#2 History of Model Railways:

History of Model Railways

Model railways started in the 1840s. They were earlier known as “Carpet Railways.” These early models were not built to scale and looked crude compared with the original trains. They were operated manually. Electric trains appeared in the early 20th century, while some earlier models ran on a clockwork mechanism.

Modern model trains are scaled-down versions of the originals and look more realistic. For example, HO scale is 1:87: if a model were enlarged 87 times, it would be the size of the original. Model train hobbyists create railway layouts and often recreate real locations and historical periods using original railway drawings.

The world’s oldest working model railway was designed to train signalmen on the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway. Located at the National Railway Museum in York, England, it dates back to 1912 and remained in use until 1995. The model was built as a training exercise by apprentices at the company’s Horwich works and was supplied with rolling stock by Bassett-Lowke.

General Description

Involvement in the hobby ranges from owning a train set to spending hours and large sums of money on a large, detailed model of a railroad and its scenery, called a “layout.” Hobbyists, known as “railway modellers” or “model railroaders,” may maintain models large enough to ride, such as live steam, ridable miniature railways, and backyard railroads.

Modellers may collect model trains and build landscapes for them to pass through. They may also operate their own miniature railroad. For some, the goal is to run a layout as if it were a real railroad—either one imagined by the builder or one based on a real railway. Modellers recreating a real railway may reproduce its track plan in miniature, often using original track diagrams and historical maps.

Layouts range from a circle or oval of track to realistic, scale reproductions of real places. The world’s largest model railroad in H0 scale is Miniatur Wunderland in Hamburg, Germany. The largest live steam layout, with 25 miles (40 km) of track, is Train Mountain in Chiloquin, Oregon, U.S. Railway operations are an important part of the hobby, and many layouts emulate the operational aspects of a working railway. These can become extremely complex, with multiple routes, movement patterns, and timetabled operations. The British outline model railway Banbury Connections is one of the world’s most complicated model railways.

Model railroad clubs give enthusiasts a place to meet, and clubs often display their models to the public. One specialist branch focuses on larger scales and gauges, commonly using track gauges from 3.5 to 7.5 inches (89 to 191 mm). Models in these sizes are usually hand-built and powered by live steam or diesel-hydraulic engines, which can be powerful enough to haul dozens of passengers.

The Tech Model Railroad Club (TMRC) at MIT pioneered the automatic control of track switching using telephone relays in the 1950s.

The oldest society is The Model Railway Club, established in 1910 near King’s Cross, London, UK. As well as building model railways, it has 5,000 books and periodicals. The Historical Model Railway Society in Butterley, near Ripley, Derbyshire, specialises in historical matters and makes its archives available to members and non-members.

Scales and Gauges

The words scale and gauge may seem interchangeable, but they have different meanings. Scale is the model’s size in proportion to the original, while gauge is the distance between the rails.

Engine size depends on scale. It can range from 700 mm (27.6 in) tall for the largest ridable live steam models, such as 1:4 scale, down to matchbox size for the smallest models: Z scale (1:220) or T scale (1:450). A typical HO (1:87) engine is about 50 mm (1.97 in) tall and 100 to 300 mm (3.94 to 11.81 in) long.

The most popular scales are G, Gauge 1, O, S, HO (similar to OO in Britain), TT, and N (1:160 in the United States and 1:148 in the UK). HO and OO are the most popular. Popular narrow-gauge scales include Sn3, HOn3, and Nn3. These use the same scale ratios as S, HO, and N, respectively, but have narrower track spacing. In these examples, the track represents a 3 ft (914 mm) gauge rather than the standard gauge of 4 ft 8½ in (1,435 mm).

The largest common scale is 1:8, with 1:4 sometimes used for park rides. G scale (Garden, 1:24 scale) is popular for backyard modelling. It is easier to fit a G scale model into a garden and keep the scenery proportional to the trains. Gauge 1 and Gauge 3 are also popular for gardens. O, S, HO, and N scales are more often used indoors.

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