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 Life-Like For Sale Used Life-Like New Life-Like

Life-Like

Add sounds to your kids train set

Add sounds to your kids train set

2 $1.95 1h 11m
LIFE LIKE HO CNW STOCK CAR

LIFE LIKE HO CNW STOCK CAR

- $5.00 1h 30m
NEW PROTO HO Pennsylvania Railroad # 8263 USRA 2-10-2

NEW PROTO HO Pennsylvania Railroad # 8263 USRA 2-10-2

$329.98 2h 26m
NEW PROTO HO Colorado & Southern # 909 USRA 2-10-2

NEW PROTO HO Colorado & Southern # 909 USRA 2-10-2

$179.98 2h 46m
PENNSY CABOOSE TRACK CLEANING  IHC  IN BOX  must see

PENNSY CABOOSE TRACK CLEANING IHC IN BOX must see

5 $11.50 3h 42m
Proto 2000 HO SPSFKodachrome GP20 Locomotive NIB 3073

Proto 2000 HO SPSFKodachrome GP20 Locomotive NIB 3073

$92.95 5h 22m
Snap on Tools Electric Train Set

Snap on Tools Electric Train Set

29 $72.00 5h 50m
LIFE LIKE N SCALE RAILROAD CAR REEFER  TRAIN CAR

LIFE LIKE N SCALE RAILROAD CAR REEFER TRAIN CAR

1 $3.99 7h 53m
Union Pacific Ore Car Kit by RoundHouse IN SEALED BOX.

Union Pacific Ore Car Kit by RoundHouse IN SEALED BOX.

$7.99 8h 31m
Life-Like Super Freight Hauler Train set 124 pieces

Life-Like Super Freight Hauler Train set 124 pieces

6 $51.00 8h 56m
A PACK OF 18" RADIUS CURVED LIFE-LIKE TRACK BRASS

A PACK OF 18" RADIUS CURVED LIFE-LIKE TRACK BRASS

$1.75 9h 42m
NEW HO P2K DCC Ready CP FA1   FB1 Both Powered

NEW HO P2K DCC Ready CP FA1 FB1 Both Powered

- $59.99 10h 25m
HO P2K GP30 Chassis Only DCC Ready

HO P2K GP30 Chassis Only DCC Ready

- $20.00 10h 53m
HO P2K Reading GP9 #628 DCC Equipped

HO P2K Reading GP9 #628 DCC Equipped

1 $30.00 10h 58m
LFLK PROTO 2000 SD60 DIESEL LOCOMOTIVE - CONRAIL #6842

LFLK PROTO 2000 SD60 DIESEL LOCOMOTIVE - CONRAIL #6842

$89.95 11h 3m
HO-Set of 4 Freight cars-Swift Refrigerator & Livestock

HO-Set of 4 Freight cars-Swift Refrigerator & Livestock

-
$2.95
$6.25
11h 8m
HO SCALE TRAINS ENGINE SANTA FE F-7 RAILROAD LOCOMOTIVE

HO SCALE TRAINS ENGINE SANTA FE F-7 RAILROAD LOCOMOTIVE

1 $19.99 11h 35m
Vintage Never Used LIFE LIKE HO train Set Santa Fe Eng.

Vintage Never Used LIFE LIKE HO train Set Santa Fe Eng.

- $40.00 11h 37m
Set of 5 LIFE LIKE   BACHMANN Electric train engines

Set of 5 LIFE LIKE BACHMANN Electric train engines

- $40.00 11h 40m
HO Life-Like Containerized Gondola Union Pacific #T-583

HO Life-Like Containerized Gondola Union Pacific #T-583

- $3.99 12h 31m
Santa Fe Alco RSD-15 Zebra Stripe #818 DCC Sound,  HO

Santa Fe Alco RSD-15 Zebra Stripe #818 DCC Sound, HO

$190.00 13h 7m
HO Proto 2000 P2K Union Pacific UP GP9B Cabless Booster

HO Proto 2000 P2K Union Pacific UP GP9B Cabless Booster

- $134.99 13h 29m
Digitrax VHS Introduction to Empire Builder

Digitrax VHS Introduction to Empire Builder

$22.00 13h 34m

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.