I'm not sure how much access people have to BBC4 (TV) but the documentary The Joy of (Train) Sets is being repeated tonight (at 23.10 GMT). Despite the quirky title, this is really quite a good and serious history of railway modelling, paying due attention to the roles of WJ Bassett Lowke, Frank Hornby and others, situating the hobby in the changing social circumstances of the 20th Century. Quite a lot of 30s shots of "Garden" railways - which is to say that people couldn't fit Gauge 0 or 1 in the house so laid the track on the lawn....