Discover the Magic of Toy Trains

Toy trains. It’s not always easy for enthusiasts to explain our passion for these enchanting scaled-down versions of life-size locomotives. Our appreciation is often rooted in nostalgia for childhood, though the lively hobby of collecting, building, and operating toy trains is serious business to many adults. Of course, that does not mean that we don’t have child-like fun with toy trains, no matter our numerical age!

The Train Collectors Association exists to cultivate camaraderie among toy and model train collectors, as well as share resources so we can all grow our knowledge and appreciation of toy trains. Find out more on this page.

What are Tinplate Trains?

You may hear TCA members and other train enthusiasts talk about tinplate toy trains, which may be an unfamiliar term to new collectors. “Tinplate” is a term applied to toy trains originally built of thin stamped metal, but it broadly refers to plastic trains as well—or those with a mix of metal and plastic components. Tinplate trains are any toy trains built for mass-market enjoyment rather than the precise scale that some of today’s model railroad craftsmen construct and enjoy.

Toy Trains Defined

So, what are toy trains exactly? The definition is somewhat broad and can be a little confusing, believe it or not.

In short, a toy train is a toy that represents a full-size train. So is a model train. However, toy trains are distinguished from model trains by their low cost (for a mass-market audience) and durability. Toy trains are made to be played with, whereas scale model trains typically are not. Toy trains may be designed as simple pull toys that do not run on a track, or they might be powered by electricity, batteries, and more.

Want to view one of the largest toy train collections in the world? We invite you to visit us at the National Toy Train Museum in Strasburg, PA!

Visit the Museum

A Brief Timeline of Toy Train History

Take a journey through the past with important stops along the track of toy train history!

1860s

The first wooden and metal (often lead) toys resembling trains were made in Europe around the middle of the 19^th century. The technological marvel of the steam locomotive had roared onto the scene at the beginning of the 1800s, and many people were enchanted by its power. As the Industrial Revolution continued, the ability to produce toys and scale models of many kinds came about, and toy trains were born.

Manufacturing and materials advanced such that tin could be processed—stamped, cut, rolled, and decorated—at record speeds. This allowed tin toys to proliferate.

1875

1891

German toymaker Märklin began selling its first wind-up train with carriages and a standardized track. This innovation is often credited as the earliest train layout, as it was not long before Märklin started offering buildings, rolling stock, and other accessories to help make toy trains more life-like.

Lionel made its first electric train for use in store display windows. Before this time, toy trains were typically not powered, though some (like the Märklin models mentioned above) ran by “clockwork” or a wind-up mechanism.

1901

1934

Model Railroader magazine began publishing, and differentiation between toy trains and more exacting scale model train building and collecting started to grow.

Most children and households in America owned some type of toy train set, often setting these up around Christmas trees during the year-end holiday season. During this time, the modern emphasis on realism in model railroading started to catch on, creating a more significant difference between toy trains marketed to kids and teens and the model railroading hobby geared more toward adults.

1950s

1954

The founding action of the Train Collectors Association (TCA) occurred in Yardley, PA. Learn more.

After years of declining interest in toy trains among kids, a resurgence occurred thanks to the popularity of LEGO® building sets and train-themed TV shows and characters, like Thomas the Tank Engine™. (It’s important to note that the toy and model train collecting hobby continued to be popular throughout this time.)

1980s & 1990s

Looking for examples of vintage toy trains to further your research? Visit our Vintage Toy Trains page and search our database!

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The Biggest Names in Toy Trains

There have been many brands making toy trains over the years. Some companies have gone out of business or been bought out by competitors. This list on Wikipedia offers some insight into 48 different brands that made toy trains throughout history. (Though there have been many more than 48!)

A few of the biggest brands still making toy trains today include:

Lionel
Märklin
LEGO
Bachmann Industries
Brio
Playmobil

Learn More

The Future of Toy Trains: High-Tech Features

As with so many aspects of our lives today, toy train sets are now “living in the future.” Smartphone controls, authentic sound, lighting, and electronics are standards in many sets widely available in the marketplace. The National Toy Train Museum and many of our TCA members are beginning to expand their collecting into these high-tech areas, as well.

