Daniela Egan Launches Tiny Track Toys Selling Portland Transit Wooden Replicas

Daniela Egan launched Tiny Track Toys in January, rolling out two miniature replicas that aim straight for Portland transit fans and gift shoppers. The parent-owned Portland company currently offers a MAX Red Line train and a Line 15 bus, each rendered in a blue-bodied livery streaked with TriMet’s signature orange stripes and selling for $16.95.

The models are meticulously designed with small but recognizable details: air vents, circular signal lights and 2-D pantographs (the metal arms that connect MAX trains to the wires above) printed along the sides. Interiors are detailed, making the pieces work as both desk toys and shelf-ready mementos for anyone familiar with Portland rail and bus routes. Tiny Track Toys sells online and in person at a handful of toy stores, gift shops and museums across Portland, putting affordable local transit memorabilia within reach of collectors and casual buyers alike.

Egan traces the idea back to family life and time spent in public transit hubs. Egan grew up in Ashland and settled in Portland with her family in 2022. The family’s interest in trains began earlier during a stretch living in Boston, where transit served as a backdrop to daily life and inspired a taste for trains and buses. “That was a really big part of his childhood,” Egan said, recalling Malcolm’s first toy train set and the commuter rail and Green Line trains chugging past an apartment window.

“So, when we moved here, we started riding TriMet a lot. We used to spend weekends just riding the lines up to the end and back,” Egan said, describing how repeated trips turned into a project idea. Egan frames transit as a way to see the city: “When I drive, I’m not paying attention to what’s around around me, what businesses there are, what the scenery looks like, who’s out and about walking,” she said. “When I’m on the train or on the bus, that’s possible.” She called the toys a nod to local life: “It’s one sliver of what makes our city really great,” she added.

Requests for some of the more particular details came from Malcolm himself, and the result is a pair of toys that will resonate with people who recognize the routes, colors and hardware of Portland transit. For model railroaders who like to kitbash or add locale-specific rolling stock to layouts, the pieces offer a low-cost way to inject Portland flavor without committing to expensive HO or N scale imports.

Tiny Track Toys’ launch creates a locally made, accessible option for collectors, commuters, gift buyers and museum shoppers. Expect the initial two models to act as proof of concept; if demand holds, Egan may expand the line and give more TriMet routes a miniature turn on local shelves.