TIGER

Trains
All Aboard
 ks Cl os er
oo
L
Click Train talk
efore radios were invented,
B train drivers talked to other
train workers by blowing horns
or whistles. They used patterns
of long and short toots. Here are
some of the things they said.

= Short toot = Long toot

TIGER

Putting on the brakes. Stop. Releasing the brakes. Go.

Backing up. Coming to a road crossing.

2
 What’s that noise
coming from Farmer
Griz’s house?

TIGER
Hi, kids. I saw you
walking by. Want
to see my new
train set?

3
 This is fun!
I’m going to start
Interesting that you
saving to buy
would say that, Click.
my own model
I don’t have
trains.
room for all my
trains.

TIGER

So you are
welcome to Wow! Thanks!
take this box of
trains and train
tracks.

4
BACK AT THE CLUBHOUSE That’s the engine. It goes in front
and pulls the rest of the train cars.

What’s this?

This is the
caboose. It’s the
very last car on
the train.

TIGER Those are two different kinds of tracks.

One is made of wood, and the other is
The train track metal. They work for different toy trains.
pieces don’t fit
together!

5
 LATER Look! I can ride
on my train.

I made my
track in the
shape of a
figure eight.

Hmm,
TIGER
how should I set
up my track?

Oh my goodness.
I just remembered We can finish
that it’s time for the playing with the
basketball game to trains after the
start on TV. game.

6
Click, the game is about
to start. Aren’t you Yeah. I’ll be back in a
going to watch? minute. I just have to
finish laying this track.

What’s taking Click so long?

The game has started. Oh good, I can hear
a train coming. That
must be Click.

TIGER

I can’t watch a game without

snacks. How do you like my
chew-chew train!

7
 There are so many kinds of trains.
Which would you like to ride?
Match each rhyme with the train
it describes, then turn the page to
learn more.
1. I still chug, even though I’m old.
But I need water, hot not cold.
2. Make way. Give me room.
TIGER
I’m fast—zoom, zoom! I bet I can
match them all!

3. Two rails are too many.

For me, one is plenty.
4. Skip the busy city street.
Ride me and rest your feet.
5. For the very best view,
Ride me at the zoo.

8
TIGER

9
 Steam trains were first used more than 200
years ago. They’re powered by steam made
by boiling water. New steam trains are not built
anymore, but people can still ride old ones for fun.

The fastest trains in the world reach speeds of

more than 300 miles per hour. Most are maglev
trains. They do not have wheels that rub and slow
things down. Instead they use magnets to glide—
fast!—above their tracks.

TIGER
A monorail is a train that runs on
only one rail, not two. The train
is always wider than the track.

Millions of people ride rapid transit trains

every day to get around in big cities. The
trains often run underground or overhead to
keep them separate from street traffic.

Some parks and zoos are big enough to

have their own trains. The trains go round
and round a single route. Sometimes a guide
tells riders about the sights along the way.

10
 At the
art by Ronald Lipking

F r e i gh t Yar d
Have you ever waited at a railroad
crossing for a freight train to go by?
Tank
Trains can be 200 cars long, and every
cars car might be carrying something
carry
liquids. different—corn, milk, TVs, bicycles,
steel, sheep, shoes, you name it.

Open-topped hopper cars carry

bulky goods, such as coal. Chutes
open on the bottom to empty the car.
TIGER
Big steel boxes called
shipping containers
can be stacked two
high on well cars.

Piggyback flatcars
carry the back ends
of trucks.

Cars going to the same

place are connected together
at a freight yard. Take a look.
11
 sto
ck
car
s

repair shop

camera
control
tower flat
c ar

TIGER

A little switcher locomotive

pushes the cars to the top of a
small hill called a hump. The cars roll
downhill, one at a time,
past a camera hooked
to a computer in the
control tower.
The camera
reads a label
on each car
that tells the
computer
what the car The computer
is carrying. sets a switch that
sends each car to
the right track.

12
 Trains run night and
day, so freight yards
are lit by floodlights.
tank cars

The cars are put together

on tracks called sidings.

box offices
car
s

rs

wel
l ca
rs
TIGER
Once the correct
cars are connected, a
locomotive pulls the
train out of the yard. These cars are
going to Maine.
hopper cars

gondolas
Refrigerator cars
are nicknamed reefers.

signal
These cars are
going to Louisiana.

piggyback flatcars

13
 Your heart pounds. Your stomach drops.
You feel like you’re falling.
You think you’re going to crash.
Everyone around you is screaming.

You’re
on
a

Roller
Coaster!
TIGER
art by Thor Wickstrom

Just like a regular train,

a roller coaster is made up
of cars that are hooked
together in a line and
roll along a track. But
on a roller coaster, the
ride is what counts,
not where you go.

14
 And oh what a ride!
Coasters race through wild
twists and turns, shoot up
high hills, hurtle back down,
and even turn upside down.
All without an engine to
power them.
What makes them go?

Try this activity to see.

Place a marble at the rim of a

Roller coasters
bowl, and let it go. make me dizzy,
but I love riding
them!

TIGER

Then it rolls
The marble rolls down back down and
to the bottom of up and down And every time the
the bowl and up the until it stops. marble rolls up, it goes
bowl’s other side. a shorter distance than
it did the last time.

15
 Roller coasters move in a
similar way. Most get pulled
to the top of the first hill by a
chain under the tracks. At the
top of the hill, the chain lets go
and the cars zoom down the
track and up the next hill—but
only if the second hill is shorter
than the first one.

At the top of a hill, a roller

coaster (or marble) has a kind of
stored energy. The higher the hill,
the more energy the train has.

TIGER

Riders feel
As the coaster air pushing The train keeps coasting
races downhill, against them along until it loses all
its wheels rub and the train. its energy or a worker
against the track. applies the brakes.

The rubbing and pushing use

up some of the train’s energy,
but it still has enough to drive
it up the next hill.

16
 Don’t worry. No
matter how crazy the
ride, you won’t fall out,
even when the coaster
does a loop-the-loop.
See for yourself.

Put a small, soft toy in a pail

or paper bag with handles.

If you turn the pail upside

p down But if you spin the pail in a circle
The toy The toy
falls out. stays in
the pail!

TIGER

It’s the same on a roller coaster.

The roller
As your car zips around the loop, coaster isn’t
allowed to move
unless you
you feel a force press you down buckle up.

into your seat.

But you’ll need to use the safety
bar or belt anyway.
17
 Read the Signs
art by Judy MacDonald

TIGER

Places like train

stations and airports
use lots of signs.
These signs are the same
all over the world. They make
it easy for travelers to get
around, even if they all speak
different languages. Can you tell what
the signs in this train station mean?

18
TIGER

19
 owadays, most trains don’t make that
N sound, but 100 years ago just about every
train did. That’s the sound a steam engine
makes, and steam is what once made trains go.
Here’s how.
1. The fireman shoveled
coal from the tender
into the firebox.

coal

firebox

water
TIGER
tender

8. When the locomotive 7. As the piston moved back

moved, it pulled the and forth, the rods attached
rest of the train with it. to it moved too, which
turned the locomotive’s
big driving wheels.

Steam
power!

Steam is powerful stuff. Have you

ever seen the lid on a kettle or pot of
boiling water jump and rattle? That’s
steam pushing the lid around.

20
TIGER
TIGER
 art by Scot Ritchie

A steam engine
smoke changes the
and heat energy of
steam steam into motion
energy.

2. The burning coal

heated the water smokestack
in the boiler.

steam

3. The boiling water turned

into steam. The steam
smo
ke
TIGER moved through metal
pipes to the cylinder.
boiler filled with water

cylinder 4. A valve slid open to let

the steam into one side
of the cylinder.

old new steam

valve
new steam
steam

6. The valve then slid back

piston
5. The steam pushed a plate
called a piston to the
other end of the cylinder.
to let the used steam
escape through a pipe
to the smokestack.
cylinder New steam rushed into
old
steam piston the cylinder to push
the piston back in the
opposite direction.

21
 And the chugging sound?
When the used steam escaped the cylinder,
it made a ch sound, like the sound escaping
air makes when you open a can of pop (but
BIGGER!). As the piston moved back and forth,
the ch sound repeated over and over, making
the chugga chugga sound we know.

Steam locomotives had to make

frequent stops to pick up more
water and coal, and their fires
sent clouds of dirty, sooty smoke
and dangerous sparks into the air.

TIGER

22
 Steam engines were used to power
locomotives for more than 100 years.
But today most locomotives are diesel-
electrics. They’re easier to run than steam
locomotives and can go long distances
without refueling.

Instead of using steam power,
a diesel engine sets fire to
drops of diesel oil to create
little explosions that push
the piston.
TIGER
The motion of the piston The electricity powers a
cranks a generator, which motor, and the motor
makes electricity. makes the locomotive’s
wheels turn.

3
 Like diesel-electrics, electric locomotives
use electricity to run motors that turn their
wheels. But electric locomotives don’t make
their own electricity. The electricity comes
from a power plant, just like the electricity
in your home.

electric wires

TIGER
electric rail

In a house, you plug a wire into an Can I still

call an
electric
electrical outlet to get electricity. An train a choo
choo train?

electric locomotive has to plug in too.

It must be connected to either a wire
hanging above the track or a special
rail carrying electricity that runs next
to the regular rails.
24
 Which Way?
E very subway stop has a map that
shows where the trains travel.
Can you help these kids figure out
which train they should take?

Ed

e.
am
di
wa g
e
nts b all
to go to t he

TIGER
Sa

ra
ry

a
wa
nts l ibr
to go to th e

m
E

o.
i ly o
wa
nts to go t t hez
o
Ka

.
um

a
yl

wa use
nts em
to go to th
Le

o
es

wa o vi
nts em
to go to th

25
 Subway Map
These train lines are named by color.
The oval spots on the lines show where
the trains stop. You can change train
lines at some stops.
Yellow line

Aquarium
Green line

TIGER Blue line

Playground

Orange line

Turn to
page 34
for the
answers.

Red line Purple line

26
 Movie
Theater

Zoo Library

TIGER

Museum

Ice
Cream

Ball
Park
Water
Park

27
 he T ra i n
e s t
i e Rid
Ros
Hi, my name’s Rosie. I live in Chicago
with my dad. Last week we rode a train
home from visiting my Aunt Ruth in
Washington, DC. It was a lo-o-o-ng ride.
It took almost a whole day and night.
Dad said he couldn’t sit up that long,
so he got us a room to sleep in on the
train. Dad loves trains. He took a ton of
TIGER
photos, so I’d remember the trip. Come
on, I’ll show you.

28
 First, I gave my ticket to the conductor
and boarded the sleeping car. All the train
cars are labeled on the outside to help you
find the right one. The conductors help
too. They’re nice.

TIGER
People who
were traveling
shorter distances
or who didn’t mind
sleeping in their
seats rode in the
coach car instead.
I took a peek at the
seats. They’re kind
of like the ones on
an airplane. You
can tilt the seatback down, and there’s
a tray that folds down from the seat in
front of you to make a table.
29
 My favorite
place to sit was the
observation car. It
has windows that
go from the floor to
the ceiling. Look at
that view!

TIGER

The dining car was

fun too. And the food
tasted pretty good.
Not as good as Dad’s
hamburgers, but better
than Aunt Ruth’s
broccoli muffins. (Don’t
tell her I said that.)

30
 When it was too dark to
see outside, I read a book.
Our room had a comfy
chair to sit on—and an
even comfier couch.

Another nice thing was

that when I felt cold, I could
just pull the curtains shut
for privacy and change into
warmer clothes in our very
own room.

After a while,
one of the train
TIGER
workers came to
make up our beds.
He turned the
couch I had been
sitting on into one
bed. And look at
the picture of me
on the couch. Do
you see the silver,
slanted ceiling
above me? He
pulled that down
to make a second
bed!

31
 Soon it was
time to brush
my teeth and
get into my pj’s.

I climbed
into the top
bed, and Dad TIGER
tucked me in.

Lights out.

32
 The next day, our train pulled into
Chicago’s Union Station. Dad and I got
off and walked a few blocks to catch the
“L” home. “L” stands for “elevated.” It’s
TIGER
what we call the public transportation
train in Chicago. But I’ll save that train
story for another time. Just like Dad, I
love trains now too!

33
 All aboard
the CLICK
reader
train!

READERS of the
Month

Jet A. Sophia and Olivia Z.

age 5 ages 7 and 5,
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Ann Arbor, MI

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age 7
Denver, CO

Olivia L.
age 6
William P.
Columbus, OH
age 6
Alameda, CA

Graham J.
age 4
Boulder, CO
TIGER
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Answers to “Which Way?”
on pages 26–27:
Kayla took the yellow train to the
red train to get to the museum.
Check out our online
Teacher Guides at Eddie took the blue train to the
purple train to get to the ball
cricketmedia.com Time to renew? game.
/teacher-resources. shop.cricketmedia.com
Sara took the orange train to the
1-800-821-0115 purple train to the green train to
2018
get to the library.
20
00 Leo took the red train to get to
the movies.
2018
2018
ARD
DIS TIN

Emily took the green train to get

AW
GU

to the zoo.
T

IS
N

HE E
D AC IEVEM
H

34
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Join the 2021 Spark!Lab Dr. InBae & Mrs. Kyung Joo Yoon
nventors!
Hey, Young I fo otball player
For m e r p r o
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w n S p r in g s is an invento
Sha
ANGER. His
and GAME CH
p a ny , W in d pact, creates
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Be a Game Changer!
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Create an invention that makes sports more exciting, fun, fair, or safe for all.
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Brought to you by Smithsonian &

35
Institution
Make Your Own

art by Holli Conger

Cut out the train cars along
ng the dashed lines.
Cut the short slits at the bottom of each car to
make flaps. Be careful to cut only as far as the
dashed lines show.
Fold each car along the three solid lines, so it
will stand. Tuck the yellow flaps under the green
flaps, so only the green color shows. Then tape or
glue the flaps together.
Place the cars in whatever order you like, and
run a piece of yarn or string through them. Tape
or glue one end of the string inside the last car,
and use the other end to pull the train around.
All aboard!

TIGER
CLICK TAKEOUT PAGES Please remove carefully at fold. CLICK TAKEOUT PAGES Please remove carefully at fold. CLICK TAKEOUT PAGES Please remove carefully at fold.
TIGER

 

TIGER
TIGER