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The first model railroads appeared in the mid-19th century. Within a few years, a model train set was the must-have toy for thousands of hobbyists across Great Britain, Europe, and North America. And this singular pastime is still steaming ahead, with devotees and creatives busily opening up the hobby to a new customer group. In fact, far from hitting the buffers, the model railway is keeping well on track.
Jump aboard this gallery and click through the history of this aged but cherished hobby.
The idea of replicating locomotives and rail carriages as push-along toys gathered momentum after Robert Stephenson's 'Rocket' won the Rainhill trials in England in 1829. The trials were a competition to test Stephenson's father's (George Stephenson) theory that locomotives would have the best motive power for the Liverpool and Manchester Railway.
The first documented model railway in the world was that built in 1859 for Napoleon, Prince Imperial, the three-year-old son of Emperor Napoleon III.
In fact, the advent of the steam locomotive prompted many railway enthusiasts to replicate these marvels of transportation in miniature form.
These early model locomotives were exquisitely crafted by skilled artisans and were designed to be pushed along a smooth floor. But they were very expensive and pretty much exclusive to the wealthy.
Then in the late 1800s, affordable windup clockwork locomotives began to appear, along with carriages and tracks.
The democratization of model railways evolved with the emergence of English companies like Hornby and Bassett-Lowke.
The first clockwork train produced by Hornby was in 1920. The company was soon dominating the British and European model railway market.
Ready-to-run toy trains appealed to both children and adults alike. But clockwork locomotives and model railways were also being used by rail companies as instruction for railway workers.
The emerging silent movie industry quickly recognized the value in using model railways to recreate scenes of railroad drama on film sets, using scale models to realistic effect.
In the late 1920s, electricity was increasingly being used by model railway enthusiasts to power locomotives, railroad cars, and rolling stock.
The electric revolution was seized upon by manufacturers. Model railway sets were designed to be more authentic in appearance, with a second set of tracks, junction boxes, signaling, and passenger waiting rooms included in the box.
By the mid-1930s, German model railway manufacturers such as Märklin and rival company Trix were offering HO gauge systems. Hornby, meanwhile, was marketing its equivalent O gauge systems. These designations referred to the width of the track. American modelers were also steaming ahead, with companies such as Lionel, Ives, American Flyer (later A.C. Gilbert), and Marx providing a niche market for serious model railway enthusiasts.
Following the disruption caused by the Second World War, the model railway industry was soon back on track. The post-war period proved a renaissance for model railways.
Hornby's Dublo range, introduced in 1947, was a revelation. Applauded for its extraordinary level of detail and realism, a Dublo electric train was the item every model railway enthusiast wanted.
With materials once again widespread, manufacturers began expanding their range. North America saw the introduction of the S gauge. Narrower than O, S gauge systems had two rails and supported American Flyer and other S-gauge cars.
In response, Hornby introduced its HO/OO gauge system. The advantage here was that OO scale trains could run perfectly well on HO scale track. In other words, it was possible to run a mix of British and European rolling stock on the same layout, simply by swapping the couplings. Crucially, this scale shift allowed enthusiasts to create more extensive and elaborate layouts in limited spaces.
Youngsters joined model railway clubs and societies and became stationmasters in their own front rooms.
The popularity of model railways in the 1950s saw the forging of an unlikely alliance with the fashion industry, where trains and track provided an unusual backdrop against the promotion of clothing and accessories.
Advances in manufacturing technology in the 1960s and '70s saw the introduction of plastic injection molding techniques. Trains and track could be made cheaply and more efficiently, but without compromising attention to detail.
The following decade brought with it demands for increased realism and specialization. Model train manufacturers duly obliged. Railroad layouts were incorporated into landscapes and cityscapes of astonishing detail, miniature masterpieces any architect would be proud of.
Specialist manufacturers, including Bachmann, which can trace its roots back to America in 1833, and the UK's Peco company, also the publisher of the hobbyists' magazine Railway Modeller, are among top-end producers of high specification, technically superior model railway tracks, plastic kits, and accessories for the model railway.
The early years of the new millennium witnessed the advent of digital command control (DCC) systems. This enabled precise control over multiple locomotives on the same layout and facilitated special effects such as enhanced sound systems and synchronized lighting.
Nowhere has this digital technology been put to better use than at Miniatur Wunderland. Located in Hamburg's Speicherstadt, this is the largest model railway system in the world, according to Guinness World Records.
Inaugurated in 2000, Miniatur Wunderland is one of the most popular and most visited sights in Germany.
The 18,234 sq ft (1,694 m²) exhibition area features 1,231 digitally controlled trains with more than 12,000 wagons.
The railway consists of 54,104 ft (16,491 m) of track in HO scale, currently divided into nine themed sections. These include the Alps and Austria, Hamburg, the United States, Scandinavia, and Switzerland.
Two more sections are earmarked for opening at the end of 2025: The Rainforest and The Andes and Atacama Desert. Completion of a Central America & The Caribbean section is slated for the end of 2027.
Celebrities and VIPs number among model railway enthusiasts. In 2018, the-then Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall visited Llandovery Railway Station to mark the 150th anniversary of the Heart of Wales railway line. During a tour of the premises, the prince tried his hand at operating a scale model of the railway.
In the United States, The Great American Railway, star exhibit at the Northlandz attraction in Flemington, New Jersey, boasts 50,000 ft (15,250 m) of track.
Owned by Bruce Williams Zaccagnino, an entrepreneur, concert musician, computer games developer, and publisher, The Great American Railway has been visited by Rod Stewart, Neil Young, and numerous other celebrities.
Privately, other big name entertainers such as Roger Daltrey, Elton John, Bruce Springsteen, Eric Clapton, and Phil Collins have demonstrated a passion for miniature locomotives. And former Beatle Ringo Starr famously voiced 'Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends,' narrating the first and second series in the early 1980s, and played Mr. Conductor in the first series of the American show 'Shining Time Station,' in 1989.
Sources: (Railway Pages) (The Guardian) (Miniatur Wunderland Hamburg) (Train World) (Guinness World Records)
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Keeping track of the model railway enthusiast
Rail transport modeling has always been seen as an aged hobby, but not anymore!
LIFESTYLE Hobbies
The first model railroads appeared in the mid-19th century. Within a few years, a model train set was the must-have toy for thousands of hobbyists across Great Britain, Europe, and North America. And this singular pastime is still steaming ahead, with devotees and creatives busily opening up the hobby to a new customer group. In fact, far from hitting the buffers, the model railway is keeping well on track.
Jump aboard this gallery and click through the history of this aged but cherished hobby.