All Aboard! Thomas the Tank Engine Rolls Into Liberty Science Center This Fall

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JERSEY CITY, N.J. (September 5, 2017) – The island of Sodor comes to new Jersey on September 23! Thomas the Tank Engine and his friends will transform Liberty Science Center into this unique land that has held a special place in the hearts and imaginations of children for generations with the new Thomas & Friends: Explore the Rails exhibition.

Designed for children ages 2-8, the exhibit combines exciting play with important, age-appropriate concepts in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Children will be immersed in the exhibit’s large settings of locations from the beloved TV series including Knapford Station, the Sodor Steamworks, and more.

While playing is exciting, learning and creative problem-solving are important to developing young minds. Children can practice counting objects, comparing sizes, and learning colors. Older children can practice their math skills, learn basic engineering concepts, discover science ideas through play, and see how technology works to keep engines running.

Visitors are transported to the Island of Sodor, where they engage in fun, active, and meaningful STEM experiences:

• Climb into the Thomas Model to explore the inner workings of the engine, helping to refine physical abilities such as hand-eye coordination
• Visit the Loading Zone to design and test different ways to arrange cargo onto the train car
• Build upon time telling abilities by understanding what the hands and numbers of the clock represent at Tick Tock, Fix the Clock
• At the Train Table visitors imagine, plan and execute various innovative track options for trains to navigate through to accomplish tasks
• With Every Part Has a Purpose, children remove train parts and problem-solve by choosing replacement parts to come up with a solution
• Help Get Percy Going by observing, analyzing, concluding and reflecting on how Percy’s engine makes and uses steam energy

Thomas & Friends: Explore the Rails is included with general admission tickets ($21.75 for adults, $18.75 for seniors 62+, and $17.75 for children ages 2-12). Museum members and children under 2 are free. Liberty Science Center is open daily except Mondays in the fall and winter except on holidays. Check LSC.org for hours and other details.

About Liberty Science Center

Liberty Science Center (LSC.org) is a 300,000-square-foot not-for-profit learning center located in Liberty State Park on the Jersey City bank of the Hudson near the Statue of Liberty. Dedicated to bringing the power, promise, and pure fun of science and technology to people of all ages, Liberty Science Center houses 12 museum exhibition halls, a live animal collection with 110 species, giant aquariums, a 3D theater, live simulcast surgeries, a tornado-force wind simulator, K-12 classrooms and labs, and teacher-development programs. More than 250,000 students visit the Science Center each year, and tens of thousands more participate in the Center’s offsite and online programs. LSC is the most visited cultural institution in New Jersey with 650,000 visitors annually and the largest interactive science center in the NYC-NJ metropolitan area.