Think quick:  what are the three most famous American miniature trains makers? I bet you'll remember them when I remind you. The answer is: "Lionel, American Flyer and Bachmann Trains". Bachmann's American too. And you might have believed that American Flyer was just a line of trains and not a manufacturer, but it used to be both.  Here's the skinny:

Lionel Trains:  

Lionel was perhaps the gold standard of model train makers back in the day.  Thanks to great marketing Lionel out flanked its enemies.  One strategy it deployed was to embed model trains to Christmas traditions, making the circular train tracks around the Christmas tree a staple of the Christmas tradition.  Their O scale trains which were one 48^th the size of real world locomotives ruled the roast up until the 1950’s when HO scale trains started to take over the market. Starting in the 60's Lionel went through several ups in downs but is still around.  Now Lionel is making a comeback, again offering its O scale and some G scale models to a new audience of model train hobbyists.  We are happy to have them and their big glorious trains.

American Flyer:  

We mostly recognize American Flyer trains as a line of trains now, but they were their own manufacturer until 1966 when they were bought out by Lionel. American Flyer originated in Chicago around 1900.  They were bought out by A C Gilbert who also popularized the famous “erector sets” of the early 20^thcentury. American Flyer is partly still so popular as a collectible today because it offered such a strong alternative to Lionel's O gauge trains.  Like Lionel these trains were produced largely in O scale until after World War II when they attempted to establish an S gauge train line that ultimately failed but that has remained American Flyer’s most popular trains. Lionel kept and maintained American Flyer's model manufacturing equipment when they took them over in 1966.  Lionel's newly produced American Flyer trains are a big hit since the turn of the millennium.

Bachmann Industries:  

This is actually the oldest of the three companies, started way back in the 1830s but was the the latest of the three to get into the model train business. Descendants of the original founders of the company, the Carlisle’s and the Bachmann’s, are still on the company board, though the company is now headquartered in China, not in Philadelphia. Bachmann rose up after WWII by marketing starter kits to a middle class audience.  Their success continues to this day and they remain one the leaders in HO model trains in the world.

We have never had more choices in model training.  The web has really transformed the model training hobby into a buyer’s market. The internet makes it so you can now find any scale from almost any era of time. It is not overstated to say that these three companies are truly American classics.

Here is more information on Toy Model Trains. Here is a website with a free mini-course dedicated to Model Trains.

Boys and girls now-a-days are a lot more interested in updating their face book page than in actually putting their faces into a book.    Sometimes it seems like young people are just not interested in anything that doesn’t have cool graphics attached to it.  Multi-tasking seems to be the order of the day, so long as none of the tasks involve anything remotely important.  Even though they consider the past to be what happened last week, it's still important to find ways to get them involved with it.  It just helps knowing the stories of how things came to be.  I don’t mean to get on my soap box, but it's our duty as patriotic Americans to instill some sense of our beautiful past to them.  So how can we get around their reluctance to learning about the dead bones of the past? There are lots of ways, but one particularly good way is through model trains.  Yes.  Yeah, historic toy locomotives embody a beautiful history with them but don’t burden us with feeling that we are being educated.  Try using model locomotives to teach history this way:

Use locomotives as a secret vehicle for history:

If you’ve already gotten your young people involved in toy locomotives, a great second step is to make a toy locomotive set-up that accurately depicts a specific period and place. Imagine a track design that is set during Reconstruction in the American Southwest.  You can get your kids to research this period and then add period details that will really add to the joy and historical accuracy of your toylayout.  Imagine stringing up a long row of telegraph poles next to your track to indicate the communications system of the time.  A ghost town that failed to capitalize on the railroad because it didn’t get a stop might be depicted tantalizingly close to the track.  Maybe even put in a representative robber baron looking over his locomotive empire.

Historic model locomotives are also a good alternative to the usual diorama or scale model:  

Diorama and similar craft projects are fine but if you’ve already gotten your child into model locomotives why not take advantage of his or her hobby to really impress at his next school presentation.  You will need to lay it out on a portable table and possibly help your youngster bring it in on the day that it is due, but the combination of historic detail and the fascination that such locomotives inspire simply by themselves are likely to really go over well. A picture of Jesse James is fine, but what if you incorporated toy trains to bring the locomotive robber’s life details and cultural context to life.  As your period specific train rounds the curve there are Jesse and his whole gang just waiting to pounce and continue his wrong headed crusade.  It’s your kid though, who will be stealing that A right out of his teacher’s grade book!

Visit Historic locomotive Locales:  

There are also a few toy train museums and other train related historic sites where you can see historic toy trains and some real locomotives as well.  If your local historic locomotive site doesn’t have toy locomotives consider suggesting they find some to the curator or manager of the site.  Some rolling exhibits may come around as well. Just keep your ears pricked and you are sure to come across one sooner or later.

All of these things are sure to place your child on track to greater historical literacy.  Even if you just do toy training without even considering the educational possibilities you will inevitably foster a greater sense of historical knowledge simply by handling these little mechanical doorways to the past.  

Here is more information on Model Steam Trains. Here is a website with a free mini-course dedicated to Model Trains.