My name is Boman Nakra, and I have been a model train hobbyist for the past 40 years. I was introduced to this fascinating hobby when I was very young. The world of model railways is an extremely creative hobby, and one can get immersed in it for hours.

It is also called model train railroading. It is one of the most creative hobbies, as it comprises the collection of various model trains—locomotives, coaches, goods wagons, tracks, signalling, landscaping, roads, bridges, buildings, vehicles, model figures, lights, tunnels, and much more. It involves design, modelling, geometry, landscaping, carpentry, and plumbing, as well as the use of various tools and knowledge of architecture, physics, wiring, electricity, electronics, and computers. The creativity in this hobby is endless. One can spend hours and days pursuing it because it is so engrossing, and there is so much to learn. You also get to meet like-minded people who share your interest in the hobby.

I was introduced to this fascinating hobby when I was perhaps four or five years old, when my father gifted my sister and me a passenger and goods train set. This would have been in 1969–1970. It gave me immense joy just looking at it. The locomotive was wound with a key (clockwork), and it ran until the spring tension ran out. Then it had to be wound again. It was made of tin. I guess that in those days, only tin-based toys were available in India. My father had an “O” Gauge electric Bing train set. He had shown me only the locomotive, but never gave it to me to hold. He said, “When you grow up, you can take it.” There was no transformer or coaches, as these had been stolen. Sad indeed!

My first model train set was from Crown Railways. I remember my uncle, the late Mr. Homi Jamooji, bringing it for me at my father’s insistence in 1976, as he knew the manufacturer. Homi Uncle had a considerable model train collection, and I also bought a few locomotives from him. His name was Ashwin Mehta, a true pioneer in the field of model railways in India. He had started Crown Railways in the 1970s. Whenever I came home from boarding school during the holidays, I used to visit Ashwin Bhai’s house with my father and watch the layout he had created. I found inspiration just by seeing his layout. He also had many models to sell, and my father encouraged me to buy whenever money permitted. Buying new models was out of the question, as they were expensive, so I had to settle for used ones—sometimes even broken ones. This gave me insight into how several locomotives worked, and I tried my hand at repairing them. I used to scout around Lamington Road for electronic items that I could use in model railways. I had installed lights using diodes in several locomotives.

After I came home from boarding school, and then finished high school and engineering, I used to buy the occasional item from Ashwin Bhai, my friend Anand, and Kurush Dubash. They also gave me several HO Gauge items to add to my collection, which I bought from them. Anand and Kurush had mint collections, meaning all items were new, and some had not even been opened from their boxes. Anand is a thematic collector. Once I started working, the hobby took a back seat for nearly 12–15 years, as I was very busy with my career.

My interest was sparked once again in 2010–2011, when my wife informed me that my younger daughter had to do a school project and had chosen “Railways” as her theme. The project had to be completed within seven days. This set me thinking, and my mind immediately went to a board I had purchased from Chor Bazaar, a flea market in Mumbai. It was a 3 ft by 3 ft board with some oval tracks in N Gauge. The tracks were intact and not broken, but the green chart paper beneath them was torn and looked shabby. So, I carefully removed all the tracks with a snipper tool and asked my wife to get some green cloth of the type normally used for billiard tables. She sourced it from a shop in Matunga, and I stuck the cloth onto the board using Fevicol. The next challenge was how to fix the tracks back. I did not have any special nails, as N Gauge tracks require very small, special nails. I then approached my friend Raju Ghadially, who is a watch repairer by profession and a technician par excellence. He sharpened small tacks made from paper pins on his lathe machine, which I somehow managed to fix in place.

I then soldered the wires to the tracks and tested the locomotive and coaches. I showed the layout in operation to my eldest daughter and wife, and they took it to the school on the appointed day. All the other children’s projects were static. When my daughter demonstrated the running model train, everyone was astonished, as they had never seen anything like it before. My younger daughter won second prize for the project.

