Circle on 'round for historic ride

Real trains and model trains run on parallel tracks, both having been around-and-around since the 1800s.

The first steam locomotives huffed at the turn of the 19th century. Model trains and the first garden railroads date to the mid- to late 1800s, according to the Garden Trains Association of Waukesha, Wis.

Changes followed like a line of cars behind the engine -- from wood toys, to wind-up tin trains, to Lionel's first electric toy train in 1901.

Model trains ran full steam ahead through the 1950s. Every boy of the era had a train set or at least "a friend with a train set," according to the association.

And plastic models split the track -- this way to toy trains for children, that way to increasingly detailed and realistic model trains for adult hobbyists.

One difference between a boy with a toy train and a man with a garden train: Nobody tells the big guy he can't take his train outdoors.

HomeStyle on 05/16/2015

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