Types of Model Train Engines

A model train engine becomes a collectible when a limited edition is sold out. Hand-crafted brass locomotives are selling for well over $1,000. Old American Flyer S-scale engines are in high demand. Most collectors are in search of O-, 027- and S-scale models. Not many HO- and N-scale engines attract collectors, due to mass production and a relatively short history in the model train market.

The Educational Playground
Steam locomotives went into retirement in the late '50s. The era of the Iron Horse is recaptured through model steam engines. In the mid 1900s, hundreds of small railroads existed. Because of bankruptcies, consolidations, and mergers, America's current railways are controlled by six major railroads. The tiny railroads may be gone, but replicas of their historical steam engine designs are found in private collections and on hobby shop shelves.

Diesel locomotives came to America in the '20s, first as switch engines, then passenger locomotives. In the early '40s, diesels began to replace steam locomotives. Although called diesel engines, these locomotives were electrically driven. The 1950s diesel locomotive design with the automobile-like nose and windshield has a place of distinction in many model train collections.