The World’s Largest Model Train Layout in Michigan?

Trains have been around for over two centuries with the first practical locomotive running on rails on February 21, 1804. Launching a critical form of transportation for the entire planet, the original steam locomotive was introduced by a British explorer and inventor named Richard Trevithick.

The Birth of the Locomotive

More than 220 years later, the world still uses trains to move people and freight great distances. It's incredible to think about how a locomotive could pull a long string of cars at great speeds way back in the 1800s. Now there are trains that travel at hundreds of miles per hour.

These steel rail-following behemoths have captivated imaginations for as long as they've been around. And within a couple decades model trains became a thing. One of the first model trains was created in the 1830s, with Mathias Baldwin of Baltimore Locomotive Works widely credited as the pioneer.

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Other Germans began to produce train models, but the first that were marketed to the masses in 1891 was made by the German-based Marklin who still produces train models to this day.

America’s Model Train Boom

With American boys by the 1950s model-train sets were the most coveted and common toy. The first commercially available electric train sets available in the U.S. were manufactured in 1896 by Carisle and Finch. Lionel hit the scene five years later in 1901 with their 'Electric Rail'.

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Model railroads have not gone out of style since they were invented and the love for it continues with incredibly large train layouts worldwide. Currently, the largest model railroad layout is located in Germany at Minitur Wunderland, fitting with Germany's long involvement with model trains. This layout is in HO-scale (1:87), but the largest O-Scale (1:48) layout in the world is much closer than you think. 

With an astounding 12,000 feet of track in a building with more than 10,000 square feet, the Chi-Town Union Station set up shop in Oakland County's Commerce Township. Unfortunately the establishment closed following the passing of the man behind it, Paul Gribbell.

Michigan’s Model Train Scene Today

Michiganders can still get their fix of model train layouts through The Detroit Railroad Club in Holly, and at the Durand Union Station in Durand, known as 'Railroad City U.S.A.'