Childhood Memories

Model Trains as Much Fun Today as Ever

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.

There is no denying that this is certainly the case for me. I am a baby boomer myself and I recall spending many happy hours with my brother and father building complex model rail networks. 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 remain in the railway room up until Christmas of that year when we had family guests coming for Christmas dinner and my mother insisted that the railway was dismantled and the dining room returned to its original use. 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 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 can provide a fun and rewarding hobby for anybody, at any age. Model trains should not be confused with 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 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, called the Electric Express, was actually not intended for sale. Their original model was 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.

Childhood Memories – Brian Crain

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