Trains

Hop aboard toy trains to see the world

Kids understand the romance of the rails, and some of us grownups never quite leave our toy trains behind. Contemporary trains run on diesel or electric power, but the image of a huge, powerful steam locomotive pumping out smoke, barreling down the rails and chugging around mountain bends still captivates our imagination. We never forget the childhood train sets our parents probably purchased right here at Sears. Many of us develop a lifelong love for trains and make a hobby of modeling scale railroads.

Toy trains are excellent developmental toys. Assembling track improves hand-eye coordination, and figuring out where to place curves and switches develops critical thinking skills. Kids love to make train layouts as realistic as possible. They have a great time pulling the trains past toy houses, over bridges and through tunnels. They love populating their train table world with action figures, but for many children the best parts of any train set are a red caboose, a working crane and a water tower.

Assembling toy train sets has the same appeal as working on wood puzzles. Both activities teach kids quite a bit about how the world is put together, and best of all, the kids have fun while they learn. Eventually, though, children outgrow the wood toy stage. When they do, Sears makes it very easy to step up to the world of HO and N scale model railroading. We have many complete train starter kits, but kids really enjoy mixing and matching engines with our wide selection of rolling stock, including boxcars, coal cars, gondolas and flatcars.

Be sure to get a locomotive with a realistic whistle or horn sound. Horns and whistles are part of the magic of the train. When the engineer blows the horn, even adults get a rush. Kids love to toot the horns on their own engines, just as they love to play with musical toys. Trains have always fascinated songwriters and musicians, who have helped make the locomotive an American icon. That lonesome whistle blowing is one of the tunes on our national soundtrack.

Trains of all kinds have always been among the most popular items in our Wish Books, and Sears carries the world's most respected toy and hobby brands. Whether you are looking for a simple wood toy, or branching out into scale model railroading and need track, wiring components and digital controllers, Sears meets all of your railroad needs.