A father in Southwest China's Chongqing spent eight years building a real miniature steam train for his autistic son.

The son, named Hanghang, was diagnosed with autism at 3. After completing primary school, he was forced to drop out because he couldn't catch up in classes and also had difficulty communicating with other children his age.

During that time, he developed a fascination for miniature trains in animated programs. He even drew trains on the walls of his family's yard and slept with toy trains close at hand.

So whenever he had free time, Li would closely observe the exterior structure and internal components of steam trains and asked professionals at railway stations about the machinery.

Later, Li was given a book from 1984 called "Steam Locomotives". It was a gift from a retired steam train driver. He spent three months teaching himself how to draw blueprints using software, and standardize and size the required parts for a locomotive.

Because the process was complex and the demand low, factories were unwilling to produce parts for a scaled-down version of the locomotive. Li had no choice but to make the parts himself.

To have enough space to test the train, Li moved out of his urban home and rented a small house in a rural village, where he laid down tracks and set up a makeshift workshop. 

Over eight years, Li spent more than 200,000 yuan ($29,042) testing the machine more than a thousand times. He replaced six boilers, and finally built the first miniature locomotive for his son in 2021.

But Li did not stop there. To make the train more powerful, he continued to improve it, and thus came locomotives two, three and beyond.

"My son was being healed little by little. He was no longer afraid of strangers and becoming more cheerful and lively," Li recalled.

Now, Li has made a total of eight miniature steam locomotives, and Hanghang has become a skilled "conductor." The 15-year-old often confidently introduces his beloved miniature trains to others.

Thanks to his inspiring story, Hanghang got a job at a tourism site near his father's hometown driving his miniature train, which could carry 20 to 30 tourists at a time through the beautiful scenery.

Editing by Chen Yuehua

Intern: Zhang Xiaoyan

Source: CCTV News Guangming Network Chongqing Morning Post