Surprisingly, one of the most popular hobbies in today's modern world is model railway trains. I'm not sure why, but perhaps it's because model trains are such a great hobby for enthusiasts of all different ages, appealing to both young and old. In any event, the popularity of model railway trains is still on the increase, even though they are considered one of the more old fashioned toys.
Perhaps the biggest surprise is that model railway trains remain popular despite an abundance of computers and games consoles. How do they manage to keep their appeal? It might have something to do with being able to turn our imagination and creativity into something physical.
They can choose what trains to run, what track layouts to have, whether to have scenery, tunnels, bridges or level crossings. And when they've decided, they can create it and watch it run. That's got to be very rewarding from a child's perspective.
And even for an older person, there's a world of opportunity for diving in deeper. These days the level of detail on the model trains is astonishing, they are extremely realistic, much more than they used to be. It's not at all difficult to find yourself spending hours or days on just a small part of your model railway.
These days, manufacturers seem to have settled on just a few of the sizes that used to be available, and that's probably a good thing for the average model train hobbyist. Popular scales range from G - the largest, down to Z which is the smallest. But the most popular of all is now the HO scale.
It's interesting where all the scale letters came from. H actually stands for half, and the O stands for ordinary or standard, so the HO model trains are half the size of standard model railway trains. Saying that, standard size does differ depending where in the world you are, so I'm not sure if standard is a good name to begin with.
Not surprisingly, model trains used to be powered by hand in the old days. I'm sure they had all the other accessories such as scenery, tunnels and bridges, but electrical model trains didn't come along until quite a bit later. Of course these days almost all trains are electrical, many of them controlled by a computer. Just like in the real world!
I love the fact that collecting model railway trains is a hobby that everyone can enjoy. You can start off as small as you like and build up as much as you like. Your imagination (and your wallet) is the only limit to what you can do. And the reward that you get out of this hobby really does increase with the enthusiasm that you put into it. A complex and detailed railroad layout that takes ages to build will bring with it a huge sense of satisfaction and achievement when it's complete.
Perhaps the biggest surprise is that model railway trains remain popular despite an abundance of computers and games consoles. How do they manage to keep their appeal? It might have something to do with being able to turn our imagination and creativity into something physical.
They can choose what trains to run, what track layouts to have, whether to have scenery, tunnels, bridges or level crossings. And when they've decided, they can create it and watch it run. That's got to be very rewarding from a child's perspective.
And even for an older person, there's a world of opportunity for diving in deeper. These days the level of detail on the model trains is astonishing, they are extremely realistic, much more than they used to be. It's not at all difficult to find yourself spending hours or days on just a small part of your model railway.
These days, manufacturers seem to have settled on just a few of the sizes that used to be available, and that's probably a good thing for the average model train hobbyist. Popular scales range from G - the largest, down to Z which is the smallest. But the most popular of all is now the HO scale.
It's interesting where all the scale letters came from. H actually stands for half, and the O stands for ordinary or standard, so the HO model trains are half the size of standard model railway trains. Saying that, standard size does differ depending where in the world you are, so I'm not sure if standard is a good name to begin with.
Not surprisingly, model trains used to be powered by hand in the old days. I'm sure they had all the other accessories such as scenery, tunnels and bridges, but electrical model trains didn't come along until quite a bit later. Of course these days almost all trains are electrical, many of them controlled by a computer. Just like in the real world!
I love the fact that collecting model railway trains is a hobby that everyone can enjoy. You can start off as small as you like and build up as much as you like. Your imagination (and your wallet) is the only limit to what you can do. And the reward that you get out of this hobby really does increase with the enthusiasm that you put into it. A complex and detailed railroad layout that takes ages to build will bring with it a huge sense of satisfaction and achievement when it's complete.
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