Atlas Model Trains

Atlas Model Trains are like any other company today. Its founder dreamed big out of a passion for a hobby. The company flourished in the model train industry by continuously providing customers with innovative products. The company started from a modest beginning until it became a business well-known by almost all model train collectors everywhere.

In the early 20th century, Atlas Model Trains started out as a tool making company. Back then, Stephan Schaffan Sr., the company's pioneer and founder, did not have much manpower to back him up. He even had his son Stephan Schaffan Jr. involved in the production.

Despite his job in the family business, Stephan Schaffan Jr. was barely earning anything at all. His real hobby was to build model airplanes, which stemmed from a creative young mind that was fascinated by machinery. One of his greatest desires was to get a job at the local airplane model shop he frequented. In fact, he kept asking the owner for one so he can afford to buy more model airplanes.

The turning point of Atlas Model Trains came one fateful day when the owner of the store gave Stephan Schaffan Jr. some old rail roads and model trains. The store owner hoped that he could finally rid himself of the young man. The store owner would never have imagined that those old model trains and rail roads he considered as trash would help create a model train industry, known today as the Atlas Model Trains.

The mind with a passion for model airplanes was given a set of old railroad tracks and model trains to keep him away from the local airplane model shop. Stephan Jr.'s creative mind quickly started and he was able to invent a switch system that changed the way how model trains worked back then. The young man devised a system of controlling the voltage in order to start and stop the train.

The switch set that Stephan Jr. designed is still in use today. It works by providing the train models a specific amount of electricity when powered on or switched in a certain way. This was one of the innovations that made Atlas Model trains different from the other train models during that time.

Stephan Schaffan Jr.'s model train business became a booming industry that he even took over his father's tool business and changed the name to Atlas Model Railroad. The company, though, is more popularly known today as Atlas Model Trains.

It gained a reputation for creating products that made model train collecting a hobby more enjoyable through Stephan Jr.'s unique innovations. Atlas Model Trains made the assembly of model trains far easier and one such example is the concept of pre-made railroad tracks.