Detroit — Hidden away in the basement of the Detroit Historical Museum are several collections of curiosities. An exhibit on comic books, a life-size replica of a street from old Detroit, but the most interesting relic by far is an enormous model railroad, encased in a glass display.
The Glancy Train Collection is Detroit’s most impressive train system (sorry, People Mover). It’s not just for kids, either, though they’d love it. Once you know the history, it’s a genuine testament to the opulence and prosperity of 1950s Detroit.
Model railroading, it turns out, used to be a big deal. In the 1950s, it was an incredibly popular hobby, and not just for children. Men of the Silent Generation were obsessed with it, constructing increasingly elaborate model railroads in the basements of their homes.
My own grandfather was a longtime model railroader, going all the way back to the 1950s. He had an impressive setup, assembled by hand, painted and wired, in the basement of his suburban home.
For men of that generation, model railroading was the intersection of a few curiosities and influences. Industrialization was the future, the construction of elaborate systems. Their brains simply worked a certain way.
Trains were symbols of national infrastructure and progress, and having the time and resources to build and collect models was a very real reflection of budding American prosperity, especially after the hardships of the 1930s.
Diving deeper, you could argue that these men in the ‘50s, with newfound prosperity and wealth, were simply engaging with a childhood hobby that they were deprived of in their youth. Few had the time or money for model railroading in the 1930s and 1940s.
These weren’t just cheap plastic models either. Plastic didn’t even exist then. These were solid metal trains and rails, with an incredible level of detail. Hand painted sets and decor, rails that switched between tracks, drawbridges that raised up and down. Some train models even puffed out fake smoke from a liquid solution filled inside their tanks.
These were the real deal. Alfred Glancy, who posthumously donated his train set to the Detroit Historical Museum, certainly thought so.
Glancy was an incredibly wealthy Detroit financier and real-estate mogul. He once owned the Empire State building, buying it with a business partner for $51.5 million in 1951 and flipping it for a profit three years later.
He was known, socially, for his love of model trains. He used to host “train parties” for friends, neighbors, and schoolchildren at his home in Grosse Pointe Shores during holiday seasons.
This was a serious man, a mover and shaker—and he spent his free time playing with model trains. Consider that for a moment. It was, at the time, the height of luxury.
Glancy’s collection is incredibly impressive. Thirteen model train engines run across the tracks, pulling a variety of model cargo, from raw materials to passengers.
The display is equipped with several interactive buttons. You can turn on the alert lights at a few bridges, or make a police car light up. It’s not quite the same thrill as laying out the tracks yourself and controlling the speed of the engines, but it’s enough to give you a sense of the appeal.
Like many hobbies, model railroading functions on several levels. Collecting, building, running, maintaining. You buy new models and sets, assemble and build it all yourself, run the trains and watch them go around, and make sure to keep the motors oiled.
Simply seeing a collection in action can’t give you much of that, but it’s still fascinating to see. Not just because it’s fun to watch the trains go around, but because of the lens it gives you into the mindset of Detroiters in their most prosperous era.
They spent their days building things at enormous scale but, in their downtime, engaged in an elaborate hobby you rarely see today. Something physical, and mentally intricate, demanding attention to detail and aesthetics. Something creative and not just consumptive.
Compared to today’s primary male hobbies, scrolling social media and playing video games, model railroading is far more opulent. For one thing, it takes up space. It exists in the world, physically. You need a room, or a basement to set it all up. It’s not just confined to a screen.
For another, it’s expensive. Highly sought-after vintage model locomotives routinely fetch thousands on eBay, and cheaper brand-new models still go for hundreds of dollars. This definitely isn’t a casual hobby, not in the 21st century economy.
It’s a shame, because building out your own model train set is far more satisfying and rewarding in the long run than winning a Victory Royale in Fortnite.
That’s how we’ll know America is truly wealthy again, when a generation of men starts getting back into model railroading. Maybe literally, but definitely figuratively—when men have the time, money, space, and curiosity to get into elaborate hobbies again, that’s how we’ll know we’ve made it.
Bobby Mars is art director of Michigan Enjoyer. Follow him on X @bobby_on_mars.
