Henry Ford enjoyed model railroading, but in 1:1 scale. The Detroit, Toledo, and Ironton Railroad.

On his railroad, Ford had these towers built for supporting the electrical wire system


The DT and I had one asset with great potential for Ford: a line that ran north to south from Detroit all the way to Ironton on the Ohio River near Huntington, West Virginia.

Basically,  a connection with every major rail line crossing the Midwest, allowing Ford to negotiate more economical through-rates for his own cargo.

It started out as a multiple bankrupt line, that was mis-managed and a mess, but typuical of early Ford organizing genius, soon he had the little railroad in top shape and in 1929 he sold the company to the Pennsylvania Railroad for a bundle.

Before he sold it, he experimented with electric trains, due to the expected excess electrical production from his big powerhouse at Highland Park to run a heavy freight road, and he had two giant electric locomotives built using Westinghouse motor-generators.

Under the management of the Pennsylvania Railroad, the DT and I ran conventional steam engines until after WWII, then switched to GM Electro-Motive diesel-electrics with distinctive colors and graphics until it went out of business.

http://www.macsmotorcitygarage.com/2013/10/26/henry-fords-railroad/