ALL ABOARD!

摘要

The Stereotypical image of model railroading is that of children playing with a toy train as it puffs around the Christmas tree. In reality, the hobby is dominated by adult males over 40. According to the Model Railroad Industry Association (www.greatesthobby.com), some 500,000 Americans participate in this leisure-time activity, and they spend $500 million annually. Model railroading breaks down into three interests. The largest segment consists of scale modelers who construct layouts with trains, tracks, and scenery that are accurate scale representations of real life.Then there are collectors who re-create the fantasy world of toy trains with antique and reproduction toy models that are less finely detailed than their scale counterparts. Making up the third group are garden railroaders, who create outdoor settings with larger scale trains.