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Model railroading became immensly popular in America. It did not take long for Cowen and Lionel to take the final step in mdel railroading. He introduced the first model train (1907). The model train differ from a toy train in that it was a minatured replica of a real train. It was scaled down , but made to look like a real train. Lionel a few years later offered the first model locomotive (1910). This of course was the most important part of the train. It was a realistic looking locomotive and I think a caboose. Of course, toy trains and model trains are scale-downed replicas of real trains, so their proportions with respect to real trains are always important considerations. But, how is their relative size defined? Before the advent of tracks for toy trains, there was little consideration of gauge, which is defined as the distance between the inside of the outser rails. When tracks were introduced, the gauge of models was define, The company gradually added diiferent kinds of cars, including a cattle car, a box car and a pullman. Gradually a variety of operating specialty cars were introduced, including a milk car that had a worker unloading the cans. Lionel attempted to stay abreast of the times. After World War II a radioactive waste car was introduced.
Toy trains began to appear almost as soon as actual trains (mid-19th century). Model railrosing was a 20th century development with the appearance of electraon toy trains. The photographic recirds does not acurately reflect this development. For this you not only needed the family snapshot, but an easy way of taking indoor phptographs. The Kodak Brownie provided an easy way of taking family snapshots (1900). But the slow speed of the film emulsions meant that for the most part the photographs has to be taken outdoors with sunlight. Professional photographers could take photigraphs indoors, but this was difficy=ilt fir the ordinary person with a box camera. And of course the model train sets were all indoors. Only at mid-century do simple flash bulb arrangements become available for the ordinary person. As a result we suddentlky begin to see kage numbers iof phorographs like the boys here and their pooch (figure 1). This cinibcidedvwith the oeak of amerivan railroads. This all caught model railroading train sets at their peakl of popularity. This began to decline after the 1960s and railrpads were declining. Aircrraft captured more and nore if boys' omaginations. Abd of course there was no hime sets for aircraft beyind buuklding models only a few of which coukd actually fly. By the end ig the century it was a much less important toy and activity for boys.
Model railroading became immensly popular in America. It did not take long for Cowen and Lionel to take the final step in mdel railroading. He introduced the first model train (1907). The model train differ from a toy train in that it was a minatured replica of a real train. It was scaled down , but made to look like a real train. Lionel a few years later offered the first model locomotive (1910). This of course was the most important part of the train. It was a realistic looking locomotive and I think a caboose.
Of course the train itself was only one part of model railroading. From a realism standpoint, a track was also required. Here there were some important advances, most notably the devopment of modular sections of track, both straight and curved, that could be readily connected with each other. With enough track, a boy could create many different layout designs, particularly if switches (more properly called "turnouts") were included, so that branch lines and spur tracks could be included. Talk about creativity and imagination, what could provide greater stimulation, for a boy's train could now run on trackS and go places, just like real trains.
Of course, toy trains and model trains are scale-downed replicas of real trains, so their proportions with respect to real trains are always important considerations. But, how is their relative size defined? Before the advent of tracks for toy trains, there was little consideration of gauge, which is defined as the distance between the inside of the outser rails. When tracks were introduced, the gauge of models was defined in Britain on a numerical scale, namely Gauge 1, Gauge 2, and Gauge 3. Gauge 1 being the smallest, and Gauge 3 the largest. Shortly thereafter, there was a need for a smaller gauge, which was defined as Gauge 0, or more commonly as "O-Gauge." The larger gauges, Gauge 2 and Gauge 3, were largely confined to serious model-builders who operated live-steam outdoor railways that weren't considered to be "toys."
The early toy train manufacturers, notably Lionel in the United States, adopted the scheme. Early on, Lionel offered trains that ran on 0-gauge track as well as those that operated on Gauge-1 track. O Gauge was defined as having one and a quarter inches between the outer rails, and Standard Gauge as having one and three-fourth inches between the inside of the outer rails. It was simple and convenient, or so it seemed. In turn, Lionel defined its Gauge-1 trains to be "Standard Gauge." The classification soon became well established, and for decades Lionel offered toy train sets, locomotives, cars, and track in O-Gauge as well as in Standard Gauge, a convenient way of marketing and promoting them. Of course Standard-Gauge things were larger and more expensive, and therefore more desirable.
Early on, however, the distinction between gauge and scale arose. O-gauge was generally thought of as being about 1/48th scale, which stemmed from the fact that if you multiplied the distance between the rails by 48, you got five feet. The trouble is that American railroads and most European railroads had a gauge of four feet, eight and a half inches. So here was a descrepency between the real railroads and toy trains. But whe cared? After all there was no obligation for toy-train manufacturers to accord closely with the real thing. Boys who played with the toy trains weren't even aware of the difference.
So with the track gauges defined, the toy train makers made locomtives and cars to accord with gauge, and they could vary somewhat with respect to scale. By the 1920s, Lionel provided magnificent train sets in Standard Gauge that varied in scale. Although they rode on the same tracks, the larger and more realistic Standard Gauge locomotives and cars were significantly larger than those of smaller scale. In O-Gauge the differences were even more extreme. American Flyer, Lionel's main competitor in the US, redefined its O-gauge trains in the latter part of the 1930s to be about 1/64 scale, a whopping difference as compared with 1/48 scale when considered in three dimensions. But both Lionel and American Flyer equipment would run on the same tracks. But who cared?
Actually, serious adult model railroaders did care. Beginning in the 1920s, and extending well into the 1930s, serious model railroaders (read "men" and not "boys") cared because one of the sources of locomottives and cars for their model railroads consisted of equipment modifed from toy trains. The problem was, however, that toy trains weren't very realistic. They were designed to appeal to boys, not grown men who wanted trains that resembled the real thing except in size.
How realistic should a model train be? Boys seemed to care little for realism, and so the toy train manufacturers deliberately made their trains quite unrealistic. Locomotives and csrs were often painted or lithographed in bright colors that real railroads never used. Boys didn't mind - what's wrong with a shiny lime-green toy gondola? After all, toys are toys. By the late 1930s, however, manufacturers of scale-model locomotive and cars began to market their wares, and even with the depression, there seemed to be significant market among serious model railroaders, who could now abandon their attempts to modify toy trains to make them more realisttic, and instead focus on detailed models that would be painted and lettered in accord with those of the real railroads.
These trends weren't lost on the toy train manufacturers. If grown men were attracted to realstic model trains, why wouldn't boys be attracted as well? In 1937, Lionel introduced a magificently styled O-Gauge steam locomotive that for the time, that was an incredibly detailed model patterned closely after New York
Central Railroad's latest Hudson coal-burning steam locomotive that powered their principal long-distance trains. The model was an instant success, appealing both to boys as well as to men who were serious model railroaders. Its influence is hard to overestimate, for it changed toy trains from then on.
Lionel and other companies gradually added diiferent kinds of cars, including a cattle car, a box car and a pullman. Gradually a variety of operating specialty cars were introduced, including a milk car that had a worker unloading the cans. Lionel attempted to stay abreast of the times. After World War II a radioactive waste car was introduced.
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