Hey how about some help with all of the scale nomenclature Okay I know what 1:48 scale is I think it is true What about Scout, Semi scale and Traditional? Think I know but would like to be sure. Most of my stuff is post war and up to 2000 Tks, Kev.
Hey how about some help with all of the scale nomenclature
Okay I know what 1:48 scale is I think it is true
What about
Scout,
Semi scale
and Traditional?
Think I know but would like to be sure.
Most of my stuff is post war and up to 2000
Tks,
Kev.
Joined 1-21-2011 TCA 13-68614
Kev, From The North Bluff Above Marseilles IL.
phillyreading,
I think that is what I see but there are so many names for scales I would just like to see a list telling what is what. I am thinking many names are for the same scale.
I am fine with non-scale with toy trains but just whant to know what they are talking about when I read something or am looking to buy something.
kev.
Scout was a name applied to inexpensive steamers, I believe all of them had four drivers, and I believe almost all of them were 2-4-2 configuration.
Traditional is the name applied to the PW cars from the 50's, smaller than most of the stuff today.
I've never really known what people are talking about when they say semi-scale, it's obviously smaller than scale, but the exact definition escapes me.
Kev, far from there being many names for the same scale, between the Americans and the Europeans and between the toy train aficionados and scale-modeling purists, there are actually several scales called O scale and several gauges called O gauge.
Bob Nelson
gunrunnerjohn Scout was a name applied to inexpensive steamers, I believe all of them had four drivers, and I believe almost all of them were 2-4-2 configuration. Traditional is the name applied to the PW cars from the 50's, smaller than most of the stuff today. I've never really known what people are talking about when they say semi-scale, it's obviously smaller than scale, but the exact definition escapes me.
There you go John, I am with you.
I agree. I know that scouts are small starter sets with cheap engines, I have a few, but the cars that came with them are smaller that say some other cars.
I thought Traditional was the size of the like say the boxcars that were some what larger then even biger was the 1:48th. I will try to post some pictures of what I am talking about.
I will try to make this as simple as I can, working with only boxcars. Okay check out these pictures and tell me what you call them from left to right. #1004 1948-1950 Post war, Last picture. #6656 Stock car 1950 –51 Post War #9040 1971 Modern same size as the 6656 #9446 1981 Modern somewhat bigger. #17202 1990 Modern 1; 48th They all get larger as we go to the right. I don't care about that but what is the right thing to call them? Tks, Kev.
I will try to make this as simple as I can, working with only boxcars.
Okay check out these pictures and tell me what you call them from left to right.
#1004 1948-1950 Post war, Last picture.
#6656 Stock car 1950 –51 Post War
#9040 1971 Modern same size as the 6656
#9446 1981 Modern somewhat bigger.
#17202 1990 Modern 1; 48th
They all get larger as we go to the right. I don't care about that but what is the right thing to call them?
KRM Okay I know what 1:48 scale is I think it is true
Or is it 1:43, or 1:55th, Or 1:50th, and so on and so on???? Or all of these? and what are they called say you are looking at something on E-bay.
That is the question root.
Thanks,
See
Of the cars in the picture you posted, all but the rightmost one would be considered "traditional". "Traditional" was used by Lionel in the MPC era to describe its lower-end offerings and starter sets, versus the higher-end "Collector" line. NOW, however, "traditional" refers to all O-gauge trains that are not true O-scale in their proportions. As you can see, sizes in the traditional line can vary pretty widely! The 9400-series car is the size of the postwar 6464-series cars. These were the "big" boxcars of the postwar era, but still, as you can see, not quite true O-scale.
Lionel uses the term "Standard O" to describe their full O-scale offerings. The brown car on the right is a Standard O car. HOWEVER, there's Standard O and then there's Standard O! Meaning, the level of detail on Lionel's full O scale cars has increased steadily from the mid 90s to today. Your car would be poorly regarded by many O Scale enthusiasts, not because it is undersized, but because it does not have enough extra applied detail.
"Semi scale" was used for a time to describe cars that were true O-scale, but with some non-scale features that allowed them to run on traditional tinplate track. This was originally applied to Lionel's highly-detailed O-scale cars made before WWII to match the 700e Hudson. They were made both with true scale trucks and couplers to run on two-rail track, and also with tinplate trucks, with their oversize wheels and flanges and huge couplers, to be run on regular O-gauge track. The latter were called "semi scale" (whether originally or by collectors later, I'm not sure). Lionel used the term sporadically in modern times, but you rarely hear it anymore. (In a way though, all 3-rail "scale" cars are semi-scale!)
As Bob alluded to, there is more than one version of O scale out there. For trains (at least in the US) 1:48 (1/4" scale) is considered O-scale. Older O-scale trains were often made in 17/64" scale, but this has become uncommon. For die cast cars, O is usually 1:43. But, as you mention, other sizes are available. Speaking of die cast cars, if you are running mostly "traditional" trains, you may want to buy a smaller size car, since your "traditional" O trains are not 1:48 anyway. For reference, S-scale is 1:64, so if you get into that size range, you are getting a little small to be matching with your O(ish) trains.
Under the collecting pull-down menu above, we have a sub-category for beginners. There is an article called Trciky Toy Train Terms that might also help answer questions about the hobby's jargon.
http://ctt.trains.com/Collecting/Beginners.aspx
Bob Keller
I think nickaix nailed it down very well.
I had not realized that three rail wheels were larger than scale.
Of course 031 tubular in particular, and most other track profile is also not scale.
Finally, regarding rolling stock, the real RRs also have a lot of variation in size of their cars. Because of that I generally like to mix different size cars, particularly box cars, because it looks more realistic to me.
runtime
Thanks everyone for the answers. I never knew.
This doen't even touch on the prewar standards or lack there of, of the sizes of O scale trains. But then most were just toys and not intended to be scale models. However they have their own cham to them.
Major This doen't even touch on the prewar standards or lack there of, of the sizes of O scale trains. But then most were just toys and not intended to be scale models. However they have their own cham to them.
Good point!
I've noticed, in browsing my Prewar Doyle Guide, and in what i've observed at shows, that (Lionel at least) Prewar tinplate came in two very different 'sizes' of 'O' gage, not including the late near scale stuff, which is not really tinplaate at all. Yet, I've never read any explanation of this difference. I also find it hard to figure which engines are meant to go with which 'size'.
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