The earliest model trains are almost as old as the earliest trains. Indeed, the first were probably working models of real engine designs, so definitely not for children.
By the 1850s, though, model trains had become a market in themselves with the arrival of the wonderfully named ‘Birmingham Dribblers’, more properly called ‘carpet railways’. These live steam trains didn’t run on rails at all, but just steamed across the carpet, often leaving a trail of boiling water and highly flammable fuel in their wake – hence the name. Despite their failings, these were expensive precision engineering models, very much not aimed at the average child.
As time passed and the steam train became ubiquitous, other bespoke model railways began to appear in Europe and America, often working on clockwork mechanisms. But these were also expensive. It was a German company, Märklin, that would transform the train set in 1891 when it came up with a train ‘system’ based on...