Investigating the reason behind such outdated conception of the world, Stonies (2016) researched this phenomenon a little deeper. By looking at the design of the products provided by miniature world and model railway companies, she concludes that model train enthusiasts seek the “idyllic past” (Stonies, 2016, p. 196). Next to the figurines, the companies also offer timber-framed houses, mainly historical locomotives and provincial train stations (Stonies, 2016, p.196). It is assumed, that actors in the model train world enjoy the technological and architectural aspects of the past as much as the social (Stonies, 2016, p.196). This would also include the “traditional arrangement between sexes” (Stonies, 2016, p.196). But this specific understanding of male and female roles lies within the male dominance, not looking at the relation between sexes, but within them (Stonies, 2016, p.198). Women do play an important role in the creation of these perceptions, but not as actual actors, but as the role of spectators, reflecting an image of what men should and want to conform (Stonies, 2016, p.198). Men gather in groups with the same interest, the same race and the same gender to gain security within a changing world (Stonies, 2016, p.199).
In the world that appears, time stands still. The miniature worlds that are build are representations of their imagination, based on childhood dreams and a world that they feel secure in, a world mostly stated to the 1950s.
In this video you can get an idea of how these model worlds are a nostalgic view into the past: