Train Books for Kids and a Story Starring Your Child
Make a story like this with your child as the hero
Some children hear a train long before anyone else in the room does. If yours lines up wooden tracks across the whole floor, knows which platform the morning train leaves from and wants to wave at every level crossing, this guide is for them, and for whoever does the reading at bedtime.
Below you'll find the train books for toddlers and older children that families keep coming back to, a short train bedtime story to tell tonight, an easy six-line way to invent a railway story of your own, and how to turn that story into a printed picture book: a train story starring your child, with their name on the cover.
Train Books for Toddlers and Young Children
A train goes somewhere, makes a wonderful noise on the way and always arrives, which is a very satisfying shape for a story. These train books for kids have been on bedroom shelves for years, and each one is good at something different.
Freight Train by Donald Crews: a train of brightly coloured cars rolls through tunnels, over trestles and away into the distance. Very few words, bold pictures, and a good first book for learning colours.
Chugga-Chugga Choo-Choo by Kevin Lewis and Daniel Kirk: a toy freight train makes its rounds of a child's bedroom, loading and unloading, until it is time to rest. A rhythm made for reading aloud.
The Little Engine That Could by Watty Piper: when the big engines won't help, a small engine pulls a train full of toys over the mountain, saying "I think I can" all the way up. A classic for children who are about to try something new.
Steam Train, Dream Train by Sherri Duskey Rinker and Tom Lichtenheld: animals load a night train with their cargo, then settle in their carriages to sleep. Soft, rhyming and made for the last book of the day.
The Train Ride by June Crebbin and Stephen Lambert: a girl and her mother look out of the window on the way to Grandma's, asking "What shall I see?" at every turn. Lovely before a real trip.
The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg: a boy boards a mysterious train to the North Pole on Christmas Eve. Quieter and longer, for slightly older listeners in December.
What do they have in common? A journey with a clear start and end, something in the way, and a small hero who keeps going. That is exactly the shape that works for a story about your own child.
A Five-Minute Train Bedtime Story
Here is a short story to tell with the lights low. Put your child's name where it says Sam, and let the whistle get quieter towards the end.
Just after bedtime, Sam heard a faraway whistle: whoo-whoo. Under the window, on a track no wider than a ribbon, stood a tiny blue train with three sleepy carriages.
"We've lost our stationmaster," said the driver, a mouse in a woolly hat. "And without a stationmaster, nobody can get off."
So Sam put on the cap from the dressing-up box and blew the whistle, very gently. The carriage doors opened. Out came a hedgehog with a suitcase, two owls on their way to visit their aunt, and a very small rabbit who had fallen asleep on the journey. Sam checked every ticket and pointed everyone home.
"Thank you, stationmaster," said the mouse, and the little blue train puffed away into the dark, whoo-whoo, softer and softer.
In the morning, on the windowsill, there was a ticket the size of a fingernail, with one tiny hole punched in it.
On the second night, most children will want to be the driver instead, or add a passenger of their own. Say yes. That is how their own story begins.
Make It Their Own: A Train Story Recipe
Six short answers are enough for a whole story. Tell them aloud with a little detail each, and it lasts about five minutes.
The hero: your child's name and age, and the train they love most. A steam engine, the high-speed train you take to the coast, the wooden one that lives under the sofa.
The departure: somewhere they know where a train could stop. The bottom of the garden, the little station in town, the track around the bedroom floor.
The crew: who drives it, with one funny habit. A kind old badger in a blue cap, a mouse who whistles out of tune.
The trouble on the line: something a child can help with. A lost lantern before a tunnel, snow on the tracks, a passenger who can't find their stop.
The clever moment: what your child notices or does. They spot what everyone missed, they clear the way, they find the right station.
The return: back home the way your evenings end. A last whistle, pyjamas, the train resting at the bottom of the garden.
A Worked Example: Mia and the Little Red Train
Here are the six answers for a girl called Mia, who loves trains.
The hero: Mia, in her yellow raincoat and wellies.
