A three-session 3rd grade history inquiry. Students ask how the railroad changed a town, build timelines from Sedalia Katy Depot and Ogden Union Station guide excerpts, explain causes and effects with signal words, compare what happened in both towns at about the same time, and write a claim with evidence.

A three-session 5E science sequence on balanced and unbalanced forces. Students puzzle over a tug of war that does not move a toy train car, plan and run a fair test by hanging pennies from both ends, then name balanced and unbalanced forces from their own data and write a claim with evidence.

A 60-minute problem-based 3rd grade lesson on arrays and area. After a minute with the rows of seats on page 5 of the book, students find seats in a train car with tiles, write equations with a letter for the unknown, then break apart a real 30 by 16 foot toy train layout to find its area.

A 60-minute problem-based 3rd grade elapsed time lesson. Students read clocks to the nearest minute, then work out when a real excursion train gets back before any method is shown. The class compares strategies, names the open number line, and uses it on a departure board built from the North Shore Scenic Railroad guide's times.

A two-day 3rd grade close reading lesson. Students read one short excerpt from the Utah State Railroad Museum guide three times, each read with its own questions, then write and revise a main idea and explain how key details support it. On Day 2 they take brief notes on a second excerpt and sort them.

A three-day 3rd grade point of view lesson. On Day 1 the class hears Rally Takes the Train once, with four planned stops about who is telling the story, and fills in a point of view chart. Over two writing workshop days, students plan, draft and revise a first person narrative as the train's conductor.