A Half-day in Train Town

If you are in the San Francisco Bay Area and looking for a day trip that will provide some amusement for little kids, we suggest Train Town in Sonoma. Train Town is not too popular an attraction but it ought to be, for it is a fairly nice place for some family fun. 

Train Town as its name suggests, does have a lot to do with trains. Pull into the parking lot and you will see a clock tower that reminds you of a railway station of an almost-forgotten era. And then you walk into the ‘Town’ and you see that there are stores and souvenir shops housed in train cars. There are train cars that kids can go aboard and explore. There is even a roundhouse – like the ones you see in Chuggington/ Thomas and Friends. And then, there’s the most important attraction of this place — the mini steam train.

The mini steam train runs through the town and takes you through tunnels, bridges, water bodies, trees, miniature towns, bridges et al. It even makes a stop at a little story-book type town called Lakeview. In this miniature town are miniature buildings you can walk into. There’s everything from an old fashioned schoolhouse to a church, firehouse, saloon, jail, and a public toilet, too. Oh! There’s also a real petting zoo in there. 

All this is in a 10-acre area and the train runs on tracks that loop into 4 miles. The park — the train route and the rides areas included — sure looks like it occupies more acreage than that. The Train Town gives all the credit to the miniaturization of the structures and the inspiration it has drawn from Japanese techniques of landscaping, which is quite evident.

The Train Town story —

TrainTown, evolving since 1958, was founded by Stanley L. Frank of Oakland, California. Mr. Frank was an Oakland printing magnate, adamant table-top model builder and an M.B.A. Harvard University graduate.

Mr. Frank once stated: “TrainTown can best be thought of as a 10-acre elaborate tabletop railroad, which is outdoors and rideable; where sense of direction is lost, and best appreciated by the under sophisticated and over sophisticated.” — from the official site.

Things to know before you go:

• No outside food is allowed inside Train Town. There are some snacks and light meals you can pick up from the car that doubles as a store. 
• You do not have to pay for parking and entry into the town. What you have to pay for are the rides you would like to do (or your children would) and the tickets for the Train Town Railroad (the mini steam train). 
• For the rides, you could buy the family passes. They turn out to be the cheaper option when compared to buying separate tickets for the rides.
• In case the parking is full, there is some street parking diagonally across the road. 
• Remember: This Town also has a few amusement-park-style rides.
• A half-day should be enough to cover the park and do the rides in here. 

Linking to Our World Tuesday

Other Family Fun Trip Ideas:

Tilden Park
Fairyland
Happy Hollow Park
Legoland
Disneyland
Disneyland — Toddler Edition
Disney California Adventure