The World’s Greatest Hobby (or Why Kids Should Play with Model Trains)
Model railroading is a wonderful American tradition that I fear is losing ground in today’s world of computers and video games. One key value of model railroading is that it is very educational, teaching design, construction, electronics, history, art, and transportation operations. Additionally, building and operating a model railroad is a lot of fun. I recommend giving a model train set to someone you care about this year.
HO Scale is the most popular gauge for model trains today and is generally chosen by folks with plenty of space. N Scale is smaller and a little more difficult to work with; however, the layouts can fit into small spaces and many modelers find that they can create more realistic displays with the smaller scale.
Check out the links below to inexpensive starter HO and N Scale layouts: