But children had special reason to love trains. “Trains brought everything from visiting relatives to all the goods in town,” says Tony Cook, editor of Model Railroad News.

Before HO scale became the standard for model railroading, O scale was the dominant size, with a ratio of 1:48. However, in the early 20th century, a growing demand for more compact model trains ...

Kughn kept his $3.5 million private collection of model trains, cars, vintage automobiles and other antiques and collectibles at Carail, a 50,000-square-foot museum at 17455 Grand River Ave.

When Bill Wheeler first joined the Southwest Washington Model Railroaders in 1998, he recalled how he and fellow train enthusiasts met in a small room behind Safe Harbor Church on East Mill Plain Boul ...

“Model railroading provides a common ground to bring people of different backgrounds together to enjoy the romance of trains. It’s a combination of modeling, electronics, woodworking and more.

“Setting up a train around the tree is the spark for someone to take those trains off the carpet and start building a model railroad,” Vondrak says. “I got my start in the hobby from a gift ...