While preserving vintage toy trains continues to be a priority for enthusiasts, modern examples are fun to learn about and run!

Looking for examples of toy trains from the “modern era” to further your research? Visit our Modern Era Trains page and search our database!

Learn More

More Toy Train Information for Collectors

Gauges

Toy trains come in different sizes, reflecting different rail gauges—the distance between the main rails on the track—and scales. We have information for you about some of the most popular toy and model train gauges.

Learn More

Grading Standards

TCA has adopted standards to help guide toy train collectors and encourage common terminology usage when describing things like item categories and conditions. Visit our Grading Standards section of the website for more information.

Learn More

Layouts

Creating scale environments for toy trains is something that many collectors dedicate a lot of time to. Layouts may be purely make-believe settings, or they can be designed as scaled-down versions of real-world locations.

Learn More

Grow Your Love of Toy Trains with Other Enthusiasts. Join TCA Today!

If you are not yet a member of the Train Collectors Association, you’re missing out. TCA Members receive a long list of tangible benefits that put them on the toy train collectors’ inside track! These include free admission to the National Toy Train Museum in Strasburg, PA, as well as access to special collections of material in the National Toy Train Library, among other great perks and benefits our TCA members enjoy.

Ready to get involved and join our excellent organization with thousands of other model and toy train enthusiasts around the world?

Join Now

Shop Amazon and Help TCA

TCA members who shop at Amazon.com can have each of their normal purchases generate a modest payment to TCA! And it won’t cost you anything!

The Train Collectors Association is now a participant with AmazonSmile, which is a special website operated by Amazon that lets customers enjoy the same wide selection of products, low prices and convenient shopping features as on Amazon.com.

The difference is that when customers shop at AmazonSmile (smile.amazon.com), the AmazonSmile Foundation donates 0.5% of the price of eligible purchases to the charitable organizations selected by customers.

The process is simple. Just search for and select Train Collectors Association when you sign up and shop at smile.amazon.com.

You use your regular Amazon.com username and password, but when you log in to smile.amazon.com, you’ll see that you are supporting TCA with your purchases:

Note that if you just log in to the regular amazon.com, this benefit does not operate.

There are no costs to either you or TCA, but TCA benefits!

This is a great way for TCA to earn extra cash to offset costs, so sign up today to help support TCA.

* Note: TCA is not a party to any of your Amazon transactions, and does not endorse any products or vendors.

Helping TCA with your ebay purchases when you use PayPal

If you’re an ebay user and have a PayPal account you use to make payments, you can designate a donation for TCA when you’re checking out — any amount, small or large.
If you’re a regular seller on ebay, you can pre-designate a percentage of your sales to be donated automatically in your name to TCA as long as the purchaser pays with their PayPal account.

In both cases, you will receive a donation receipt from the PayPal Giving Fund, and enjoy applicable tax advantages.

How to do it:

Click on the image above, or use this link. This will take you to ebay, where you will see the following page (log in to ebay if you are not already):

This offers TCA as an option. Click on the “Add to My Charities” button where indicated with the red arrow. Thereafter, when you make a purchase, at checkout you will be offered the option to make a donation to TCA in any amount of your choosing. Small amounts add up, larger ones are great! It’s always up to you!

The option will appear at the lower part of your checkout page, something like this:

If you’re a regular seller on ebay, you can allocate a portion of your sales proceeds to be donated to TCA. Look at the green arrow marked “Optional” above to see how to do it. Details on how ebay calculates the donation may be read here. This is a wonderful way to share the financial benefits of your hobby with the organization that promotes it!

An added benefit to TCA is that these donations are not subject to normal processing fees, so that makes your donation work harder!

* Note. TCA is not a party to any of your eBay transactions, and does not endorse any products or vendors. PayPal issues the receipts to you for your donation, not TCA.