Glenview: Abt, a marble run and other fun

Abt's atrium marble run

Good news for family harmony: many railroad aficionados love any display of mechanical engineering. If your train fans enjoy entertainment that isn’t strictly railroad tracks, be sure to make a stop at Abt Electronics in Glenview. This home goods emporium is our go-to place for household appliances, not just for the products and the prices, but for the fun in every corner of the building. For the track-lovers, head to the atrium in the center of the building. Just behind the fountain, a large marble run catches the attention of anyone who loves to see machinery with a Rube Goldberg sensibility. It's a great place to stand while eating the fresh-baked chocolate chip cookies the store offers on weekends and holidays. When your cookie is gone, step into the bubble booth and see if the Hoola-hoop-sized ring and pulley can encase you in a life-sized bubble. Linger long enough and the atrium's fountain may entertain you with a synchronized music and light show. Need more to see? By the customer service counter, a granite kugel ball spins easily on its base thanks to precise design and a thin film of water. Getting your fingers wet by giving it a nudge is just fine. Or meander over to the camera department and check out the 7,500 gallon fish tank. Keep looking around. There's always something else to see and the kids won't complain if shopping takes awhile in this store. 

Abt: A store for "kids" who like all kinds of things that go

Abt is at 1200 N. Milwaukee Ave. in Glenview. 

Train-lovers: Vote for favorite places

Entrance to
The DuPage Children's Museum

This business of entertaining young train lovers is a serious thing. Serious enough that "Best place for train-watching" is one of the categories parent-types can vote for in the first Chicago Parent Best of the Best Awards. Here are the contenders (selected by reader nominations):

• 2 Toots Cafe (Bartlett and Glen Ellyn)
• DuPage Children's Museum, second floor (Naperville)
• Riding the 'L' around the loop
• Illinois Railway Museum (Union)
• Ogilvie Transportation Center 

If being an informed voter inspires you to try visit those in the running, one more place deserves your attention. The very next category offers Forest Park's Junction Diner restaurant as a choice for "Best spot for playdate lunches." Yes, this is Chicago, but only one vote per email address will be accepted. Results will be available online in late December.

As a nice incentive, Chicago Parent is offering a chance to win $100 for casting a ballot. Go to their website and make your choices known by Friday, Oct. 18.

Some of the artwork displayed on the second-floor Trains exhibit
at the DuPage Children's Museum

South Elgin: Pumpkin Trolley (and the very scary Terror Trolley)

The Pumpkin Patch (a few years back)

Crisp fall weather and the gorgeous leaves of the Fox River Valley mean its time for the annual Pumpkin Trolley. This weekend and next, Oct. 12-13 and Oct. 19-20, visitors to the Fox River Trolley Museum in South Elgin can enjoy a stop at the pumpkin patch during the trolley's run from the museum grounds to the Jon Duerr Forest Preserve and back. The trains run from 11 a.m. until 5 p.m. at regular prices.

A pumpkin to keep!

The museum will also be presenting the spooky side of the season Oct. 19 and 26 with the Ghost Story Train and the Terror Trolley. Just a very few seats remain for the Ghost Story Train, but plenty of brave souls can reserve seats on the Terror Trolley. The Ghost Story Train is appropriate for all ages. Only junior high-age students and older should attempt the Terror Trolley. Check the museum's website for additional details and to reserve tickets. Tickets for both events are $13.20 per person for all ages and will be available to pick up on the evening of the event. S'mores are included at both programs!

Here's a post I wrote last year about Trolley Fest at the Fox River Trolley Museum. 

Mundelein and Highland Park: Spooky Train Run

Get in the Halloween spirit this weekend with a visit to Mundelein as the North Central O Gaugers present their Spooky Train Run at the Fremont Public Library. Trains will be running 9 a.m. till 4 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 12 and 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 13 on the library's second floor. The youngest guests are welcome to also visit the wooden train table in the youth services department's program room from 10 till 4:30  for their own train-driving fun. The monthly Friends of the Fremont Library book sale will be taking place during this time, too.

The O Gaugers will put on another Halloween-themed  run October 26 at the Highland Park Public Library. "Spookytown" is an eagerly anticipated annual event. The library promises that some visitors will have the opportunity to drive a train and earn a "NCOG Honorary Jr. Operating Engineer" certificate. Trains run from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. Highland Park's library friends group book sale will also be open for business on this day.

(As an aside, I have to say how absolutely delightful it is to know that there are so many other families who also love spending a Saturday watching trains and picking out books!)

