Meddybemps Train Shop and Creative Guide

Many modelers invent colorful stories about their railroads. It's fun to hear about the towns, businesses, and scenic attractions found along their routes and to learn how they relate to the railway and its history. It doesn't matter if the stories are based in reality, are just good fiction, or are obviously written for humorous impact. This sort of lore adds a rich level of enjoyment to our hobby.

Thanks to some ingenious online resources, you can create some tangible reasons for your friends and visitors to "believe" in the details of your scaled-down world. Web sites such as Zazzle.com and CafePress.com make it easy and surprisingly inexpensive for you to apply art or photography to objects such as t-shirts, coffee mugs, and a handful of other everyday items.

Until now, you might have been able to collect and display memorabilia from railroads that do or once did exist, but there was little you could do to represent an imaginary line. These sites can help you create a wide array of realistic artifacts.

For example, you could hand visitors a coffee mug from the cafe positioned near your freight yards, wear a shirt from one of the softball teams playing at the edge of town, or show off a promotional clock from the lumber yard served by your railroad. And, of course, you could wear a hat or necktie bearing your line's name or logo. Maybe even hand out refigerator magnets?

Almost anyone with art or photographic images, appropriate computer skills and resources, and access to the Internet can do this but there are a few things you need to know before you begin.

Create something. You'll get a real kick when your first artifact arrives in the mail.

CafePress.com and Zazzle.com allow you to set up free online stores in which they receive and fulfil orders and credit you with royalties. Both sites will guide you through the process if you are interested.

Scroll down to see an example (and order something if you'd like to support this site or want to see a samples of items produced by CafePress.com and Zazzle.com).

The Meddybemps Train Shop is part of Chateau Meddybemps, a popular and repected educational site for families with young children.

Jerry Jindrich is an author, illustrator, railway enthusiast and creator of a popular Web site for young children.

Share the amazing Meddybemps.com with the children in your life. There's even an area devoted to trains.

Model railroad clubs are welcome to reproduce the two eye-catching flyers below to promote public shows. Click to open or download pdf files, type in your information and print, or print and add details later. Both are 8.5 x 11 inch pages.

See product images at right for poster-size versions.

Want your model railroad or club to project the image of a highly professional organization?

Jerry's long career in corporate visual identity systems, marketing, and Website design assures high-quality solutions to your communications needs.

Contact:
Jerry Jindrich
P.O.Box 1054
Newburgh, IN 47629
812-853-7693
email: jjindrich@
meddybemps.com

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"You just can't have too many trains!"

In a classic Saturday Night Live skit, power plant workers argued over two possible interpretations of the ambiguous warning, "You can't put too much water in a nuclear reactor." We twisted that phrase for the amusement of train collectors and applied it to shirts and mugs. People may wonder, but you know there's only one correct meaning.

We partnered with two leaders in on-demand printing and personalization to bring you this unique collection.

For product details and ordering information, click on the images and icons below. You will be taken to our store pages on either Zazzle.com or CafePress.com.

On these sites, you can customize many purchases, selecting alternate styles and colors, even adding your own text. Note: shirt designs can be switched to men's, women's, or children's categories with many choices of styles, colors and sizes. Ordering is a easy and safe with major credit cards and secure online shopping environments.

Click to learn more, buy, or see additional products.