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Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, & Happy New Year from What Children Do!®: What is a Train?

What Children Do!®: What is a Train?

The word ‘train’ comes from the Old French trahiner, itself from the Latin trahere‘pull, draw’ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Train).

A train is a connected series of vehicles for rail transport that move along a track (permanent way) to transport cargo or passengers from one place to another place. The track usually consists of two rails, but might also be a monorail or maglev guideway.

Propulsion for the train is provided by a separate locomotive, or from individual motors in self-propelled multiple units. Most modern trains are powered by diesel locomotives or by electricity supplied by overhead wires or additional rails, although historically (from the early 19th century to the mid-20th century) the steam locomotive was the dominant form of locomotive power. Other sources of power (such as horses, rope or wire, gravity, pneumatics, batteries, and gas turbines) are possible (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Train).

Trains are an “old fashion” Christmas gift. “What Do Trains Have To Do With Christmas?” by Paul D. Race states:

…trains and Christmas have “gone together” for generations in most parts of the country. But it wasn’t always so, and it some ways, it doesn’t even make sense. It’s not like Mary and Joseph rode a train from Nazareth to Bethlehem. Nor was Santa ever sighted delivering packages by Railway Express Agency. But to many families today, a toy or model train around the Christmas tree seems as “normal” as a star or angel on the top…

What Children Do!®: What is a Train?