Figure 1.--This German boy is playing with a toy train. A HBC reader tells me his a Jewish boy who may have been involved in the Kindertransport. The long stockings definitekly suggest that he is German. The reader providing this image tells us that The photograph was taken while the boy was still in Germany, but there is no way of being certain. The slippers suggest that he may still be in Germany.

We have only limited information about model railroads in various countries. I know that model railroading was immensly popular in America. I had a toy trailroad in the United States during the late 1940s and early 50s. Mine was a Lionel. I absolutely loved it. My dad and I worked togerher on it. Virtually every boy wanted a model railroad setup. British boys were also keen railroads. Quite a number of middle-class boys had model railroads. A toy train even figures in a famouus British children's book, The Railway Children. There is even an activity in England known as "train spotting"--identifying individual locomotives. I believe toy trains were also very popular in Germany, but I have no actual information on thus. Hopefully ourvGerman readers will providevus some information here. The militarization of the German economy by the NAZIs in the 1930s probably affected the production of electrical trains. This would of course impaired thee popularity or at least children's access to them. By thev time the German economy began to recover from the War, the popularity of trains had begun to wain. We are less sure about how popular model railroafs were in France and Italy.

America

Toy trains were very popular in America during the 19th century, We see boys with toy trains in early photograpphs. We do not know much about manufacturrs. Presummably some were imported from Germany. We think that there were windup trains. I don;t know about toy steam engines. The train as a toy was revolutiomnized by inventor Joshua Lionel Cowen (1900). He was the father of model railroading in America. And the story began in a department store window. Model railroading was immensly popular in America. I'm not sure when electrial trains first appeared, but believe it was the 1920s. A train set would have been at the very top of a boy's Christmas list in the 1930s. And train sets up began appearing under the family Christmas tree. Production was suspended during World War II and Lionel converted to war work. I had a toy trailroad in the United States during the late 1940s and early 50s. Mine was a Lionel. I absolutely loved it. My dad and I worked togerher on it. Virtually every boy wanted a model railroad setup. This began to change with Workld War II. Metal was not available for toys. After the War thre was a renewed interest, but this changed with the Space Race. American boys began to lose interest in trains. There is some indication that there is now a renewed. Here Thomas the Tank Engenine--a British import, has played an important role. And there is uinterest in bullt trains.

England

British boys were also keen railroads. Quite a number of middleclass boys had model railroads. A toy train even figures in a famouus British children's book, The Railway Children. There is even an activity in England known as "train spotting"--identifying individual locomotives. An english reader tells us, "Your model railway expert at your service. The photograph could possible be taken in England. It certainly looks like a German child which had me puzzled when I looked at the train set. It shows an electric train and not a clockwork one. This is clearly so because the track has 3 rails. It may have been the way the track for electric train sets were built in the 1930s. If this was the situation then a train set manufactured in Germany would have had the same kind of track. The electric railroad set I saw in a shop in Boonville, Missouri in the summer of 2003 had three rails, the central one being the rail that carried the electric current. However the steam locomotive and the freight rolling stock are British. Taking these facts into account I believe that the train set is made by a toy company called Hornby. They had their factory in Liverpool, U.K. This is the same company that made construction sets called Meccano. Hornby had diecast engines but the rolling stock was pressed tin plate. Hornby kept to the 3 rail system until the 1960s when they faced competion from the Lines Bros whose electric train sets were called Tri-ang. It is likely that the photograph was taken in England around 1938 but before September 4th 1939. This child could well be one who was brought out of Germany on the Kinder Transport." Trains sets continued to be popular in England through the 1950s, but declined somewhat afterwards. A new generation was introduced to train by Thomas the Tank Engine. There is a wonderful train museum at York and its popularity with school groups suggests that children, especially boys, continueto be fascinted by trains. Ogf course a factor here is that trains continue to be an important part of the transportation network in contrast to the United States where most children have never been in a train. The BBC in 2009 reported a story about Sam Pointon, a train-mad 6-yearold. The article explained, "A train-mad youngster has landed his dream job as "director of fun" at the National Railway Museum in York. Six-year-old Sam Pointon from Leicester wrote to the museum and applied to replace retiring director Andrew Scott. In his application Sam wrote: 'I have an electric train track. I am good on my train track. I can control two trains at once.' Bosses were so taken with his enthusiasm they offered him a role as director of fun. Sam said: 'It is the best job in the world. I love it. It is good fun. My favourite is the steam engine, I like it when the wheels go round. Asked what qualified him for the role at the railways museum, he answered: 'I've been on loads of trains, including the Eurostar.'" ["Boy named ..."] An English reader, Bill Ferguson remembers his train set. And we have an account from another British reader, Norman Clausen, who has wonderful childood experiences.

