Model Trains Making a Comeback

I'm a bit of a model train buff. For awhile back in the early 90's I had quite an H-O train layout in my bonus room, but as my son got older and started walking, he tended to bump into the train table and knock everything down. We also needed to make some changes in the bedroom arrangement in our home, and as such, I had to put the train stuff away. It's been in boxes in my garage for probably 15 years. A few weeks ago I dragged all the trains out and briefly considered building a display for them, but I have quite a few engines and many pieces of rolling stock, and I never could figure out how to do it right. It's all back in the garage.

I found that the thing I enjoyed most about the trains was designing and building the layout, and not so much running the trains. Once my roughly 12x6 layout was completed and all I could do was watch the trains go round and round, I kind of lost my interest. If I ever have the room to do it again, I'd probably take another crack at it, though.

I still enjoy looking at good model train layout, and if you're ever in Balboa Park in San Diego, they have a model train museum down there with some outstanding designs in all of the various guages from the tiny N-scale up to the large Lionel three-rail trains. It's worth a few bucks to stop in and check it out.

A Reuters story indicates that the once struggling model train business is starting to make a comeback thanks to Harry Potter and The Polar Express:

Sales of model trains are picking up steam again thanks to deals linking them to the "Harry Potter" and "The Polar Express" movies, along with a new approach to marketing the old-fashioned toys.

Lionel, one of the big names in model trains in the 1950s, has watched as its business had to focus less on selling toys to kids than serving an older but much smaller hobbyist market. Folk-rock singer Neil Young, 61, is so passionate about trains that he bought a fifth of the company in 1995.

Now, the company is bringing trains back to young people, and sales are up 40 percent in the last two years.

Lionel signed deals to bring out "Harry Potter" and "The Polar Express" trains, and filled shelves at department stores such as Macy's and Target, instead of just hobby shops.

"We're a resurgent brand based on nostalgic appeal," said Jerry Calabrese, chief executive of Lionel.

Last Christmas, the company advertised toy trains as the ultimate gift by setting up displays at Macy's Santaland and Grand Central Terminal in New York. Forty percent of Lionel's sales of $70 million in 2006 came during the Christmas season.

Model trains are a great (if not expensive) hobby, though they do take up a lot of room which is one reason they're not as popular as they might otherwise be. I'd sure rather see my kid working on a model train than sitting in front of the TV playing video games. I hope the model train industry can survive all the new high tech stuff.