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'Toy Train' or 'Model Train' - which side of the fence do you sit on or should that be Track???


JJ73

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Most of mine were made as toys in the 1960s and 70s but were over designed for that purpose so still work. My clockwork ones were definitely toys but the same comment as above applies. Not all clockwork trains are toys, there have been large fine scale layouts with prototypical and professionally finished engines that have been operated with clockwork motors, especially in O gauge.

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@mjb1961 'you wouldn't let a kid play with a model train costing £250 plus surely'

Maybe not, but my son's PS4 was £400 and games are more expensive than coaches, then there is the costs of a phone!

@Will Hay 'unlike those with HO which is the accurate 4mm scale.' HO is scaled at 3.5mm/ft.

My models are definitely my toys and I really enjoy playing with them. This morning I played with one for a couple of hours during which I took it completely apart and the body is now immersed in IPA. After a couple of weeks I'll play with it and my airbrush at the same time. That might be considered modelling, but its my 'playtime'. blush

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The incorrect track gauge makes OO items toys. Most model railway manufacturers are listed as toy makers on companies House and elsewhere. It's a difficult line to walk. On one side you have highly detailed "models" or the other side they are played with making them toys as well. Model railways items in OO are both toys and models

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@Will Hay.......you are missing the point, as you well know 00 is scaled at 1:76 and H0 is scaled to 1:87. It is just the track width that is incorrect for 00.

 

 

Hello fellow forum member.

My comment was somewhat tongue in cheek, we're talking about expensive toys here, maybe you missed the point as I wasn't very clear.

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Well i am playing with my toy model railway or is it model railway toy.

The same be said about my Minic Motorway that runs next to my railway is that toy model cars or model car toy? OK cars 1.64 scale, Lorries and buses / coaches 1.72 scale

What about the Oxford Diecast, Corgi Trackside, BT /Base and others, model cars, lorries and buses / coaches are they toys or models? They are all are 1.76 scale.

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The distinction between a model and a toy is that a model is lifeless. A toy can be made to a very high standard. The distinction between a model and a toy is not that a toy is made to a low standard and a model is made to high standard - it is that the toy train is a train in its own right and it does not purport to be something that it is not. In this way, a toy is better than a model. Poor quality models, it has to be admitted are often condemned by modellers as 'toys', but that's not the case. There is coarse scale (like Triang), fine-scale, (like Hornby super detail) and 'high definition' that is the finest detail currently available. A train set layout is better than a model railway in that it has a purpose - to entertain. A model railway is often just a lifeless diorama where nothing happens - a sort of post-Beeching lost world!

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Perfect definition @Bexhill Donkey!

Whilst I certainly am amazed at the increases in fidelity of the models produced over the last 20 yrs (compared with those produced previously).

I am more impressed by & appreciative of, the massively increased range of models and liveries available.

Unfortunately whilst this range of higher-fidelity is ever increasing, the range of lower-cost but more robust models appears to have stagnated.

Hopefully if PlayTrains type ranges are successful there will be more voices pushing for this in the future!

However as others have previously noted, all of the improvements appear not to have stretched to reliability, playability, or sustainability/repair ability.

Considering the world we now live in, perhaps the manufacturers need to start looking there - especially if they wish to both charge valuable prices & still remain relevant!

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I think the description Toy or Model depends on what you are trying to create and how you intend to operate it.

As I am trying to create miniature pieces of England and Wales as it was during parts of the 20th Century (albeit with some of it on a continuous run) I would regard most of my layout as a "Model railway" as it attempts to replicate locations that actually existed (although with a lot of compromises). However, I disagree with Donkey that this makes it lifeless.

There is certainly a potential for my model to be entertaining. There are many shunting operations which are made more challenging to my adherence to prototypically avoiding facing points on my double track main line.

The section based on Glyn Ceiriog Station has an engine shed, working turn table but is recognizable as a miniature of the real thing - just don't look too closely since there are errors and a few deliberate short-cuts. When (or if) I ever finish the layout, I will be able to run a train "service" between three stations, one of which will offer a connection with the mainline. The only thing I am missing is real passengers (unless you count the odd hitch-hiking bug) and I certainly dont fancy transshipping miniature coal or slates at my representation of Chirk!

I would also add that at 009, my track gauge is only 0.083mm too wide for that particular location, which is a lot better than my OO "standard gauge" main line.

Mind you as the Glyn Valley Tramway was legally a "tramway" rather than a "railway" should I realy be calling half my layout a railway despite it operating locomotives pulling passenger coaches and goods wagons!

Also would anyone who has seen the models ar Pendon regard them as a toy given that their track gauge is 0.63mm too narrow (they model to EM standards rather than P4)


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