This got me thinking, and I asked my carpenter to make a board that could fold up and be kept behind the sofa. Once the board was made, I had only a few N Gauge tracks, which were not enough to construct a layout. I procured whatever I could locally from friends and some shops; however, it was not enough, as I needed several types of tracks—not just curved and straight ones. The layout I had in mind would be very sophisticated and complicated to construct. The board was also not large enough. I then asked my carpenter to make a 6 ft by 3 ft board, slightly bigger than the previous one. However, I was still short of tracks. I started searching on various websites in the US, Canada, and Germany, as well as specialist model train store websites. Little by little, I began to procure tracks and model train accessories, and sometimes locomotives, coaches, and goods wagons. Importing model trains is expensive, as one must pay the necessary customs duties and applicable taxes. Manufacturing model trains requires very sophisticated machinery and tooling. Currently, there are no manufacturers of model trains in India, so they have to be imported. However, this should not deter anyone from pursuing their dream of enjoying the model train hobby. One can start small and then build up step by step.

Once I had a considerable amount of track, I began constructing the layout, mainly using Fleischmann N Scale. It struck me that seven trains should run simultaneously on a 6 ft by 3 ft board. My friend Raju believed in this project, and we started working on it in September 2013, aiming to complete it before December 2014. It was very hard work, involving 14 hours of continuous work on weekends. After many permutations and combinations, we managed to get seven model trains running simultaneously. A special integrated transformer was constructed. We also managed to construct catenary poles with drawn wires. We tested the locomotives using the overhead catenary conductor, and it worked as desired. Raju then informed me that, according to his knowledge, there was no other layout in India on which seven analogue trains were running simultaneously, and that we should inform the Limca Book of Records so it could be included in their records. I was a bit hesitant at first, as there were still some loose ends, with wires visible underneath the layout. To make the layout more robust, all the wiring had to be removed and redone. This took some four to five months of work. In the first week of January 2015, I cut all the wires to the layout and procured several reels of coloured wire. We started work again on weekends to get the layout working. We managed to complete it by the first week of April 2015.

I contacted the Limca Book of Records office and editor and sent them all the details. They informed me that they would send an officer to Mumbai to validate the layout. The officer came on Thursday, 9 April 2015, was highly impressed with what he saw, and informed me that they had not seen a layout like it before either. I then received the Limca Book of Records certificate for running seven analogue model trains. I am very grateful to the Limca Book of Records for giving me this certificate and mentioning the layout in the book.

During my visit to Germany, I specifically visited Hamburg to see Miniatur Wunderland, the ultimate model train layout in the world. Miniatur Wunderland (German for “miniature wonderland”) is a model railway and miniature airport attraction in Hamburg, Germany, and the largest of its kind in the world. The railway is located in the city’s historic Speicherstadt district.

In October 2016, the railway consisted of 15,400 m (50,525 ft) of track in H0 scale, divided into nine sections: Harz, the fictitious city of Knuffingen, the Alps and Austria, Hamburg, America, Scandinavia, Switzerland, a replica of Hamburg Airport, and Italy. Of the 6,800 m² (73,195 sq. ft.) of floor space, the model takes up 1,490 m² (16,038 sq. ft.).

By 2020, the exhibit was expected to have reached its final construction phase, including at least ten new sections in a model area of over 2,300 m² (24,757 sq. ft.). The exhibit includes 1,300 trains made up of over 10,000 carriages, over 100,000 moving vehicles, approximately 500,000 lights, 130,000 trees, and 400,000 human figurines. Planning was also in progress for sections representing France, England, Ireland, Africa, and Australia. (Details from Wikipedia.)

It is amazing how grit and determination can bring out such creativity in the face of all odds. This H0 model layout has details one cannot imagine. The layout is highly sophisticated and can run more than 1,000 trains simultaneously. The landscaping is highly detailed and lifelike. One can get a lot of inspiration just by looking at the layout.

Following the validation from the Limca Book of Records, it occurred to me to turn this hobby into a commercial venture and spread the wonderful world of model railway trains. Thus, I created this website, BNMODELTRAINS.COM. I specialize in making N Gauge layouts, as this scale (1:160) allows many items to fit into a small space. It is easy to use and maintain and does not take up much room. The layouts range from basic to more advanced, with changing tracks, signalling, and catenary. To further enhance a layout, one can even build houses, stations, landscaping, and more. This brings out creativity, especially in young children. This is a small step I have taken to spread the wonderful hobby of model railway trains.

My associates in this venture are Raju Ghadially and Sameer Mistry, my longtime friend and former colleague. We have spent considerable time and many years bringing this venture to fruition.

I would be very grateful for your comments and feedback to help enhance the BN Model Trains website and its products.

See you until my next blog!