There have been models of trains for almost as long as the real things, and the Marklin Company in Germany are accredited with having produced the first toy trains in 1891.
At the time they were sold mainly to adults, but by the middle of the twentieth century there were many firms producing trains in many scales to appeal to all ages. Hornby are one of the best known makers and are still producing an electric system in the popular “OO” scale. Many adults will speak fondly of their first train set, which may well have been Hornby’s clockwork system in the bigger “O” Gauge.
Technological advances in manufacturing means that toy trains can now be produced in incredible detail and realism. Locos, rolling stock and coaches painted in the liveries of modern railway companies are sold alongside those of the early days of the real railways. Locos can now be fitted with electronic chips so that a computerised controller can now run several trains on the same piece of track!
The control of points and signals can also be incorporated into this system. Loft spaces, spare bedrooms and basements are all used to house the realistic layouts that kids and railway enthusiasts will spend many years building up from their first train set. Not all toy trains need to be as sophisticated as this, and countless children will have fun from a very early age pushing a simple plastic model train along the floor.
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