In recent years there has been nothing short of an explosion in interest in model trains and railways. Some people think this is due to baby boomers now buying train sets for their children, keen for them to experience the fun that they can recall having as children.
There is no denying that this is certainly the case for me. I am one of those baby boomers and I have fond memories of many hours spent with my brother and father building sometimes elaborate model railway systems. We completely transformed our dining room into what we called our railway room with a huge, elaborate system of tracks and buildings. We managed to keep the track set up in our railway room right up until Christmas when family guests for Christmas dinner meant that my mother insisted that we dismantle the track and return the railway room to its preceding dining room status. I can distinctly recall how disappointed my father was when he was forced to dismantle and box up the train track, locomotives and trackside buildings.
In fact, reflecting on those days, I think it was doing things with my father that was more important to me than the model railway. My father was never inclined to play any field sports and only ever took an apparently cursory interest in my school work. But when it came to model trains and railways his eyes would light up and he suddenly became very enthusiastic. The only way to get my father to put his newspaper down and leave his armchair was to suggest we turn on the model railway system.
Model trains are good for any age, providing a fun, rewarding and engaging hobby. Model trains are not toy trains. Good quality model trains are scale models of the real thing that can provide a valuable learning aid, helping young and old to understand the development of rail transport.
Way back in the 1850s Marklin, a German manufacturer of dolls-house accessories, introduced the first boxed train-set. This was intended to broaden their market by appealing to boys. They were also responsible for producig accessories for their train sets including trackside buildings. The company are still going strong today.
Electric powered trains are reputed to have been introduced by the American company Carlisle and Finch in 1897 but it was the Lionel Corporation who were responsible for developing the product. Their first Electric train, called the Electric Express, was actually not intended for sale. It was originally intended to be used as a storefront display.
Jump forward to today and you will find many fathers, like myself, who have fond memories of many hours shared with their fathers building and playing with model train sets. We buy systems for our own children but, in truth, its more about us re-visiting our own childhoods and the happy times that we spent with our trains.
