Model railroading (US) or Railway modelling (UK, Australia and Canada) is a hobby in which rail transport systems are modeled at a reduced scale, or ratio. The scale models include rail vehicles (locomotives, rolling stock, streetcars, etc.), tracks, signalling, and scenery (roads, buildings, vehicles, model figures, lights, and natural features such as streams, hills, canyons, etc.).
The earliest forms of model railways are the 'carpet railways' which first appeared in the 1840s. "Electric trains" first appeared around the turn of the 20th century. But these early toys were crude likenesses of real trains. Model trains today are generally far more realistic than the toy trains of yesteryear. Today modellers all over the world create sophisticated model railway / railroad layouts, often recreating real locations and periods in history, to show off their "prototypically accurate" models.