Young Band Christmas
Model Trains More Fun than Sex
Can you guess what Steven Spielberg, Neil Young, Pete Waterman and James May have in common? They are all keen on their model trains.
Music industry mogul Pete Waterman has a magnificent system, housed in a 200 foot barn, reputed to be worth as much as half a million pounds sterling. He even has his own model train making company. And this isn’t in the least bit unusual amongst wealthy model train enthusiasts. Steven Spielberg and Neil Young have their own model train company called Lionel trains.
And this group of well known personalities are not alone in their enthusiasm for model trains. Building model railway systems is no longer a hobby pursued by young boys. These days their dads and uncles, along with some old time rock musicians, who are more likely to be Hornby train enthusiasts.
Model train collecting has become big business. Obsessive collectors tend to be interested in pristine vintage models that are still in their boxes, never having been played with. To many, including James May, this is not what these model trains were meant for.
At a model train auction Mr won a completely unused Hornby train set for £200 which other collectors would have kept, unused, in its box. Mr May built and played with the train set in his James May’s Top Toys television programme as he says this is what was intended when the system was made.
In the pre-Christmas December 20th edition of James May’s Toy Stories he and loads of helpers rebuild the long lost rail link between Bideford and Barnstaple in Devon using OO gauge model train track. Although the link suffered due to vandals stealing some of the track for a short time Bideford and Barnstaple were once again linked by rail. Obviously the model trains didn’t carry any passengers of goods but the people involved had a great time building the track.
You could win one of two fantastic Hornby Train Sets in the current Christmas Hornby Competition from modelzone.co.uk. All you need to do is answer just one very simple question and you could win a great Hornby train set.
Small Town Kid Cover-Eli Young Band