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Vintage ToyTin Railroad Car-Early 50's-Northern Pacific

Vintage ToyTin Railroad Car-Early 50's-Northern Pacific

 - $0.99 1h 12m
BACHMANN O 45989 SIGNS & TELEPHONE POLES BUILDING KIT

BACHMANN O 45989 SIGNS & TELEPHONE POLES BUILDING KIT

 $9.00 2h 15m
AMERICAN MODELS O REA REEFER CAR

AMERICAN MODELS O REA REEFER CAR

 $17.00 2h 30m
Bachman Spectrum 27499 On30 Painted Undecorated Reefer

Bachman Spectrum 27499 On30 Painted Undecorated Reefer

 $30.00 3h 14m
Bachman Spectrum 27468 On30 Kennebec Reefer Billboard

Bachman Spectrum 27468 On30 Kennebec Reefer Billboard

 $30.00 3h 14m
Boxed Carette Live Steam Toy Train- Excellent Orig Cond

Boxed Carette Live Steam Toy Train- Excellent Orig Cond

 $5,995.00 3h 26m
ANASTASIA - Miniature model train set

ANASTASIA - Miniature model train set

 1 $3.99 3h 32m
BACHMANN PLASTICVILLE ROADSIDE STAND O SCALE BLDG KIT

BACHMANN PLASTICVILLE ROADSIDE STAND O SCALE BLDG KIT

 $17.50 3h 52m
WALTHERS WHITE DECALS ALPHABET

WALTHERS WHITE DECALS ALPHABET

 $1.99 4h 7m
three vintage 0 scale military train cars

three vintage 0 scale military train cars

 1 $9.99 4h 17m
NOMA STATION BUILDING NO GUTS

NOMA STATION BUILDING NO GUTS

$23.00 4h 35m
O GAUGE METAL LAMP POST FOR LAYOUT

O GAUGE METAL LAMP POST FOR LAYOUT

 $27.00 4h 35m
O GAUGE LAMP POST LOT FOR LAYOUT

O GAUGE LAMP POST LOT FOR LAYOUT

$23.00 4h 35m
Max Gray 2-8-8-4 B & O EM-1 Steam Locomotive and Tender

Max Gray 2-8-8-4 B & O EM-1 Steam Locomotive and Tender

 5
 $620.10
$2,600.00		 4h 39m
O GAUGE LAMP POST LOT FOR LAYOUT

O GAUGE LAMP POST LOT FOR LAYOUT

$18.00 4h 40m
O GAUGE MIXED LOT POSTS LIGHTS ACCESSORIES

O GAUGE MIXED LOT POSTS LIGHTS ACCESSORIES

$23.00 4h 40m
Scratch Built Roadside Fruit Stand with PU Truck

Scratch Built Roadside Fruit Stand with PU Truck

 2 $1.04 4h 42m
Marks "O" Gauge Steam Engine #666 Good Condition

Marks "O" Gauge Steam Engine #666 Good Condition

 - $20.00 4h 50m
Pola O Scale 40' Boxcar Canadian Pacific #243678

Pola O Scale 40' Boxcar Canadian Pacific #243678

 $24.50 4h 59m
Pola O Scale 40' Boxcar Canadian Pacific #240008

Pola O Scale 40' Boxcar Canadian Pacific #240008

 $24.50 5h 2m
O Scale Scrap Wheel load for Atlas 40' USRA Gons

O Scale Scrap Wheel load for Atlas 40' USRA Gons

 $15.95 5h 13m
TOY TRAINS & CHRISTMAS VHS MOVIE

TOY TRAINS & CHRISTMAS VHS MOVIE

$5.00 5h 25m
THE STATION AT CITICORP CENTER A SPECTACULAR TOUR VHS

THE STATION AT CITICORP CENTER A SPECTACULAR TOUR VHS

 $5.00 5h 25m

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.