Figure 1.--These German brothers in 1929 wear identical short pants sailor suits. Note how their long stockings, probanly tan or grey, do not match their suits. The boys have set up their very orderly model train layout in the living room in front of the Christmas tree. Notice ther three rails which were how electric trains were done at the time. Like most German boys they did not have a permaent layout. They look to be about 10-13 years old. Click on the image for a fuller discussion.

An importsant part of serious model railroading is layout contruction. The layout is the above all the tracks, but with an added topographical and demogragric setting. Early tains such as pull toys didn't need layouts. This could be very simple. Most German boys, however, had only a simple circular track with a single engine. The train set here is a good example (figure 1). This of course was fine for younger boys. A very basic train was exciting enough for them. And it was something that they could build and manage which is an important part of the model train expeience. This coild be quite involved. In fact the Constructio of a model railroad layout evolved into a fine art. Configuring a model train lsayout can involve sculpting, model building, painting, and even some electronic engineering. Some items are a requirement such as at least one train station and a small village. A very popular item was a tunnel. As the layoiy grew the number of cross tracks invreased. Usually layouts were condtructed over time as a without any master plan. A major factor here was father. If father caught the moddel train bug, the layouts could get very extensive indeed. Here a factor in Germany was relative afflunce. The German standard of living before World War II was less than the British and substatially less than the American. This was relected in living space. Many Germans lived in apartmnts and other small homes where it was not possible to construct large, permanent model train layouts. Of course some affluent Germans did have large homes with space for a nice layout. Most of the German layouts we see are small, temporary ones. The small living space resticted layouts in two ways. First their was no unused spaced for a big layout. Second the time it took to set up and take down discouraged boys from developing large complicated layouts.

Created: 12:43 AM 2/15/2010
Last updated: 1:15 AM 1/8/2019