What have Steven Spielberg, Neil Young, Pete Waterman and James May all got in common? They are all model train enthusiasts.
Well know music producer Pete Waterman has a huge system housed in 200 foot barn, reputed to be worth at least half a million pounds. He even owns his own train making company. And this isn’t unusual amongst wealthy model train enthusiasts. Neil Yound and Steven Spielberg have their own, respected model train company called Lionel trains.
And this group of well known personalities are not alone in their enthusiasm for model trains. Building and operating model railways is no longer the preserve of 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 model train collectors are not interested in playing with the model trains and they only want pristine vintage models, still in their boxes having never been played with. As Mr May says, these models were meant to be played with and not kepe in their boxes.
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. James May is not an obsessive collector, prefering to play with these vintage models than to look at them in their boxes.
In the December 20th edition of the current series of James May’s Toy Stories he and around 400 valiant volunteers 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. Unfortunately the little model trains were obviously not big enough to carry any passengers but a lot of people enjoyed building the rail link.
You could win one of two fantastic Hornby Train Sets in the current Christmas Hornby Competition from modelzone.co.uk. All you have to do is answer one simple question and you could win a fantastic Hornby train set.
