Translations:Adventist Youth Honors Answer Book/Arts and Crafts/Model Railroad/2/en

1. Give the history and development of model railroading.

Practical Beginnings

The development of model railroading runs, for the most part, parallel to the development of real-life (or 'prototype') railroading. The first model railroads appeared after 1810 and were one-of-a-kind creations used in designing or promoting their full-sized counterparts. Railroading was first developed to reduce the time and effort required to move raw materials or people over short distances made otherwise difficult by bad weather and poor roadways. The first rail cars were pulled along by animals, while steam-propelled machines, whether trains or automobiles, followed as quickly as the public was ready to adopt them. Various authors from diverse countries each lay different claims to the origins of both railroading and model railroading; and for this reason it is nearly impossible to reckon the precise date and location of the first model trains. By the 1830's, however, several countries including Germany, France, England and the United States were each developing steam-driven railroads to move freight and passengers. Original models of these first railroads are still on display in museums, and the first toy trains appeared not long after in German and British catalogs of the 1860's.