Ho trains store model trains railroads Z Scale N Scale HO Scale OO Scale S Scale O Scale G trains Auction info
Ho trains store model trains railroads Z Scale N Scale HO Scale OO Scale S Scale O Scale G
About Model RR, Trains
  Model trains, both for buying, selling and collecting. Our selection includes toy trains such as Athearn, Bachmann, Hornby, Lionel, Marklin, AHM Rivarossi, MTH and Marx. The toy trains on our site are Z Scale, N Scale, HO Scale, OO Scale, S Scale, O Scale, G Scale and Standard Scale. You can build model railroads of all sizes and configurations. Building model railroads is a very popular hobby. Certain model trains are valuable, although you can also find more economical train toys. You can add all sorts of accessories to rig up all of your model railroads and add to your collection of toy model trains.
#17186 CANONAIDE SCALE HOPPER

#17186 CANONAIDE SCALE HOPPER

 $49.00 14m
TRIANG HORNBY R126 CAR TRANSPORTER & 3 MINIX CARS

TRIANG HORNBY R126 CAR TRANSPORTER & 3 MINIX CARS

 - $23.09 15m
500 Unpainted White 1:150 Scale Model People N Figures

500 Unpainted White 1:150 Scale Model People N Figures

$6.37 15m
HO WOODEN FACTORY BUILDING FOR LAYOUT

HO WOODEN FACTORY BUILDING FOR LAYOUT

 $2.00 15m
LIONEL 027 TRACK LOT o27 train track STRAIGHT 6-65038

LIONEL 027 TRACK LOT o27 train track STRAIGHT 6-65038

 $1.78 15m
K-LINE LIGHTED TETHER W ONE LIGHT EACH

K-LINE LIGHTED TETHER W ONE LIGHT EACH

$2.00 15m
K-LINE LIGHTING W TETHER

K-LINE LIGHTING W TETHER

$2.00 15m
K-LINE LIGHTING W TETHER CC-06

K-LINE LIGHTING W TETHER CC-06

 $2.00 15m
Bachman Spectrum Reading SD45 Deisel

Bachman Spectrum Reading SD45 Deisel

 1 $9.99 15m
K-LINE LIGHTING W TETHER CF-04

K-LINE LIGHTING W TETHER CF-04

 $2.00 15m
Vintage Marx Electric Train Set 50875 Complete In Box

Vintage Marx Electric Train Set 50875 Complete In Box

 $149.95 15m
K-LINE LIGHTING W TETHER CD-01

K-LINE LIGHTING W TETHER CD-01

$2.00 15m
K-LINE K2400-08 SHUTTER GRAY PAIR

K-LINE K2400-08 SHUTTER GRAY PAIR

 $2.00 15m
O SCALE KIT BUILT PACEMAKER NYC BOX CAR METAL

O SCALE KIT BUILT PACEMAKER NYC BOX CAR METAL

$11.00 15m
HO BRASS SIDE PULLMAN CAR ALAMO 12"

HO BRASS SIDE PULLMAN CAR ALAMO 12"

$45.00 15m
PACK OF EZ TRACK HAWTHORNE-BACHMANN TRAIN BRAND NEW

PACK OF EZ TRACK HAWTHORNE-BACHMANN TRAIN BRAND NEW

 - $14.99 15m
BRASS HO Samhongsa Oriental SP Daylight E9 (AA) Set

BRASS HO Samhongsa Oriental SP Daylight E9 (AA) Set

 - $399.00 15m
AMERICAN FLYER S READING CNW TENDER SHELL PAIR

AMERICAN FLYER S READING CNW TENDER SHELL PAIR

 $4.00 15m
AMERICAN FLYER S 312 METAL ENGINE CAB

AMERICAN FLYER S 312 METAL ENGINE CAB

$6.00 15m
O GAUGE TUNNEL FOR LAYOUT

O GAUGE TUNNEL FOR LAYOUT

$4.00 15m
O GAUGE TUNNEL FOR LAYOUT

O GAUGE TUNNEL FOR LAYOUT

$2.00 15m
HO SCALE WOODLAND SCENICS MASONRY WORKERS FIGURES 1901

HO SCALE WOODLAND SCENICS MASONRY WORKERS FIGURES 1901

 $12.59 15m
Lionel large scale ATSF gondola

Lionel large scale ATSF gondola

 1 $20.00 15m

The US TRAINS HISTORY

At the same time as Marklin was introducing the toy train to Europe America was experimenting with electrical novelties. One result was that several ranges of electric toy train were available from the later 1890s which in their size and use of home assembled two rail track rather resembled the pre Marklin type of train. But they had a following, despite plenty of German imports. Also from 1900, Ives, an established US toy maker decided to compete with the likes of Bing with clockwork tinplate trains in gauges O and 1. As will happen, fusion occurred, in that Lionel, one of the novelty makers, adopted European style tinplate tracks and some constructional approaches, but only offered electric trains. All of which kept the Germans innovative.
The scale effect

In terms of product there were a number of trends. One was the advent of still smaller scales. OO and HO gauge grew from a collaboration between Bing and Basset Lowke, designed by Henry Greenly, for a table top toy. These first models were really just toys, and the same tooling was used for UK, US and German outline trains. So the scale was a bit debatable. In fact as a toy the Bing Table Top system was not a runaway success, but what it triggered was a great deal of interest by adult modelers in this size of train. As a result two scales emerged HO 1 87 scale and OO 1 76 both in Britain using the same track gauge.

