Toronto Ontario - Like many 7-year-old boys Nathan O'Neill loves trains.
 
But this Toronto boy's passion for the railway runs so deep he has his own blog www.aBoyWhoLovesTrains.com with an impressive sponsor, the Canadian Pacific Railway.
 
"My name is Nathan. I am 7 years old. I love CP trains," he writes in the introduction about himself.
 
"I love that they carry freight across the country and that they are big and they are cool. I want to learn what working parts are inside trains and I want to learn how the railroad crossing knows when the train is coming. I want to learn what it's like to be an engineer."
 
Nathan's mother, Dana Bookman, a television producer, says when he was 2 they would stand by the track near their cottage near Kingston for up to three hours waiting for a train to pass.
 
It could get "really boring," she said.
 
"But his passion became contagious. I certainly never looked at trains before Nathan. Now, even if I'm alone, I find myself yelling, It's a train! A train is coming!" she laughs.
 
"When your child loves something so completely, it's hard not to love it too."
 
When Bookman realized just how passionate her son was about trains, she suggested Nathan start a blog so he could document what he learned and called CP Rail to tell them about his blog.
 
Nathan and his mom sent the railway a letter outlining all the things he wanted to learn about the railway and include on his blog.
 
They also asked if he could hang out with the folks at CP Rail once a month in exchange for writing about his experiences.
 
The company was thrilled with the idea.
 
"Kids have been fascinated by the railroad since it was invented. Nathan's passion and curiosity struck a chord with us," says CP spokesperson Salem Woodrow.
 
"We're proud of our history and where we're headed and excited that a kid like Nathan is as passionate about railroading as we are."
 
When Nathan heard the news he was ecstatic.
 
"I said, I think I'm going to faint," recalled the Grade 1 student at his midtown Toronto school.
 
"No day will be better than this day!"
 
Within weeks of getting the letter, Woodrow came to Toronto from her Calgary office to meet Nathan and introduced him to some CP engineers, who gave him an engineer uniform.
 
"We wanted to help him learn about the modern railway, about safety, technology, innovation, and if he wanted to share that with other kids, we were happy to help him out," said Woodrow.
 
And now once a month, Nathan rides the rails with the CP crew.
 
Nathan's passion for trains started when he was 2-years-old and went on early morning adventures with his dad Conor to watch the subway trains go by.
 
When he saw his first freight train, he was hooked.
 
"Every time we went to the cottage we would drive to the tracks and sit in the car reading books until a train went by."
 
They still do that every summer.
 
His classmates follow his blog and his teacher often reads the blog to the class and after Nathan will answer questions.
 
"Now many of my classmates want to start blogging too," said Nathan.
 
"I've definitely inspired some kids," he said.
 
"They have a lot of questions, like how does a train work, why did you meet with the engineers. I think they're getting to like trains because of my blog," Nathan says.
 
One of Nathan's favourite memories was a random meeting with CP engineers in Kingston.
 
"They explained what they did and how the engine works. We were driving by the tracks near my cottage and we saw a train parked on the train track and we saw the engineers. Their names were John and Sean. They come from Smiths Falls. They were very nice."
 
During the Christmas holidays, Nathan rode The CP Holiday Train and blogged about it.
 
The freight train ablaze with lights travelled across Canada collecting food and cash for local food banks.
 
Nathan was on-board from Etobicoke to The Junction.
 
"I don't want kids. I just want to drive trains," Nathan said when asked what he wants to do when he grows up.
 
Specifically he wants to drive a CP freight train across the country.
 
Over the winter break, Bookman took Nathan to look for new railroad crossings.
 
"We found two we haven't seen before, near Kingston," she said, before her son jumped in, saying, "they were CN tacks."
 
Canadian National Railway is the other dominant freight rail operator in Canada.
 
Nathan follows CP rail on the stock market and received his first share of CP stock for his birthday on 4 Jan 2015 from his grandparents.
 
He also got bedding covered with trains and an electric train set.
 
In fact he swapped a traditional birthday party for a train trip to Niagara Falls.
 
"Whenever we're in a car and Nathan and his sister are in the back seat, we all start yelling, A train! A train!" Bookman says.
 
"I literally even cry hearing his joy. This is what my life is now," she says.
 
"But it is such a bonding experience."

Rebecca Eckler.