France

The French terms for toy trains and model railroading are: " train miniature " or " train modèle réduit ". In current children or adult' language one says = petit train " or little train. The model train were very popular in France. During the inter-war the model train were one of the best present for a boy. Fathers loved to spend time with their sons building model railroad set ups. In the 1950s, all boy dreamt of getting such a toy. In the 1950s the principal brand munufactory know was 'Jouef' This train functioned with a electric transformer. One could buy anothers iterms such as rails, crossings, rail yard machinery, signals, and much more to make a realistic set up. After the 1970s, model railroading declined in popularity. Boys became more interested in racing cars. A French reader writes, "When I was about 10 years old (1954), I was very interested by the model trains. I recieved a wonderful trains with many accessories. They werre wonderful metal trains, not the cheap plastic ones sold today. It was during this period, I started experimenting with many sorts of complicated signals and electric controls. Perhaps as a result, I became very interested in electricity. When I entered secondary school, I abandoned my train which was installed in my granparent's home. I did not play with it for some time. At this time I lived in Paris and my interest changed rather for all types of electronics. Inside my room one could find a lot of electronic apparatus as well as books and magazines about electronics. Sometime it was a real jumble, but my mother fussed about putting away my mess! Thank you Maman for you tolerance! Probably my Parents were right, because later I became a specialist in electronic in the Air force and the Ariane rocket program."

Germany

I believe toy trains were also very popular in Germany, but we have little actual information on this. Hopefully our German readers will provide us some information here. The militarization of the German economy by the NAZIs in the 1930s probably affected the production of electrical trains. This would of course impaired thee popularity or at least children's access to them. Märklin started with electric table-mountaid railroads in 1935. Production was halted during World War II in 1943. Since the factory was not damaged during the war, Märklin restarted manufacturing toy trains and railroads soon after the War in 1946. They now also made exact copies of American freight trains like Union Pacific, N.Y.Central Railroad, and Atchison Topeka & Santa Fe Railways. By the time the German economy began to recover from the War, the popularity of trains had begun to wain. The principal manufacturer is Märklin. The Märklin company is since 140 years the world's oldest and largest toy train maker. Of course it is possible to build very elaborate latouts. Most German boys, however, had only a simple circular track with a single engine. Boys all over the world have been playing with Märklin trains.

Italy

We are less sure about how popular model railroafs were in Italy. We believe that they were also popular in Italy, but have limited information at this time.

(The) Netherlands

We have no information about the early 20th century at this time. Model trains certainly were very popular among Dutch boys in the 1930s-60s. A Dutch reader who was a boy in the 30s and 40s writes, "I had German-made Märklin trains. I got my trains before World War II began. They were wind up trains. The trains I had were Deutsche Reichsbahn (German State Rails) wagons, I never saw any of the Nederlandse Spoorwegen (Dutch Railroads) at that time. My problem was that my father always wanted to play with them." Another Dutch reader describing his boyhood in the 1960s tells us, "Two rooms in the attic of my parents´ house were set aside for my electric train yard which was laid out on two and later three table-tennis tables. Unlike most fathers my dad was not overly interested but he did help with setting up the complicated electric circuits until I had mastered that technique myself. At the height of this hobby there were 19 locomotives and more than a hundred passenger and freight wagons. My most prized possesions were a long articulated green 'crocodile' locomotive of the Swiss Railways and 3 cream-coloured TEE-trains. These were very fine copies of the TEE-Express, a network of long distance trains that ran throughout the Netherlands, Germany, France and Italy. The manufacturer was a German company called Märklin. Mountains and hills were constructed with thick brown wrapping paper laid out over a gantry made of orange crates and strips of pinewood! . The paper was then painted different shades of brown and green. The landscape looked more like Switzerland than like Holland: the rails climbed the mountains with loops and there were several tunnels. The mountains appealed to me because they seemed more interesting than the flat Dutch landscape. At one side of the yard a smal city was laid out with two tram (streetcar) lines that crossed each others's and the railway's tracks. The electrical circuits that made the trains and trams run 'on time' and stop at crossings were quite complicated and it took many hours to change the set-up if a new track was being laid out. My interest in model trains declined at age 17 when I went to Africa to study medicine and I gave the whole set to a cousin who is, at age 49, still as fanatic about it as I was as a teen boy."

Switzerland

A Swiss reader writes, "I have some good memories from my young years when playing with my electric train. It was a Märklin model which was made in Germany and was quite popular in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. To the basic model you could add and add rails, wagons, locomotives, bridges, tunnels so for quite some years your parents always knew what they could offer for birthday or Christmas. The only unresolved question is to know whether father offerring another locomotive to son was not in fact making gift to himself? Anyway the original train of my childhood still exists and made with some additions the delights of my own two sons ... and nowadays of my grandson. The pièce de résistance of it was the famous Cocodile locomotive which was a real Swiss Federal Railway locomotive and used by Märklin for one of their model locomotives."

Unknown Countries

Electric trains were popular with boys throughout Europe and America. We have found quite a few images, but some do not identify the country. They are useful images showing boys enjoying all kinds of different trains Clues from the image can help ientify the the country, or at least narrow it down to a limited numbr of possibilities. In several cass we are fairly sure about the images, but have no way of being positive. And of course we hope that readers will help identify the countries.

Sources

"Boy named rail 'director of fun'" BBC News (August 22, 2009).

Created: February 20, 2004
Last updated: 7:13 AM 3/2/2018