Our youngest loves the Little Red Caboose he also likes the Thomas books.
A new series he likes is Peter's Railway. (although we only have Christmas Steam at the moment). Check http://www.petersrailway.com
Regards
Nick
Virginia Lee Burton (Mike Mulligan) also wrote and illustrated The Little House, which has some nice train content, particularly if you like trolleys, els, and subways. I really like the art style.
THANK YOU for your mention of the wonderful books by Virginia Lee Burton. I checked some out from the library and they are most enjoyable to read. The illustrations are intriguing and they are everything a children's book should be, and entertaining to adults as well. I've just seen these:
Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel - I remember this story from over 50 years ago
The Little House - a timeless classic
Katy and the Big Snow - "Katy was a beautiful red crawler tractor"
Maybelle the Cable Car - about the vote to save the cable cars in 1947.
Choo Choo - the story of a little engine who ran away - 1937 with llustrations including an M10000 type train
"The Little House" certainly had an abundance of transit services when the city grew up around the formerly rural house.
"Mr. Punnymoon's train" was a favorite of mine, and was given to me by the older lady my parents bought our house from. My mother kept it in a high up linen cupboard so that it would last. I also recall signing "How to Run a Railroad" out from my grade school library as a fourth or fifth grader. HO was a foreign concept to me. By middle school I was memorizing Greenberg's guides. My favorite was the MPC one. This thread brings back a lot of good memories.
I also seem to recall my grandmother having four of the railway series books in a little slipcover. Maybe they came from a gas station? She had a similar set of four Beatrix Potter books (Peter Rabbit, etc.) that had "BP" in a crest on the slipcover.
Oh, completely forgot: My mother, when it got very close to Christmas, would sit my brother and I down on her lap and she would read to us "The Polar Express." She did a very good job with the voices, especially when it came to the part with "THE FIRST GIFT OF CHRISTMAS!" She did this every year for a number of years. When she reached the last page, with just the picture of the bell, she would start crying. Her voice would break a little, and she would wipe her eyes as she told us how the bell even went silent for the boys sister.
To this day I refuse to see the Polar Express movie, or even give more than a passing glance to the Polar Railroad train sets. I would not want to do anything to tarnish those memories of sitting with Mom and Casey on the couch, in the warm bright house, with the cold and the dark all outside.
My two contributions:
The Huffin Puff Express - 1974 by David L. Harrison. Has a stylized S.P. Daylight on the cover.
Stubby - The Little Train that Ran Away - 1948 by Norman Christensen.
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