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Model trains don't have the broad appeal they once did. The same year GMMES was founded, 1953, toy manufacturer Lionel hit record sales of $33 million.
火車模型不再像以前那樣具有廣泛的吸引力。格雷芬德海洋與工程模型協(xié)會成立的那年，1953年，玩具制造商Lionel創(chuàng)下3300萬美元的銷售記錄。
A visionary Lionel sales executive named Arthur Raphael, who died the year before,
該公司中一位富有遠見的銷售主管，阿瑟·拉斐爾在前一年去世。
believed that if the company could keep kids interested in trains until age 14, they'd be hooked for life.
他相信，如果公司能在14歲前一直讓孩子們對火車感興趣，他們將終生為此而迷。
But with the rise in popularity of NASA and the Space Age, Legos and toy guns and Hot Wheels, and eventually Nintendos and Xboxes,
但隨著美國宇航和太空時代（Space Age）、樂高（Legos）、玩具槍支和風(fēng)火輪（Hot Wheels）、以及最后的任天堂（Nintendos）和Xboxes公司人氣上升，
Lionel (and its British competitor, Hornby) collapsed into bankruptcy and languished through various buyouts.
致使Lionel及其英國競爭對手霍恩比（Hornby）慘遭破產(chǎn)，后來經(jīng)各種收購而萎靡不振。
While it's unclear whether their obsolescence has made classic train models more valuable, they're still zealously sought-after at auctions by collectors,
雖然尚不清楚，他們的過時是否已經(jīng)使經(jīng)典的火車模型變得更有價值，但他們?nèi)匀皇歉鞣N拍賣會上受到收藏家們熱切追捧的對象，
including loco-obsessed celebrities such as Rod Stewart and hooked-for-life fanatics such as my father, a Lionel addict,
這些人中包括迷戀火車機車的名人比如洛·史都華，以及癡迷一輩子的狂熱愛好者，就像我父親，他癡迷于Lionel。
who, in what he insists makes perfect sense, has invested my meager inheritance into Southern Pacific and 763E Hudson electrics, each costing $2,500. Sir Rod declined to comment.
他把我那一丁點遺產(chǎn)投資到南太平洋鐵路公司（Southern Pacific）和763E哈得遜電氣公司（763E Hudson electrics），每家公司花掉了2500美元。他這么做，一點也不讓人感到驚訝。
They're pieces of art, my dad says.
羅德爵士拒絕置評，而我父親則說，它們是藝術(shù)品。
Anyway, as with anything of value and beauty, model trains have sometimes attracted the attention of thieves and vandals.
不管怎樣，像任何具有價值又美麗的東西一樣，火車模型有時也會引起盜賊和破壞公物者的注意。
In October 2017 a thief gripping a tiny flashlight with his teeth climbed through the ceiling of a shop in Devon, making off with expensive locomotives.
2017年10月，一個小偷用牙咬著一個小手電筒，爬上德文郡一家商店的天花板，偷走了價格昂貴的火車機車。
Roughly a year later, a drunk burglar with a metal butter knife attempted to rob an 85-year-old retiree of his prized model railroad collection at his Lincolnshire cottage.
大約一年后，一個喝醉酒的竊賊用金屬黃油刀試圖搶劫一位85歲退休老人，這位老人在林肯郡的小屋中收藏著珍貴的鐵路模型。
(According to the Telegraph, they tussled, and the octogenarian and his wife sat on the tosspot until the police arrived.)
（據(jù)《每日電訊報》的報道，他們扭打在一起，這位八旬老人和他的妻子壓在酒鬼身上，直到警察趕到。）
And only this past May, there was a smash-and-grab at a model railway exhibit in Stamford.
就在今年5月，在斯坦福舉行的一個鐵路模型展會上，發(fā)生了砸窗搶劫事件。
