Another Kind of Entertainment
By: Gregory Y. P-5
Lionel, a company that specialized in electrical novelties such as fans and lighting devices made a their first model train. It was called The Electric Express. At first, it was only a storefront design when people started asking if they could buy it. The train ran on a brass track operated by a battery powered motor.
Over the years, model trains have been "computerized" and the price of the equipment skyrocketed. After almost 100 years of existence, supply and demand has also made the prices rise. But the cost is almost not worth it for new model trains because so many people are buying them, they have to manufacture them really quickly and they burn up in about six hours.
"Their power comes from a household current that first passes through a separate unit called a power pack. The power pack reduces the voltage of the household current from one hundred-ten volts to 12 volts. It also changes the type of current from alternating current, which continually reverses direction, to direct current, which flows in one direction."
worldbookonline.com/student/article?id=ar458200&st=model+trains
Model trains are so entertaining to some people because it allows one to create your own miniature town or city with as much or little detail as you want. There are decorations like carpentry and electrical circuits and making a nice scenery. There are bridge, stations, signals, cars, and obviously, locomotives for one's design. One can make them from scratch, a kit, or already assembled. The locomotives and tracks come in different sizes for how much room you have for your railroad.
Though, there is a downside to model trains. many of the materials used to make the trains harm the environment in the making or process of retrieving. The main materials used to make a model train are steel, aluminum, zinc, and plastic. When making steel, it emits harmful gases into the environment and the transportation also causes harmful gases to enter the atmosphere. When mining aluminum, it uses a lot of electricity, water, and coal. Which obviously, when coal is used it also emits harmful gases into the atmosphere. To make plastic, oil is needed, which is a fossil fuel and we will eventually run out of it. Harmful chemicals are also used which harm the earth and
Homo Sapiens and are being used to a huge extent.
I think model railroading is a good hobby, although it's expensive, and is better than sitting on a computer all day and doing nothing but typing or playing video games.
Bibliography
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"World Book Online Reference Center | Online Reference Book| Online Encyclopedia." World Book. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Nov. 2014