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In recent years there has been nothing short of an explosion in interest in model trains and railways. Some have said that this is due to baby-boomers who fondly remember their own model trainsets, now buying model train sets for their own children.

That is certainly true 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. I recall that our most extensive and elaborate system took over the whole of our dining room which became known as ‘the railway room’. 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 never really showed any interest in my school work or playing football or and sports for that matter. But when it came to model trains and railways he would suddenly become animated and 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. They are scale models of the real thing and can provide a valuable educational aid, helping youngsters to become familiar with the history of rail transport, the development of railway technology and how locomotives have developed through the ages.

It was way back in the 1850s that a German dolls-house accessory manufacture called Marklin introduced the first, boxed train-set. The product was intended to appel to boys, broadening their market. They also produced accessories for their train set including trackside buildings. The company are still in business 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 was called the Electric Express and was never intended for public 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. These days we go out and buy model train sets for our children but they are really a way for us to revisit the happy times we had as children.

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