The first mass-market train models were invented by a German company called Marklin in 1891, and miniature trains quickly became the most popular toy of the early 1950s. Mathias Baldwin, the creator of the Baltimore Locomotive Works, was credited with producing one of the first passenger train models in the 1830s. Several other toy manufacturers followed suit later in the decade, including George Brown & Co., of Connecticut. He is known for creating the first self-propelled American model train. Before electricity was widely used, toy trains were powered by steam engines or mechanical machines.
These models were rare and expensive, and they didn't have elaborate track configurations like modern trains. Modelers can choose to replicate a prototype, often using prototypes of track diagrams and historic maps to create a track-by-track reproduction of a real railroad in miniature. The first model railway was built as a training exercise by apprentices from the Horwich Works of George Brown & Co., and it was supplied with rolling stock by Bassett-Lowke. Trains became so popular that customers and stores began to approach Lionel trains to buy their own personal models. A worn model wouldn't fit as many designs as a flawless model that its purchaser could erode.
Some modelers pay attention to the gardening of their design, to creating a fantasy world, or to modeling a real, often historic place. The arrival of plastic allowed designers to create realistic and wonderfully detailed model trains. Today, modelers create model trains, often recreating real places and periods throughout history. The oldest operating model railway in the world is a model designed to train signalers on Lancashire and Yorkshire railways. Participation ranges from owning a set of trains to spending hours and large sums of money on a large and demanding model of a railway and the landscape it passes through, called a route. Bekonscot, in Buckinghamshire, is the oldest model town and includes a model railway dating from the 1930s.
One of the most important steps in the history of model trains occurred at the beginning of the 20th century when electricity was applied to improve them. In addition, plastic allowed designers to create realistic and wonderfully detailed model trains. As more people, including adults, took up this hobby, realism and a fascination with functioning transportation systems became an integral part of model trains. With the help of trade associations such as the National Association of Model Railways (NMRA) and Normen Europäischer Modellbahnen (NEM), manufacturers and enthusiasts soon arrived at de factual standards for interchangeability, such as track gauge, but trains were only a rough approximation of reality.
