Ho trains store model trains railroads Z Scale N Scale HO Scale OO Scale S Scale O Scale G trains Auction info
Ho Trains Store Other For Sale Used Other New Other

Other

ANY SCALE TRAINS MODEL RAILROAD LAYOUT VELOUR GRASS MAT

ANY SCALE TRAINS MODEL RAILROAD LAYOUT VELOUR GRASS MAT

$16.99 23m
HO Buildings,  Tressel Set  KFC,  Union 76,  Houses,  Shop

HO Buildings, Tressel Set KFC, Union 76, Houses, Shop

- $16.00 47m
HO SCALE TUNNEL PORTALS FOR MODEL RAILROAD TRAIN LAYOUT

HO SCALE TUNNEL PORTALS FOR MODEL RAILROAD TRAIN LAYOUT

1 $8.50 1h 24m
NEW - HO - CUSTOM BUILT & PAINTED - ROCKVILLE STATION

NEW - HO - CUSTOM BUILT & PAINTED - ROCKVILLE STATION

$29.99 2h 13m
NEW - HO - CUSTOM BUILT & PAINTED - COUNTRY CHURCH

NEW - HO - CUSTOM BUILT & PAINTED - COUNTRY CHURCH

$35.95 2h 20m
NEW - HO - CUSTOM BUILT & PAINTED - SANDING STATION

NEW - HO - CUSTOM BUILT & PAINTED - SANDING STATION

$33.49 2h 31m
Cleator's Gas (BTS) HO Scale NIB

Cleator's Gas (BTS) HO Scale NIB

$28.75 2h 53m
Bunkhouse-Grand Trunk CNR (Kanamodel) HO Scale NIB

Bunkhouse-Grand Trunk CNR (Kanamodel) HO Scale NIB

$14.35 2h 53m
Bowens Mill (Model Tech) HO Scale NIB

Bowens Mill (Model Tech) HO Scale NIB

$115.15 2h 53m
Bordens Moving & Packaging Co (Model Tech) HO Scale NIB

Bordens Moving & Packaging Co (Model Tech) HO Scale NIB

$143.95 2h 53m
100 Piece US Road Signs - HO Building and Detail Train

100 Piece US Road Signs - HO Building and Detail Train

$24.95 2h 56m
HO OR N SCALE UNDER CONSTRUCTION HOUSES.

HO OR N SCALE UNDER CONSTRUCTION HOUSES.

1 $3.25 3h 24m
RAILROAD SIGNAL HO SCALE USS BLOCK SIGNAL

RAILROAD SIGNAL HO SCALE USS BLOCK SIGNAL

$18.00 3h 27m
Vintage Mercedes Dealership,  Car Dealership w  wires

Vintage Mercedes Dealership, Car Dealership w wires

10 $7.00 3h 48m
HO RR  CARNIVAL CIRCUS TENT AND ORGAN GRINDER FIGURES

HO RR CARNIVAL CIRCUS TENT AND ORGAN GRINDER FIGURES

2 $7.00 3h 59m
HO OR N SCALE WAREHOUSE FACILITY.

HO OR N SCALE WAREHOUSE FACILITY.

- $13.50 4h 11m
LOT OF HO SCALE TRAIN BUILDINGS

LOT OF HO SCALE TRAIN BUILDINGS

5 $31.00 4h 18m
Korber HO Scale Model Railway Kit 107 Power and Light

Korber HO Scale Model Railway Kit 107 Power and Light

8 $46.87 4h 38m
AUHAGEN-BAUSATZ NO 2 37 HO RAILROAD HOUSE SET MIB

AUHAGEN-BAUSATZ NO 2 37 HO RAILROAD HOUSE SET MIB

1 $2.99 4h 44m
Custom Made HO Scale Hi Tension Towers - Set Of Two (2)

Custom Made HO Scale Hi Tension Towers - Set Of Two (2)

- $39.99 4h 47m
Ho Heljan Con-Cor Brewery Malt House NIB

Ho Heljan Con-Cor Brewery Malt House NIB

12 $45.00 5h 11m
small all wooden frieght station with figues and friegt

small all wooden frieght station with figues and friegt

- $9.99 5h 25m
3 4 Pint Dry Sprinkle Red Scenic Stone Life Like LL12

3 4 Pint Dry Sprinkle Red Scenic Stone Life Like LL12

$4.95 5h 27m

Train news

  • TRAINS HISTORY

    Prehistory There have been models and toys of trains for as long as there have been real railways. Indeed some early models of locomotives were made first as sales promotional tools for the early railways, even if they later might have become playthings. During the Victorian period toy and model trains and locomotives fell into a number of categories there were the live steam engines, expensive and only for the wealthy, there were pull along trains in all shapes, sizes and materials, penny toys in lead and tin and latterly clockwork engines. The steam and clockwork engines might be intended to run on the floor, or a simple track assembled by the user, but there was no real sense of system about these trains. Most of these toys were made in Germany. Britain and France tended only to make the better class of steam engine. There was an indigenous US industry, with considerable use of cast iron rather than tinplate. The Real Beginning The defining event in toy train history was the launch by Marklin in 1891 of the first complete system of trains. While the first models were derived from earlier products, what Marklin introduced was a series of standard track gauges, ready to use track sections for those gauges, and a range of locomotives, rolling stock and accessories to match. Now you could have an initial train set, but continually add and expand till your miniature railroad empire was complete - which it never was.

     

    This was of course good for the toy manufacturer, indeed this is possibly the first example of the expanding range, with items at various price points Christmas, birthdays, parents and relations and pocket money sized, which is one of the basic features of most successful toys since.

     

    These first Marklin models were made in three gauges called 1, 2 and 3, logically enough. Painted and soldered tinplate was the main material, and clockwork the driving power. And they were crude. But the range was clearly a great success. So Marklin expanded and improved its range, after a few years adding a fourth, small gauge O. The range of accessories was greatly expanded. Other German toy makers introduced competitive products, most importantly Bing then probably Germanys, and hence the worlds, largest toy maker. Despite the odd divergence these makers generally adopted the same standards as to gauge as Marklin, while developing new production techniques, in particular the use of lithographed printed tinplate, allowing much cheaper and more colorful items, at the expense of some robustness.

     

    By the start of the 20th century other methods of propulsion were being applied too, in that live steam and electric powered models had taken to the toy train rails, though clockwork was still the prime mover. More importantly the first ranges of Marklin and Bing and others were growing and improving each year, and as with the rest of the German toy trade, was strongly export oriented, thus spreading toy trains world wide. The main markets were Britain, France and their empires and the US. Britain had no indigenous toy maker to compete with, nor really had France, but there was home based competition in America. Britain however had something else - model railways

     

    Model Railways

    The hobby of model railways can really be said to have been founded in the U.K. at the start of the Edwardian period. There were already active amateur model engineers, building live steam locomotives and with a keen interest in the real railways. One of the embryo suppliers to this group was a young man, W J Bassett Lowke. He saw the potential of using the German toy trains, particularly the track and mechanisms, with bodies rather more accurate as to prototype and selling not as a toy to children but rather to adult enthusiasts. And he used the services of another young man, Henry Greenly, as a designer of these models. Greenly, among other things, established a system of scales using the Marklin  gauges as the starting point. He also founded the first periodical devoted to model railways. And thus from the beginning the hobby of model railways was in part a toy, and in part the effort of amateur and professional model makers coexisting, sometimes comfortably and sometimes not.

    Bassett Lowke tended to use the services of Bing and Carrette for its own models, but of course once the idea of British outline models was established the German makers started to produce models for sale by other importers, for example Marklin for the Gamages store in London.