One thing that never ceases to amaze me is the fact that it is virtually impossible to buy any model funicular railways. Try as I can, it appears that there are none available anywhere in the world. Why is this so? Although I have not been able to get any “official” explanation, I have my own theories for the lack of these models.

I suppose that firstly there has never been a perceived demand for this item from the model train buying community. Undoubtedly the original demand for model trains came from people who regularly saw the steaming monsters close to their homes. At the time that model trains first became popular, people didn’t travel very far from their home town, city or village and for most people when they did travel, the train was the most frequently used transport system.

This created a growing demand for models of these trains. It was a demand that a number of manufacturing companies heard and were only too pleased to supply. The early success that these companies enjoyed has continued to this day.

Most people in the earlier time of model trains would never have heard of a funicular railway.  In addition, in the places where these trains operated, there were generally insufficient model train enthusiasts to generate enough interest for the manufacturers to take much notice of.

Another reason for the lack of demand would be the lack of space that most people can allocate for their model layouts. In order to install a model funicular railway, it would be necessary to create a small mountain or hill, the floor area for which would take up too much space.

In real life, each funicular railway had to be specially designed to fit the particular needs of a certain community. Whether it was to transport people up a mountain or to bring something down from a mine, the design for each one was different.

Compare this to the ordinary trains and models of them, which could be mass produced in order to keep the costs to an acceptable level. Thus the cost of producing model funicular railways would have been too great for the return. The few models of fernicular railways that have been built, have been individually designed and are only on display in a few places to attract  tourists to try out this wonderfully different train experience.