Joe Rios is a Texan transport professional who has brought his love and passion for the rich railroad history to his hometown Irving, with the start of Li’l Grande Trains. Inspired by his son, Joe started Li’l Grande Trains in the fall of 2019. The holiday season was booming, Li’l Grande Trains participated in city festivals and even started operating in the Irving Mall. Mr. Rios had an incredibly successful career in transport/logistics in Irving, which led him to fall back into his roots by starting up his company that gives people an experience of what it was like during the Texan steam engine railroad era.
Joe is passionate about his trackless trains and knows how to our your attention. “Imagine a railroad without tracks. We can take the train and its passengers anywhere they want. Texas has seen many trains come and go, but at Li’l Grande Trains we are preserving that history for future generations through our trackless train rides,”
“The older generations, we can just see them light up as they see something that reminds them of the past, we love to see that! The biggest compliment that I can get, is one of little words, it’s the kids expressing their happiness with a good old hug! It truly makes my day every time that happens,”
Why Li'l Grande Trains chose the Wattman trackless trains over other train manufacturers
Looking into buying his first train to offer his services Joe knew right away upon researching various brands of trackless trains which one had his preference – the Wattman World Mini-Express Train met every requirement perfectly. The best part? It has overwhelmingly positive customer feedback so you know it’s worth your investment without trying out the product yourself first hand (which isn’t always easy). It’s a quality product with many positive reviews from many American entrepreneurs in the industry! “We are proud of our partnership with The Wattman Company as they offer premium support, parts, and service,” Joe says with a big smile. Mr. Rios emphasizes that what he likes most about Wattman World is that there’s flexibility, thinking along with his ideas and what he would like to use his train for, and the elaborate technical services that are offered by Wattman.
The Grand Marshall Award, Irving Texas Independence Day Parade, 2021 ​
ultiple cities in Texas had embraced Li’l Grande Trains early on when Joe set up shop in 2019. Yet, before Joe could warm the hearts of everyone in his own hometown, the city of Irving TX, the covid-19 pandemic threw a spanner in the works. Joe was determined not to let anything stop him and he went for the purchase of his second Wattman train to make sure he could go all out for the 4th of July parade of Irving Texas.
“We went out with bells and whistles, literally!” The music system of the Wattman train allows us to play anything we want. We were dressed in 1900’s costumes and we had the old steam engine flags and banners and we even performed a bit of choreography in front of the train, the crowd loved it, and so did we,”
If it’s up to Joe, the future holds big dreams and even bigger plans for Li’l Grande Trains, himself, and his partners. The ultimate goal is to participate in the Texas State Fair. “I would need at least 10 trains to do that, but I believe where there’s a will there’s a way,”
