Railway modelling is not just about building and driving model trains. Landscapes, buildings, people and all the other things that exist in the real world also need scaling down, in the instance in these photos, to the scale of 1:87.

The level of detail and dexterous skill involved in railway modelling may therefore seem a job well suited the female’s small and nimble fingers. Yet, railway modelling is still considered a strictly male pastime. Among the approximately 2500 members of the Norwegian Railway Club, a club which makes model railways, only a couple of its members are female.

The club’s division in Bergen annually organises a model railway exhibition. Here, the club has experienced that women simply are not that interested in the trains themselves or in the technical and electrical aspects of railway modelling. However, they do frequently ask questions about how the landscapes, houses and figurines have been made.

By emphasising the latter aspect of railway modelling, the Bergen division now hopes that more women will be encourraged to take part. After all, a man’s hands may sometimes become the bull in the china shop when attempting the interior decorations of a tiny house.

Photo credit: Britt Embry