This links with the second trend, model railways as a hobby, and not just for the rich enthusiast, came of age in Britain in the 1920s and was successfully taken up in the US in the 30s. This saw the publication of modelers magazines, an emphasis on home construction and better standards, but also the growth of smaller manufacturers aimed squarely at this adult enthusiast rather than toy market. In the US in particular this led to the early adoption of standards suitable for modeling the NMRA was founded in 1934.

The toy makers took notice of these developments. While most toy trains were sold for junior, they were sold to parents. And if Dad could be enticed to be a more active player, then perhaps more would be bought. Whatever the influence as the 30s went by the better toy trains became much more realistic, adopting shapes, colors and markings much more like the real thing. By 1938 in US, Germany and Britain there were second generation OO or HO scale systems from major toy makers that set new standards in realism. And then came a second world conflict.

Train news

  • TRAINS HISTORY

    Prehistory There have been models and toys of trains for as long as there have been real railways. Indeed some early models of locomotives were made first as sales promotional tools for the early railways, even if they later might have become playthings. During the Victorian period toy and model trains and locomotives fell into a number of categories there were the live steam engines, expensive and only for the wealthy, there were pull along trains in all shapes, sizes and materials, penny toys in lead and tin and latterly clockwork engines. The steam and clockwork engines might be intended to run on the floor, or a simple track assembled by the user, but there was no real sense of system about these trains. Most of these toys were made in Germany. Britain and France tended only to make the better class of steam engine. There was an indigenous US industry, with considerable use of cast iron rather than tinplate. The Real Beginning The defining event in toy train history was the launch by Marklin in 1891 of the first complete system of trains. While the first models were derived from earlier products, what Marklin introduced was a series of standard track gauges, ready to use track sections for those gauges, and a range of locomotives, rolling stock and accessories to match. Now you could have an initial train set, but continually add and expand till your miniature railroad empire was complete - which it never was.

     

    This was of course good for the toy manufacturer, indeed this is possibly the first example of the expanding range, with items at various price points Christmas, birthdays, parents and relations and pocket money sized, which is one of the basic features of most successful toys since.

     

    These first Marklin models were made in three gauges called 1, 2 and 3, logically enough. Painted and soldered tinplate was the main material, and clockwork the driving power. And they were crude. But the range was clearly a great success. So Marklin expanded and improved its range, after a few years adding a fourth, small gauge O. The range of accessories was greatly expanded. Other German toy makers introduced competitive products, most importantly Bing then probably Germanys, and hence the worlds, largest toy maker. Despite the odd divergence these makers generally adopted the same standards as to gauge as Marklin, while developing new production techniques, in particular the use of lithographed printed tinplate, allowing much cheaper and more colorful items, at the expense of some robustness.

     

    By the start of the 20th century other methods of propulsion were being applied too, in that live steam and electric powered models had taken to the toy train rails, though clockwork was still the prime mover. More importantly the first ranges of Marklin and Bing and others were growing and improving each year, and as with the rest of the German toy trade, was strongly export oriented, thus spreading toy trains world wide. The main markets were Britain, France and their empires and the US. Britain had no indigenous toy maker to compete with, nor really had France, but there was home based competition in America. Britain however had something else - model railways

     

    Model Railways

    The hobby of model railways can really be said to have been founded in the U.K. at the start of the Edwardian period. There were already active amateur model engineers, building live steam locomotives and with a keen interest in the real railways. One of the embryo suppliers to this group was a young man, W J Bassett Lowke. He saw the potential of using the German toy trains, particularly the track and mechanisms, with bodies rather more accurate as to prototype and selling not as a toy to children but rather to adult enthusiasts. And he used the services of another young man, Henry Greenly, as a designer of these models. Greenly, among other things, established a system of scales using the Marklin  gauges as the starting point. He also founded the first periodical devoted to model railways. And thus from the beginning the hobby of model railways was in part a toy, and in part the effort of amateur and professional model makers coexisting, sometimes comfortably and sometimes not.

    Bassett Lowke tended to use the services of Bing and Carrette for its own models, but of course once the idea of British outline models was established the German makers started to produce models for sale by other importers, for example Marklin for the Gamages store in London.