Introduction

Many model railroaders are attracted to European Railways because of their exquisite detailing and superior running qualities.  What stops some would-be-enthusiasts from getting started is the lack of information regarding the prototype.  With this in mind we present to you some basic information on European Railways that we hope will inspire you to get started with European model trains.  This information is by no means complete.  The Europeans have an extremely rich history with their railways and we encourage you do to more research on your own either on the Internet or through the many books and magazines that are available on the subject.

More than any other continent on Earth, Europe relies heavily on it’s railways for both the movement of passengers and freight alike.  This is mostly due to Europe’s unique geography and relatively small size.  Did you know that that the whole continent of Europe can fit into an area approximately the size of only the south eastern United States?  Due to this and the high cost of fuel in Europe make traveling by plane or car between European cities is very expensive and somewhat impractical.  Instead, Europeans depend on their ultra modern railway network as their preferred means of transportation.

Europe’s history is extends much farther back than North America’s so it shouldn’t be any surprise that their railway history does as well.  In Switzerland for example, the first trains were replacing stage coach routes as early as 1847 and by the 1930’s most of their railway lines were completely electrified with overhead wires (called Catenary) powering the trains instead of coal and steam.  In Germany, steam ran well into the mid 1970’s and it ran along side diesels and electrics.  This gives plenty of opportunity to model a wide variety of motive power.

So what about the European railway models themselves?  Most of the firms that produce European model train today started out as toy makers in the mid to late 1800’s.  These companies, many of which are based in Nürnberg, Germany, which is still considered the toy making capital of the world, started out making tin plate ships.  In the early 1960’s the firm of ARNOLD-RAPIDO started making trains which ran on model track spaced at 9 mm apart.  They started referring to this new size of train as “N” which was derived from the first letter of the word “neun” which is German for nine.  Back in those days the trains were very crude and many called it “N-Gauge” referring solely to the gauge of the track.  Today it’s properly known as “N-Scale” and it has been assigned a proportion of 1:160 meaning that the models are 160 times smaller than their full size counterparts.

So you see, the very first N-Scale models were European prototypes, in fact it wasn’t until the late 1960’s that enterprising U.S. toy companies asked for models of North American trains to try their hand at marketing them over here.  To this day there is more variety offered in European N-Scale than in other.

As N-Scale evolved into the 1970’s companies such as ATLAS, CON-COR and REVELL had locomotives and rolling stock made for them by European firms such as ARNOLD-RAPIDO, FLEISCHMANN, RIVAROSSI, ROCO and TRIX (who refer to their N-Scale line as MINITRIX).  The European companies would be happy to supply the North American firms but their finest and most technically innovative models were offered for their home markets within Europe.  As a result the European models became known the world over for their quality and attention to detail.  European Prototype N-Scale models ran better and looked better than anything produced for the North American market.  Today, with companies such as KATO of Japan the gap has closed significantly but there is still nothing like a European made model that glows with old world craftsmanship and quality.

Getting started with European N-Scale is very easy.  We suggest starting with a catalog or two.  Of course the catalogs contain the latest models but they also contain other valuable information such as the European Railway time periods (commonly called Epochs).  They also contain many photos of layouts which can be very inspirational to you.

Key to European Railways Symbols

The following list should help you get started in identifying the country of origin of many of the European Railways (listed in alphabetical order according to symbol).  Again, this list is by no means complete, we have simply listed the railways that are most often produced in N-Scale models

Symbols of Modern Era Trains

The modern European Railways also use symbols to identify the type of train.  The following list should help you to understand this further.

European Railways Time Periods (Epochs)

The European Railways can be broken down into five time periods commonly referred to as Epochs.   Most manufacturers identify their models using these Epochs.  The Epochs themselves are usually identified by the Roman numerals I - V (1-5).  There is some disagreement among manufacturers as to the exact years these Epochs began and ended.  Listed below are the five European Railway Epochs according to FLEISCHMANN, one of the most respected manufacturers of European model trains.