to do apart from the kids dining table.
I did scatter a few pieces of my grampa's railroad memorabilia here and there inside the car but that was about it.
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I did stack some old suitcases outside next to the coach and did put up a crossing gate but that was it as far as staging and props went.
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You probably won't be holding your train party in a real railroad car...but that's no problem!
You can easily transform areas inside your home into a depot area, ticket booth, baggage claim area, lounge car, dining car...
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Remember, you just want to create the ILLUSION
that your guests are anywhere but where they actually are.
Don't forget those FREE refrigerator shipping cartons! Connect them together you can lay out several facets of a depot.
Suggested props:
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Railroad caps (engineer, conductor, etc.)
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Red bandanas
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Railroad lanterns
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Railroad signage
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Ticket Dater
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Train schedule board
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Railroad track spikes
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​Old suitcases
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Model train cars
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Depot style benches
Food/Menu
Slide #3 = Wheel Dump Pasta Casserole - recipe here
Slide #4 - Train sandwiches - get cookie cutters here
Slide #5 - BBQ of your choice sandwiches
Slide #6 - PB&J sandwich halves with crackers for wheels & cab and baby carrot for smokestack
Slide #7 - Candy trains - recipe here
Slide #8 - Coal car candy - Use chocolate covered raisins or peanuts
Slide #10 - Tip: Use disposable aluminum mini loaf pans as "serving cars". Simply glue cardboard wheels to them.
Tablescape
The photo below wasn't our actual train car but I wanted to give you an idea of the space you'd be working with if you did find a train car venue...and that we were working with. We had room for one long table. (I have 2 rectangular banquet tables we butted up against one another)
I had white tablecloths for them so just used those. Rather than tear my HO layout apart, I used 2 of my O gauge Lionel trains and those tracks to lay a track down the center of the table and set my O gauge train cars on.
Each place setting had a railroad engineer's cap and red bandana.
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Placemats were railroad themed activity and coloring sheets. We put containers of crayons and pencils on the table so the boys could work on their sheets.
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Printable activity placemats available in Pdf download file here for $4.49.
To decorate our train party table we used:
I also bought goodie bags to put at each boy's place setting.
They included:
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Train engine made out of candy
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A train lollipop
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Wind up train
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The guys from the railroad club and I had made a special goody bag for Glen.
It took going through a gazillion cousins of mine before I found a photo of my Grampa and Glen together in the train yard. i framed it & signed it "You'll always be in Grampa's and my hearts. Scoop"​
The guys and I had also all chipped in to buy Glen a vintage Hamilton 992B railroad pocket watch with a Milwaukee Road fob to show our appreciation for Glen allowing us to restore his coach and use it whenever we wanted to.
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All of the guys in the club showed up to present him with this watch. (In case you don't know what a Hamilton 992B is, it was the official pocket watch used by all railroaders - now rare to find.)
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As it turned out we were so glad we did this because there was both a very happy ending to this party and a very sad one.
About 2 weeks after the party Glen passed away very
suddenly and unexpectedly. The boys at the party had loved listening to Glen tell his railroad stories and the crew and I were just devastated when we got the news. But we were thankful we in some small way were able to not only restore his coach for him, but make some of his final memories such happy ones.
Activities
Conductor Says
This is just like "Simon Says" but Simon is replaced by the train conductor. Let each child take a turn as the Conductor and instead of saying "Simon says", say "Conductor says".
Build A Barrel Train
Kids LOVE this if you want to invest the time in building one! Above is the 1st video in a series of 6 in how to build a barrel train. The rest of the video series is here. Just remember you need something like a garden tractor or ATV to pull your train!
Pencil Box Portable Train Set
Help the kids assemble their own pencil box portable train set they can take with them anywhere.
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The box includes an oval of track (two different ovals are possible), an engine, a freight car, freight, passengers, and more.
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Ticket to Ride
Designed for younger children aged 6 and up. Players collect train cards and claim routes on the board, trying to connect cities across North America. Through gameplay, kids learn strategy, problem-solving, and geography skills. Get the game here
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Another great option is Chugga Choo! The game features colorful wooden trains that players move around the track by rolling dice. Children practice counting and basic math as they add up their train cars and move along the tracks. It’s perfect for preschoolers or early elementary students just starting with board games.