The Hobby of Collecting and Operating Model Trains

The hobby of operating and collecting model trains is a growing business. There a so many manufactures out there, the likes include, Lionel, Bachmann, LGB, Marklin, Marx, American Flyer, Aristo-Craft and K-line just name a few. There are also sizes to fit all types of hobby rooms such as, HO Scale, O Scale, OO Scale, S Scale, N Scale, Z Scale and G Scale. Lets not forget the tracks, scenery and transformers that go along with building a layout.

If you are a model train hobbyist then you likely fall into one of five basic types of train people. Although the general public tends to lump them all into one category, it's best to keep the types separated and sharply defined. There may be some who bridge and others who cross over, but the types remain essentially different.

The first group are the Railfans. These are the people who love trains, I'm talking the big ones. The trains that run through your town, hauling passengers and goods. These are the people who ride the trains, or spend hours at the yards talking up the conductors, asking questions or sharing their stories with the railroad employees. They know the ins and outs of every engine that's come through their town, know what the term "High Iron," means and have patches for every line insignia. Being a railfan is a basic prerequisite for entry into the other four train people categories. Without this experience it would be difficult to maintain an interest in creating, building, operating, controlling or even owning a collection of miniature trains.

Scale model railroaders is the second group. Their hobby requires a great amount of patience, skill, and time. Many scale model railroads become life long projects. They are mostly hand-crafted, exact-scale, highly detailed miniaturizations of the real world, with a railroading as a central focus. Some are patterned after real railroads and locales. Others are period pieces that recreate scenes and environments in railroad history. Toy train manufacturers produced items targeted to the scale modelers in the years right before World War II and by the end of the 1930s, scale model railroaders had many choices.

By the time World War II ended a shift towards smaller trains was emphasized. HO became the reigning scale, not only because of advances in technology, but for the practical reason that postwar houses were smaller. A rift between the scale model railroaders and toy train enthusiasts widened and eventually split. Scale model railroaders became their own distinct classification of train people.

The third group are called hi-railers. The term was coined in the 1940s for those operators who built layouts that combined elements of both scale and toy railroading. By this time, the trains had a more realistic appearance, with better detail and proportion. They were appealing to those hobbyists who didn't have the time or skills needed to build the trains yet wanted to enjoy having a model railroad.

The fourth and fifth group are the collectors and investors. By the time the 1950s rolled around companies like Lionel and Gilbert/American Flyers were producing products with new road names and paint schemes each year in hopes of getting repeat business. The practice worked, what they didn't realize at the time was that they were creating future collectibles and opening up a new dimension to the train hobby. However the full impact would not be felt for another 15 to 20 years. By the 1960s the toy train industry went down the drain. Kids wanted other kinds of toys and by the end of the decade, several manufacturers had gone out of business.

During the 1970s and '80s interest in the toy trains came back strong due to superior advertising and a nationwide nostalgia craze. The emphasis on toy trains was different. The trains were viewed as nostalgic adult collectables and investments. Two new groups of train people emerged; toy train collectors and toy train investors. Both were categorized as affluent adults who lacked the time or skills to become hi-railers or scale model railroaders. Some collectors built operating layouts, but most just set up pleasing displays of their trains and accessories, using track plans from old catalogs or magazines. Many built shelves or cases to show off their collectables.

Now days toy trains have come of age. They are a respected part of American culture and many books and magazines have been published about them. The trains now days are better, more scale-like with state of the art technology and attention to detail.

So, what group do you fail into?

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