The Challenge of Model Railways

If it goes round and round, it’s a toy train. However, if the locomotive leaves the station, speeds up through the brick tunnel and as it passes into the mountain’s shadow, a pale god-like hand comes down from the sky then it’s a model railway.

That’s the difference and that’s the attraction of railway modelling.  It’s a world many thought extinct populated by geeks, anoraks and those with charisma bypasses.  Maybe a step above train spotting in the un-cool stakes  until Rod Stewart – yes, the Rod Stewart – saw his model of the 1940s New York’s Grand Central Station on  the front cover of Model Railroader magazine.  Model train sets are sexy again.Just ask Jools Holland, one of the coolest pianists on the planet, or impresario Pete Waterman as well as Rod.

So what is the appeal of this obsession, aside from creating your own pristine world where all the trains do run on time!Among them must be the number of skills you need to master to create a working layout.You have to be a semi-competent carpenter, electrician, metalworker, painter, sculptor and designer to make anything which functions well and looks good. A degree in computing science will also help to fathom the hugely complex computerised controllers available nowadays (gone are the simple turn knob to right or left humming little black boxes).   There is also something about trains, of any scale and size, that is endlessly fascinating although many model railway enthusiasts would claim that the idea of standing on a cold station platform and counting train numbers as they zoom past is beyond madness.

The idea that you can create a world in miniature is hugely appealing.  Such precision, of course, takes time. Baseboards must be built, layer by layer, tracks laid, points installed, then scenery added, from stations to sheep. Model railway layouts, like the Forth bridge, are never finished. There are always extras, always improvements and always more details to be added. There will be tittering and some ridicule when people find out you are into model train sets,  but then, almost inevitably, something strange will happen to your mates.  Someone will say: “Can I have a go?” and as you set a train in motion you can see their eyes sparkle. You can almost hear them thinking: “I really want one of those. Wonder if we’ve got the space in our attic. . .”