As I write this I find myself 55 years of age so that puts me in a unique group of people who actually watched black and white TV! I remember my childhood years as a boy, toys were simple and the best toys modeled trains, trucks, cars, boats and guns. We did not have things like Thomas the Train but we did have toy model trains. We even had a Lionel scale model electric train which fascinated me. Something about these toys that attract boys and men like magnets, could it be an overwhelming desire to control these big monsters?
If those manufacturers of toy model trains ever figured out exactly what drives boys and men to want to play with scale model trains, I imagine they could become very wealthy! The ability to create lifelike reproductions of toy model trains just has to have something to do with the natural attraction, the more real a locomotive looks and works, the more attractive it seems. Maybe we just gaze in wonder at these scale model trains as smoke pours out of the smoke stack, the headlight shines on the track and electricity pours through the tracks with the magical hot smelling transformer. I remember those smells from the old Lionel train locomotive, the smell of the smoke pellets, the heaviness of the locomotive and that combination of hot transformer and Christmas tree needles. Although at the time, to me, it was a toy model train when in reality it was not a toy at all but a complex model train that would be worth a nice pile of cash today!
Kids started playing with little toy trains long before I did and often were made of wood with wooden wheels, some were small and some big toy trains were large enough to sit on. Today life like model trains are made of plastic for little children to push around and make train noises. But boys grow up and so do their trains, maybe that youthful imagination is somehow restored when grown men look at model train layouts, detailed engines and all the model train accessories one can absorb. As toy trains evolve into scale modeled electric trains everything gets harder and stronger. Train engines weight more, track is more realistic and heavier. The locomotives have very strong engines capable of pulling many cares and a good quality scale model locomotive should be made of metal and heavy enough to get good contact with the track.
Some of the earliest working models of scaled train locomotives were actually powered by steam engines, this was before electricity was available and definitely for big boys, I mean men! You can still see these engines and trains operate and if you ever get a chance to see the steam locomotive in action it will be the most lifelike experience you'll ever have when watching a model train. The real steam filling the layout and the sound of the wheels draws one back in time.
I can not imagine that many men have their childhood dreams fulfilled and are train engineers in real life and I'm sure their job loses it's wonder at some point. However, I've heard that these same train engineers will at some point in their life began to start their scale modeling train hobby again. The ones that do have some real first hand knowledge for creating an awesome track layout with realistic mode train scenery. I guess you could say they are going back to their roots!