Rail transport modelling

Railway modelling (UK, Australia, New Zealand, and Ireland) or model railroading (US and Canada) is a <a href="/facts/Hobby/MH1aFd8v">hobby</a> in which <a href="/facts/Rail_transport/9nJQbsDV">rail transport</a> systems are <a href="/facts/Model_building/JU7rhSf4">modelled</a> at a reduced <a href="/facts/Scale_(ratio)/1Q9xpvGM">scale</a>.
The <a href="/facts/Scale_model/YgCtlwqb">scale models</a> include <a href="/facts/Locomotive/C9YV7wrQ">locomotives</a>, <a href="/facts/Rolling_stock/xe66VHGf">rolling stock</a>, <a href="/facts/Streetcar/gSaKExyR">streetcars</a>, <a href="/facts/Rail_tracks/erncmXfX">tracks</a>, <a href="/facts/Railway_signal/NkCzHKtd">signalling</a>, <a href="/facts/Crane_(machine)/Q5axXY0l">cranes</a>, and landscapes including: countryside, roads, bridges, buildings, vehicles, harbors, urban landscape, <a href="/facts/Model_figure/lfG4twjG">model figures</a>, lights, and features such as <a href="/facts/River/GP7MSur6">rivers</a>, <a href="/facts/Hills/wnUG3lUL">hills</a>, tunnels, and <a href="/facts/Canyons/YspSIEz3">canyons</a>.
The earliest model railways were the '<a href="/facts/Carpet_railway/pRwnTAfL">carpet railways</a>' in the 1840s. The first documented model railway was the <a href="/facts/Railway_of_the_Prince_Imperial/wHL4AWWX">Railway of the Prince Imperial</a> (French: Chemin de fer du Prince Impérial) built in 1859 by Emperor <a href="/facts/Napoleon_III/F29546rc">Napoleon III</a> for his then 3-year-old son, also <a href="/facts/Louis-Napol%25C3%25A9on%2c_Prince_Imperial/AoWNzkhh">Napoleon</a>, in the grounds of the <a href="/facts/Ch%25C3%25A2teau_de_Saint-Cloud/2aAPPPrR">Château de Saint-Cloud</a> in Paris. It was powered by clockwork and ran in a figure-of-eight. Electric trains appeared around the start of the 20th century, but these were crude likenesses. Model trains today are more realistic, in addition to being much more technologically advanced. Today modellers create <a href="/facts/Model_railway_layout/Nz3gMqtB">model railway layouts</a>, often recreating real locations and periods throughout history. 
The world's oldest working model railway is a model designed to train <a href="/facts/Signalman_(rail)/18Soy0fu">signalmen</a> on the <a href="/facts/Lancashire_and_Yorkshire_Railway/whD45yf0">Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway</a>. It is located in the <a href="/facts/National_Railway_Museum/sbyLw3oe">National Railway Museum</a>, York, England and dates back to 1912. It remained in use until 1995. The model was built as a training exercise by apprentices of the company's <a href="/facts/Horwich_Works/bL8GrJtu">Horwich Works</a> and supplied with rolling stock by <a href="/facts/Bassett-Lowke/X8oQy87o">Bassett-Lowke</a>.

Rail transport modelling open-in-new

Rail transport modelling