This is 99% invisible. I'm Roman Mars.

Happy National Train Day everyone.

For those who missed it, it was May 13th this year, how do I know that?

Mainly because 99 P.I.'s resident train officionado, Kurt Colstead,

keeps reminding all of us.

Because I love trains, okay?

It's also the one-year anniversary. because I love trains, okay?

It's also the one year anniversary of our first collection of stories entirely about trains. We called it Trainset Track 1.

And to the surprise of no one, I had more than one episode's worth of train story ideas even before

99 p. I fans started writing in with more ideas. So track one gave way to track two and now here we are for the final part of our train

facta. Train set track three. Greetings passengers, this is your conductor speaking. Our first stop today is the fictional

island of Sodor.

In the late 1980s, I first encountered Shining Time Station, which was this mesmerizing

animated show that played during prime time on PBS

reach for the speed reach for the whistle

go where the rail may run

reach for the words reach for the story The show debuted when I was four years old.

At the time my family lived in this little red brick farmhouse in upstate New York

and like a lot of households in the 80s, ours didn't have cable.

So when my brother and I got to watch TV, we watched a lot of PBS.

And in the era of less sophisticated animation, this shows Claymation was mesmerizing.

I was enchanted by the charming characters, the backdrop of verdant rolling hills,

...