The Fremont Public Library is the North Central O Gaugers home base, so set aside future second Saturdays of the month to visit the layout in action. (They do take off in November but will be back in town Dec. 14.) Club members also take their traveling layout to other libraries throughout the area, so check their detailed website for a calendar of events. While you're waiting for Saturday to get here, also check out their numerous videos of past layouts.

If the northern suburbs aren't right in your backyard and you're wondering if it's worth making the trip, note that the O Gaugers received a 2012 Honorable Mention from model railroad company MTH's Blue Comet Awards. The awards recognize clubs who excel in promoting the O-gauge model railroading hobby. Only eight clubs from around the nation (and Switzerland!) were honored, so it's safe to say, a drive to see one of the O Gaugers' layouts will be worth the effort.

Schaumburg: Food for Fun train ride

Do a good deed and get a  train ride. On Sunday, Oct. 13 from 1-3 p.m. young bicycle riders can enjoy Food for Fun, an afternoon at Schaumburg's Ken Alley Safety Park in exchange for a donation for the Schaumburg Food Pantry. Bringing a second canned or non-perishable item entitles visitors to a ride on the 18-passenger trackless train. To register or to get further details, contact the Schaumburg Park District at 847/490-7036. The safety park is behind the Pat Shephard Early Childhood Center, 421 N. Springinsguth Road, Schaumburg. 

Take a peek at the park district's website for information on other programs available at the safety park, including train-themed birthday parties. Only 3- and 4-year olds can enjoy the train parties, but that is just the perfect age for a ride on the train and a game of pin the smoke stack on the engine! 

Geneva: Good Cents treasure hunting yields a Lego train book gem

Shhh! One of Santa's elves made a great discovery at her favorite kids' store this morning. My shopping goal was to find pants for the kids and my first stop was Good Cents Children in Geneva, always my first stop for kids' clothing. Of course, I had to take a peek at their train section. There is always an adorable endcap with railroad books and toys. Being a resale shop, the available merchandise varies from visit to visit but I can say that no small number of our family's wooden trains and books have come from this store. There are always train toys, books, coloring and sticker books and, sometimes, shirts and hats. Anyway, tucked in an assortment of Thomas the Train picture books I found this gem: 

"Getting Started with Lego Trains"
by Jacob H. McKee 

I snatched it up, flipped through it, and did not set it down. It's as if a book had been written just for my 7-year old. Trains + Lego = Bliss. (The fact that it has one of his very favorite engines on the cover just sealed the deal.) It's over 100 pages of full-color Lego-building principles, step-by-step instructions for building several kinds of train cars and custom track layout ideas. Honestly, I'd like to plop myself down amid my son's box o' Legos and start construction right now!

This particular elf tends to be a bargain hunting sort of gal with no qualms about second-hand Christmas gifts if they are in decent shape and a good match for the giftee. So the plan was to squirrel away my $3 discovery until Dec. 25. Then I took a peek at Amazon.com to see if the book, published in 2003, is still available. The kids in this house aren't the only ones I know who love Lego trains, but it looks like the other engineers on my list won't be getting a copy of this title. Not only is it out of print, it's going for at least $40 used on Amazon and eBay. (Not bad for something with a $20 cover price.) So, it looks like, not only did I find a perfect gift, I found an introductory lesson in investing. Trains: the gift that keeps on giving!

Train stuff: Cuckoo Clock

     File this under "Unexpected Interests." This past weekend I was flipping through the American Profile magazine that came with our local newspaper and stopped at the full-page ad for the "Golden Spike" Cuckoo Clock. Now, I'm the first to admit it: I have an image in my mind of the person who buys collectible items. First characteristic: it's not necessarily someone who saves his allowance quarters in a plastic piggy bank. I forgot for a moment that my dear 7-year old son has never seen a train, in any form, that he doesn't love. I tore the ad out of the paper and handed it to him with a,"Here's something you might like." He spent at least 10 minutes pouring over the picture reading the description, and considering where in our house the cuckoo clock should be placed. This particular item isn't just a train on a clock, but a commemoration of the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad. I was pleased, then, that my little guy knew that the train that circles base of the clock is the Jupiter locomotive, something he recognized from countless hours spent studying books of railroad history. Once again I was happy to see that episodes of history have become exciting to him simply because of the railroading part of the story. For now just the picture of this clock will join the many other train pictures posted on the wall of his room. You never know, though. Santa gets Christmas present ideas from so many interesting places. Our house may yet have a train tooting it's whistle at the top of every hour.