All Aboard!

Have you ever watched a model train as it makes its way around a track? For more than 100 years, model trains have been an exciting part of the holidays.

German manufacturers were the first to make toy trains. They made trains that kids could pull or push. Later they made wind-up toy trains. Most were made of iron. People began putting these toy trains into their Christmas displays.

What is a model train?

Model trains are close copies of the real thing. Some model trains are even exact copies, right down to the nuts and bolts. A

scale model is an exact, but smaller, copy of the original object.

For example, the most popular size model train is exactly 1/87th the size of a real train. This means everything on the real train, right down to the seats and the wheels, is 87 times bigger than on the scale model train.

Rolling along

In 1900, an inventor, Joshua Lionel Cowen, passed by a toy shop in New York City where a toy train was on display. But the toys all just sat there. None of them were moving.

Cowen told the store owner that he could make a toy train that would run nonstop all day. He promised this would bring people to the owner’s store.

Cowen went home and invented a moving freight car. His “Electric Express” looked like a wooden box with wheels. The tracks were made from strips of tin.

Cowen powered the train with a fan motor and a battery. Shoppers did more than just look at the train in the store window. They wanted to buy one for themselves.

Cowen formed the Lionel company to manufacture these moving toy trains. Other companies, such as American Flyer, also began making electric toy trains.

On the right track

In 1910, Lionel made electric locomotives based on the design of a real locomotive engine. A locomotive is the first car on the train. It pulls the rest of the train.

In 1939, companies displayed scale model train sets at the NewYorkWorld’s Fair. After that, model trains became the best-selling toy in America.

Trains at Christmas

Model train sets can be expensive. In the first half of the 1900s, they were usually given as special Christmas gifts. After the holiday, many parents put the trains away, bringing them out again each Christmas.

Cowen’s Electric Express looked similar to this.