The departure: the wooden gate at the bottom of her cottage garden, where the track runs past.
The crew: Bramble, a kind old badger in a blue driver's cap, and his little red steam train with a brass bell.
The trouble on the line: just before the long tunnel, the train's lantern is missing.
The clever moment: Mia looks back and spots a golden wink near the stone bridge: the lantern, lying in the clover. "Here it is!"
The return: through the lantern-lit tunnel and back to the garden gate, then into bed while the little train rests outside.
This is a real example from Photo9's story writer. We gave it Mia's name, her age, that she loves trains, and one of the ready stories below: a little red steam train whose kind old driver needs a helper. It wrote the fourteen pages and drew every picture. Mia isn't a real child: we drew her as a sample.
From Story to Book: a Personalised Train Book
Told at bedtime, a story lasts a night. Printed, it can be carried around, looked at alone and kept for years. Photo9 turns it into a personalised train book with your child drawn as the hero from one photo.
Upload a single photo. We draw your child as a storybook character first, at no cost, so you can see them before deciding. The photo is only used to draw the book and is deleted afterwards; it is never shared or used to train AI.
Pick the journey. One of the ready train stories below, or your six answers in your own words.
Name their favourite train and the reader's age. Little ones get short lines with plenty of "chuff, chuff"; older readers get longer sentences.
Choose the look. 3D animation, watercolour or classic storybook, with words next to each picture or a single painting across both pages.
Read it through before ordering. Change any word you like and add your own dedication on the first page.
The book is a 30-page square hardcover with 14 illustrated scenes, printed in your region. Up to three passengers can travel too, like a brother, Grandma or the family dog, each drawn from their own photo.
Ready Train Stories to Start From
Rather not write anything? Start from one of these. Each is written around your child: their name, their age and the things they love.
The badger's little train: a little red steam train at the bottom of the garden, and a kind old driver who needs a helper.
The night train: a sleeper train through the stars, all the way to Grandma's.
The toy railway: when the lights go out, the toy train set comes to life.
The Christmas train: a snowy railway on Christmas Eve, and a train full of presents.
A big train adventure: leave it to us, with a journey on the friendliest train and home again.
Each link opens the book maker with that story already chosen. Nothing is printed until you order.
Gifts for Train Lovers
For a birthday, Christmas or no reason at all, a book where they ride the train themselves is something a young train fan won't already have on the shelf. Of all the gifts for train lovers, it's the one with them inside. To make it even better:
One good photo is enough. Face the camera, daylight, no sunglasses.
Fill the carriages. A sister, a cousin or the dog can come along in the same book.
Add a few lines of your own. The first page holds a dedication from parents, grandparents or godparents.
Post it to them directly. Enter their address at checkout and it arrives at their door.
More birthday ideas are in our guide to personal photo book birthday gifts. And if your child draws trains as often as they ride them, you can make a photo book of their own drawings too.
Reading It Together
A book with them as the hero is rarely read quickly. Let them find themselves on each page, do the whistle every time the train leaves, and join in on the last line of each page once they know it. Before long they will "read" it to you from the pictures.
Is your house full of other big loves too? Our guides to dinosaur books and a story starring your child and to digger and truck books work the same way, and our Christmas story starring your child has ideas for December. All our personalised children's books start the same way, for bedtime, birthdays, a new baby or a first day at school.
Questions Parents Ask
Can I choose the train?
Yes. A steam engine, a high-speed train, a goods train, the miniature railway at the park: tell us, describe it if you like, and it appears on every page. Any word can still be changed before printing.
Will the train have a face?
Only if you ask for one. Our sample has an ordinary red steam engine with a badger at the controls, but you can write "a friendly train with a smiling face" and the story is drawn that way.
How many photos do you need?
Just one clear photo. We draw your child once from it and paint every picture from that drawing, so they look like themselves throughout.
Can a brother, sister or our dog come along?
Yes, up to three companions, each from their own photo.
When does it arrive?
Most books arrive within a week, and checkout shows the delivery date before you pay. Making the drawing and the story takes only a few minutes.
