Whittle is 25 Years Old!
It's Official! The Whittle Shortline Railroad is 25 Years Old! 25 years of making realistic wooden toy trains for all of our AMAZING Whittle Fans! The gratitude we feel is hard to put into words. Generations of families sharing this tradition with one another. The sweet drawings and handwritten letters we have received over the years. The kind and thoughtful emails from delighted parents and grandparents. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! It is truly a gift to be able to turn a hobby into something that can be shared and enjoyed with so many people. :)
Where it all started . . .
It started with a neighbor. Years ago. Your Whittle Shortline Railroad toy train designer and maker, “Mr. Whittle” as he is often called, had a neighbor with a train layout in his basement. Mr. Masters was a neighbor who lived two doors down. He was enthusiastic about details and authenticity and allowed a young Mr. Whittle to watch him work on his layout. Mr. Whittle would watch how his neighbor would lay each railroad tie . . . one by one . . . because that was how the railroads did it. He taught Mr. Whittle how to weather rail cars . . . to make them look more realistic. The details were important. Mr. Whittle learned a lot from that neighbor. Mr. Masters sparked a passion for trains in Mr. Whittle that would lead to him starting a toy train company in his garage over 30 years later.😊 Thank you Mr. Masters. 😊
Kirkwood, MO 1996 – the first ever train car is made by Mr. Whittle 😊
Do you know what the very first Whittle Shortline Railroad train was? A caboose. A classic red caboose. Created in the family garage and shown to neighbors and family. Everyone liked it . . . so thankfully he made more 😊
The family garage, 1996
It was a caboose with a cupola located in the center much like the one you see below.
Thank You Whittle Fans for helping us Celebrate our 25th Anniversary in September and October! We had such a great time! Whittle Fans are THE BEST!
Congratulations Drawing Winners!
Whittle Halloween Video
Thank You! Thank You! Thank You! Thank You! Thank you!
Thank YOU ALL for making celebrating our 25th Anniversary so much fun! See you tonight!
We are now taking train video submissions!!!! We are SO excited to see what our amazing Whittle Fans send us! Here we go!!!
1) Please read ALL rules below :) Pretty please :)
2) Please include the following in your email. (It may seem like a lot but we have to be careful and make sure you are a real person and stuff :)).
Grown Up's name
Grown Up's address
Grown Up's email address
Grown Up's phone number(just in case we have an issue with the email address)
Videographers Name
Videographers Age
3) Please know if guidelines are not followed your video will not be included. :( Sorry :(
4) We will also be taking submissions for any Coloring Pages that have been colored(will be featured in video) if you would like to share!
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Do YOU want to be a part of Whittle's Halloween Video! :)
We will have our own toy train footage but we thought it might be fun to add Whittle Fan footage too! So much creativity out there!
This is all about having fun but we do need to have some rules :)
- Video should be 1 minute or less. It can be 15 seconds if you want. We would just prefer it not be longer than a minute.
- Track view of toy trains going by like you see in many of our video's. This can be from the side, from above. Whatever you think is best!
- No faces :) While we are 100% sure there are many, many adorable Whittle Fan faces out there we need to not have them in the video's. Hands pushing trains - yes! Just no faces please to maintain everyone's privacy :)
- Grown-Up needed. A grown-up is needed to submit and entry. Lots of grown up reasons for this but please have someone who is 18 years of age or older submit this video with you :)
- Background. Try to be aware of what is in the background Whittle videographers :) We are just focused on the trains too ... but we can't have any other companies "stuff" in the background. So if there is a cookie wrapper or something with a companies name on it we won't be able to include it in the video :( (Yes, we know this is a little annoying :)). If you have any questions ask us or the grown up helping you submit your video :)
- Format. MP4 is preferred and we will be adding our own music and sound so do not worry about adding that to your video. :)
- What about REAL life train footage? We are open to adding this too if this is something Whittle Fans want to do :) We have Whittle Fans of all ages and some prefer the REAL trains! BUT we insist you read our Safety Rules - pretty please with sugar on top :) It keeps things fun when we stay safe!!!
- Keep the fun going!!! We want this to be a FUN video to enjoy Halloween together, right! :) So please send video's that show trains doing the awesome stuff they do and leave anything that might make someone sad like crashes etc out. Thank you :)
- Check Back. Whittle Fans are awesome at thinking of things that maybe we haven't. :) So sometimes we might need to tweak this list of rules a bit. Be sure to check back so you are up to date :) Once we start taking submissions rules will be final. :)
- Submissions. We will begin taking submissions 10/13/2021.
- Entries. We want to keep the focus on having fun but for a little icing on the cake we will be giving 2 entries for each video submission. :)
If you are looking for inspiration . . . or just some really cool video's check out CoasterFan2105 on YouTube. Not that your video's need to be just like his but man are they cool to watch to get inspired! He has been doing this for a long time and does an awesome job :) (And no we do not have some arrangement worked out for us to say this about him -- haha! We just think his video's are great. Plus we have spoken with him before and he is just a really nice guy :)).
Check out today's video! Print and color the coloring page below! :)
Pre-Order Update
With the window to order now closed we will begin processing these orders. Thank you for all of the orders! We are always so grateful for everyone out there enjoying our little trains. :) Most Pre-Orders will ship by the end of the month. Pre-Orders that contain new trains may end up shipping in first couple of weeks in November. All Pre-Orders will ship by November 12th 2021.
For our Pre-Order Pass Whittle Fans. You all are first in line :) We will be in touch today or tomorrow to confirm your orders. :)
Making a Train Costume
Train Costume Video #4
Train Costume Video #3
Train Costume Video #2
Train Costume Video #1
If you want to include Whittle's 2021 Christmas Trains in your Pre-Order here they are!!! We had a lot of fun designing these!
New Whittle Trains!!!
Train Costume Tips!
Click, Download and Print to Color!
Pre-Order has begun! Window to place orders is 9/28 - 10/3.
Email your answers to havesomefun@welovetrainswebsite.com
One entry/per question/per household please :)
Email your answers from the video to havesomefun@welovetrainswebsite.com !
One entry/per question/per household please :)
Safety Tip Links:
Operation Lifesaver Website
Whittle Shortline Railroad Safety Tips
September 18, 2021
Entries are now closed :)
Whittle Fans are the BEST!
As usual Whittle Fans did not disappoint!!!! You guys are SO much fun and we appreciate the thoughtful answers and kind words of congratulations!! :) You all are just the best!
We will be keeping the coloring pages on the website in case anyone wants to print and share them with someone in the future :)
Out of reverence for September 11th we have decided to postpone what we had planned for today until tomorrow. We hope you understand. :) Ordinarily we stay out of current events, opting to be a place to come and escape thinking about serious things but we felt this was a worthy exception. We will resume the “25 Year” fun tomorrow morning at 9am. Again, we hope you understand. :)
If you would like we created some coloring pages that can be printed. Maybe you could color one today? Maybe you could add a little note or drawings share it with someone? Today is a great day to be extra kind to your neighbor or a friend or someone in your community.
If you feel like sharing your beautiful artwork you could:
Share it with neighbors by taping it to your window.
Drop it off to some of the first responders in your community.
Share it with your family by putting it on your refrigerator.
Kids and Grown-Ups can share nice messages and coloring pages using some of the handles and hashtags below too:
#DearHero
@911Memorial
@Sept11Memorial
"Dear First Responder" Coloring Page
American Flag Coloring Page
"Thank You For All That You Do!" Coloring Page
"Thank You For All That You Do!" without lines for writing Coloring Page
"Thank You" Coloring Page
We hope you all have a good day today and we will see you tomorrow! :)