In the early days, model trains were toys and were powered by a mechanism like a clock - speed was controlled by grabbing levers attached on the train itself as it moved. When the trains were powered by electricity, the power was delivered through a third rail and picked up by a skid like mechanism that dragged on the track. When the model train began to be popular, and enthusiasts became more reality oriented, the power was carried in two rails, one being positive and the other being negative.

Although battery powered trains were popular in the late 19th and 20th centuries, battery power is making a return, except for real enthusiasts who regard battery power as something for toys only. However, such toys are what very young children get their first love of model trains from, often graduating to systems that are more sophisticated later on. It's that small dream that grows into the big one later that makes the model train industry grow more and more each year.

When that small dream reaches maturity and that love of model trains becomes a full -blown passion, (Wives sometimes call it obsession), and then a different breed is born ? the garden railway enthusiast. These are the ones who put down good money for cars that have every detail, including even, the correct number of rivets in the cars along with the proper scale of everything down to the wheel flanges.

These are the ones who have gone back to the battery, because it's hard to keep an outside power source reliable when interference from the elements creates problems in power systems. Garden railway enthusiasts find now that it is easier to use lead acid batteries, much like those used in cars, because with putting the power source outside there is a danger with both wiring and insulation, as well as the high draw on household current.

I have seen bumper stickers on cars and vans that read, ?Pray for me, my husband collects trains?, and I think that about sums up the attitude of some toward such a detailed ?hobby?.

When the car was first invented, it was thought of in the same way. It's the passion that is instilled from an early age that grows with time to become a life-long love.

I have seen garden railroaders sitting on a bench, just watching their trains run the course, with switch tracks, sidings, tunnels and waterfalls, but on their faces is a kind of serenity like the kind some get when they ?get away from it all?. For these hobbyists it is most intriguing.

I may talk about all of the physical aspects of model train power, how it went from wind up clock work mechanisms to AC, DC, and battery power, but it's what's behind it all that really powers the model train industry, and that is the love of it, because of how it makes them feel, and to that I say ? more power to them!