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Standard Gauge scale question

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Standard Gauge scale question
Posted by AF1963 on Sunday, April 22, 2012 8:43 PM

I bought a standard gauge MTH Lionel Tinplate in December and it is beautiful. My first experience with both standard gauge and digital electronics as well. I would like to build a station. What is the approximate scale to use? In other words: how many feet in real life would be represented per inch on the model? I can not find this information any where. Thanks.

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Posted by rtraincollector on Sunday, April 22, 2012 9:03 PM

I'm with you basically I found the following

Standard Gauge, also known as Wide Gauge, was an early model railway and toy train rail gauge, introduced in the United States in 1906 by Lionel Corporation.[1] As it was a toy standard, rather than a scale modeling standard, the actual scale of Standard Gauge locomotives and rolling stock varied. It ran on three-rail track whose running rails were 2 18 in (53.975 mm) apart.

now lets take it a little further I also found

G = 1:22.5

O= 1:45 ( I always heard 1:43,1:48, and 1:50 )

with that being said I would guess that Standard would be in the middle somewhere as it is bigger than O but smaller than G but also I never considered it to scale. but I would guess about 1:34 another way I guess would be take an old Standard gauge building or crossing lights and go from there with a measurement but even those aren't to scale to my knowledge.

Life's hard, even harder if your stupid  John Wayne

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Posted by lionelsoni on Sunday, April 22, 2012 9:04 PM

I think that not much scale modeling was ever done for that gauge.  But the scale that matches the gauge of 2 1/8 inches is 1/26.6 .

Bob Nelson

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Posted by lionelsoni on Monday, April 23, 2012 8:50 AM

The European O scale, 1/45, is the correct one if you use 32-millimeter gauge track to represent prototype standard gauge (1435 millimeters or 56.5 inches).

The British O scale, 1/43.5, results from their custom of describing a scale as so-many millimeters per foot, in this case, 7 millimeters per foot.  It is the O that HO (3.5 millimeters per foot) is half of.  It corresponds to a 33-millimeter track gauge.

The American O scale, 1/48, results from our custom of describing a scale as so-many inches per foot, in this case, 1/4 inch per foot.  It corresponds to a 1.177-inch track gauge, which is what the Proto-48 scale modelers use.  The 1.25-inch (31.75-millimeter) gauge that we use corresponds to a prototype gauge of 5 feet, which happens to be correct for the Lionel "General" locomotives.

I don't know that 1/50 is used for model railroading, although it is common for other kinds of scale models.

Bob Nelson

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Posted by cheapclassics on Monday, April 23, 2012 9:58 AM

Good morning all,

Standard gauge "scale" is a hard one to figure.  Part of it depends on what size engines and rolling stock you are using.  With 500 series cars and smaller engines, 1/32 works well.  For 200 series cars and larger engines such as the 400E, a larger scale might be better such as 1/29 and 1/24 from the Garden Scale bunch.  I have found LEGOs work well for me in maing buildings, and if you can find them, American Brick sets from the 50s and 60s.  You can use postwar Erector sets for some structures as well.

Keep on training,

Mike C. from Indiana

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Posted by Bob Keller on Monday, April 23, 2012 1:12 PM

These were toys that were probably built to be played with toys of similar size.

Beyond the width of the rail, I think the next major size consideration was 'could a kid lift it?' not relative scale to a prototypical design. So I think "if it looks okay" is a suitable rule of thumb here.

Bob Keller

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Posted by overlandflyer on Tuesday, April 24, 2012 6:12 PM

rtraincollector

... now lets take it a little further I also found

G = 1:22.5

O= 1:45 ( I always heard 1:43,1:48, and 1:50 )

you're mixing apples and oranges here...

G scale of 1:22.25 is based on 45mm  track (#1 gauge) being 1meter gauge in prototype.  the two most recognized scales for 45mm gauge track are Fn3 (15mm scale (1:20.3) for 3' narrow gauge) and LS (3/8" scale (1:32) for American standard 56.5" gauge) also referred to as #1 scale.

O scale of 1:45 is based on 1.25" track (O gauge) being the American standard gauge of 56.5" in prototype.  but again the more recognized standards are 1/4" scale (1:48), the grandfathered standard that basically accepts the 0.073" error in 1.25" gauge track, and 1:43 which in essence says that if HO is an accurate scale, why not just double it.

 

as to the original question, almost everything in prewar O and Std Gauge was compressed, though more in length and depth than height.  i only have two Std gauge stations, one Lionel and one Flyer, with doorway heights of 2.75 - 3" tall.  in Standard gauge it's always argued that a track gauge of 2.125" should relate to a scale of 1:27, but if you look at a Std gauge locomotive head on and compare it to a modern prototype scale model, you can immediately see that Standard gauge (if scaled up to real proportions) was based on a very wide gauge track.  if you scaled down a 50' boxcar to Std gauge at 1:27, they would be close to 2' long.  a 1:27 person (2 2/3" tall for a 6' man), would look quite large next to most Std gauge accessories or standing in a 3" doorway.

any station you build for Standard gauge will unfortunately be doomed to ultimately look both too small and too large at the same time, but probably the best advice is to keep proportions consistent.

cheers...gary

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Posted by wjstix on Friday, May 4, 2012 5:01 PM

Does anyone know what scale figures (looks to be Prieser) that Tom Snyder had on his Standard Gauge layout?? They looked right to me next to the trains and buildings in the "Celebrity Toy Train Layouts" DVD. (My guess is 1:32 scale.)

 

northjersey.com

Stix

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