All about the community of model railroading and rail enthusiasm
May 8, 2025
A nonpartisan hobby industry initiative launched this week calls for targeted tariff relief, desperately needed, to protect American small businesses; science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education; and community-based creative industries.
The Hobby Industry Coalition (www.HobbyCoalition.org) represents a wide spectrum of the U.S. toy and hobby industry, including model railroading, tabletop gaming, educational kits, plastic and die cast models, radio control, puzzles, craft supplies and STEM-related products.
“Trade Policy at a Crossroads: Safeguarding the Toy & Hobby Industry” outlines how the current U.S. stance – specifically the imposition of up to 145 percent tariffs on Chinese imports – endangers the American toy and hobby industry. The industry supports over 600,000 U.S. jobs and includes thousands of small and family-run businesses.
Tariffs imposed under Section 301, the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, have instilled fear in business sectors worldwide. The tariff imposed on China, which produces about 90 percent of model trains and other hobby and toy products, has unnerved hobby merchants.
“The toy and hobby industry − a vital source of learning, creativity, and community − is facing collapse,” according to the coalition paper. “Tariffs have escalated into an existential threat.”
Many manufacturers, experiencing significantly higher import taxes or expecting to in May, are being vocal in the national and local media about the potential damage tariffs represent, including price increases, and product scarcity and businesses closing. Several companies have already raised prices.
The coalition, which began forming in early April, is not calling for repeal but for refinement: “reinstating past exclusion processes, creating a transparent review mechanism, and ensuring critical hobby and educational tools remain accessible,” spokesperson Stacey Walthers Naffah said.
Model trains were excluded from tariffs on China in 2019. The coalition wants a similar outcome as tariffs enter their third month since being announced in February.
“We’re offering a policy solution that respects enforcement goals while correcting unintended harm,” said Walthers- Naffah, president and CEO of Wm. K. Walthers, one of the oldest model train brands in the U.S. “This is practical, precedent-based and pro-small business. We support the ideas of a reinvigorated domestic manufacturing base and healthy, happy American communities, and we can help support that aim.”
She said she and her colleagues stand ready with a wide range of hobbies that support learning and workforce development, plus enjoyment for all ages. “We ask for relief, as time is of the essence to preserve the industry as it is enjoyed today, to build the future we want tomorrow.”
The Hobby Industry Coalition is an alliance of manufacturers, distributors, retailers, educators and other stakeholders. It accelerated when nearly two dozen model train manufacturers and hobby industry leaders sent an urgent request for tariff relief to United States Trade Representative Jamieson Greer. Members of the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee, the U.S. State Finance Committee and White House administration officials were copied. Leading the effort with Walthers-Naffah are Rapido Trains president Jason Shron, ScaleTrains president Shane Wilson and Thomas W. Haedrich, chairman emeritus of Atlas Model Railroad Co.
