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 Roco For Sale Used Roco New Roco

Roco

Roco DCC Starter Set-CSX-MINT IN BOX

Roco DCC Starter Set-CSX-MINT IN BOX

7 $46.00 6h 53m
ROCO BR-118 ELECTRIC EXPRESS LOCOMOTIVE NEW IN BOX

ROCO BR-118 ELECTRIC EXPRESS LOCOMOTIVE NEW IN BOX

$119.99 8h 36m
ROCO BR-151 ELECTRIC EXPRESS LOCOMOTIVE NEW IN BOX

ROCO BR-151 ELECTRIC EXPRESS LOCOMOTIVE NEW IN BOX

$124.99 8h 44m
Roco Minitanks 536 M-936 5 ton crane  1\87

Roco Minitanks 536 M-936 5 ton crane 1\87

- $16.00 9h 18m
Trident M-1008 1.25 ton troop carrier roco sz  1\87

Trident M-1008 1.25 ton troop carrier roco sz 1\87

- $15.00 9h 18m
Roco Minitanks 549 Tires and wheels set   1\87

Roco Minitanks 549 Tires and wheels set 1\87

1 $9.00 10h 18m
Roco s. Kampf-panzer Tank HO Scale Model 182

Roco s. Kampf-panzer Tank HO Scale Model 182

- $14.99 10h 20m
Roco Jeep M38 A1 HO Scale No 142

Roco Jeep M38 A1 HO Scale No 142

- $9.99 10h 21m
Roco Halbkette Flak (Halftrack) HO Scale Model 228

Roco Halbkette Flak (Halftrack) HO Scale Model 228

- $14.99 10h 21m
Roco Minitanks Z-215 Armored  Ambulance Carrier

Roco Minitanks Z-215 Armored Ambulance Carrier

- $7.99 11h
Kibri HO  10132 Liebherr 6 axle large  crane kit

Kibri HO 10132 Liebherr 6 axle large crane kit

- $39.00 11h 5m
Roco Minitanks Z-299 Ger WWII sitting soldiers 2 SETS

Roco Minitanks Z-299 Ger WWII sitting soldiers 2 SETS

1 $9.99 11h 7m
Busch Herpa Toyota FJ 40 Land crusier RED roco sz

Busch Herpa Toyota FJ 40 Land crusier RED roco sz

- $13.00 11h 18m
Busch 1947 Dodge Power Wagon green roco sz 1\87

Busch 1947 Dodge Power Wagon green roco sz 1\87

- $13.00 11h 18m
Busch 1947 Dodge Power Wagon USAF blue  roco sz 1\87

Busch 1947 Dodge Power Wagon USAF blue roco sz 1\87

- $13.00 11h 18m
Busch Military Dodge cargo truck roco sz 1\87

Busch Military Dodge cargo truck roco sz 1\87

5 $32.00 11h 18m
Roco Minitanks 828 M-113A1 Merdic camo 1\87

Roco Minitanks 828 M-113A1 Merdic camo 1\87

1 $30.00 11h 18m
Roco Minitanks 643 M-35A2 with YALE crane 1\87

Roco Minitanks 643 M-35A2 with YALE crane 1\87

- $25.00 11h 18m
Roco Minitanks 853 Special M-925 w\Shelter  1\87

Roco Minitanks 853 Special M-925 w\Shelter 1\87

1 $25.00 11h 18m
Roco minitanks 416 M-109 A3G 155mm gun   1\87

Roco minitanks 416 M-109 A3G 155mm gun 1\87

- $9.00 11h 18m
Roco HO gauge DC DB Long Flat Wagen w HI Detail Lumber

Roco HO gauge DC DB Long Flat Wagen w HI Detail Lumber

- $21.99 11h 36m
Lot of 5 Roco Freight cars 1 reefer and 4 box HO Scale

Lot of 5 Roco Freight cars 1 reefer and 4 box HO Scale

1 $5.00 11h 57m
2 Roco like vehicles

2 Roco like vehicles

1 $5.00 12h 14m

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.