Most popular scale?

[mkblk]

[:)] Wow! What a fun thread! [:D] If I had a real life I would have missed all the preceding cool info. [:p] My two bits:

There was a Maine 2 foot gauge railroad that purchased a new loco (I believe from Baldwin) that was naturally designed to run on 2 foot gauge. Well, somebody forgot to transfer the proper dimensions to the tender [:0] . The narrow gauge railroad received a narrow gauge loco with a standard gauge tender! (Boy, I'll bet they could go a looong way before needing to fuel up.) They ran it anyway with 2 foot gauge trucks (at least until it finally flipped off the track and they cut it up). I may be a little off in the details, but the story is in Maine's Two Footers (which I've loaned to a fellow MRR so can't precisely reference here).

As far as answering the question: Most popular scale? I don't think we'll ever know. There are just too many variables. The best part is no matter what scale you're in, model railroading IS fun! [8D]

mk

[grandpopswalt]

Gentlemen,

Since I don't model any particular prototype, It was easy to give my RR a little "history".
Seems that during the great depression a RR equipment manufacturer got stuck with a whole bunch of locos and rolling stock destined for Latin America. The buyer had gone belly up and couldn't take delivery of the equipment. All the stock was made to run on 3'6" track so all the equipment was built correspondingly larger than North American 3'0" stock. Never-the-less the management of my RR bought it all, lock, stock, and barrel at below wholesale, what a deal!

I model in 1:24 to take advantage of the vast supply of autos and trucks in that scale. I also use Bachmann locos and rolling stock exclusively (the best bargin for the buck ). Bachmann is built to a 1:20 scale. But, as mentioned before, my track guage is supposed to be 3'6" so the Bachmann stuff works out just fine, it just looks a little larger than normal 3 foot guage equipment , but then it's supposed to. This concept is usually pretty clear to other RR enthusiests but it gets a little dicey when trying to explain it to the civilians.

Walt

[vsmith]

QUOTE: Originally posted by anniego

So I'm another newbie lurking out here looking for helpful advice after seeing a garden railroad at a show recently. We (I'm the gardener, he's the train guy) want to do a narrow gauge DRGS layout (hubbie grew up in Telluride in the 40's). So, any advice on what to buy as a starter set (or just the engine to get started)? Also, is the conclusion that 1/24 works for narrow gauge so I can use my dollhouse building skills to populate this railroad? Thanks!

Bachmann has issued a 4-6-0 Rio Grande Southern version of their most venerable locomotive. That would be a good place to start. I would recommend to buy the engine seperately, not in a set. The set locos are less detailed than the individual locos.

Also Yes to using 1:24 dollhouse stuff on your layout, theres nothing wrong with that.

[vsmith]

QUOTE: Originally posted by grandpopswalt

Gentlemen,

Since I don't model any particular prototype, It was easy to give my RR a little "history".
Seems that during the great depression a RR equipment manufacturer got stuck with a whole bunch of locos and rolling stock destined for Latin America. The buyer had gone belly up and couldn't take delivery of the equipment. All the stock was made to run on 3'6" track so all the equipment was built correspondingly larger than North American 3'0" stock. Never-the-less the management of my RR bought it all, lock, stock, and barrel at below wholesale, what a deal!

I model in 1:24 to take advantage of the vast supply of autos and trucks in that scale. I also use Bachmann locos and rolling stock exclusively (the best bargin for the buck ). Bachmann is built to a 1:20 scale. But, as mentioned before, my track guage is supposed to be 3'6" so the Bachmann stuff works out just fine, it just looks a little larger than normal 3 foot guage equipment , but then it's supposed to. This concept is usually pretty clear to other RR enthusiests but it gets a little dicey when trying to explain it to the civilians.

Walt

I was planning the same thing, 1/24 scale with a 3'6 gauge.....that was until I tried putting a 1/24 scale figure into a 1/24 scale auto and realized it was like trying to put Shaquil O'Neal into a Austin MiniCooper. Then I put the same 1/24 auto next to my dinky LGB Porter it looked the size of a Hudson next to that car. Arrgh! So I pick up a 1/18 scale car and try again the figure fits perfectly, even looks correct proportianlly and the engine to auto looks way more realistic now for narrow gauge. So now I've revised my scale to 1/20.3 , luckily I was at a point where it was easy to do so. shheeesh, what a guage!

[Anonymous]

Oh, Oh, Mr. Carter, Mr Carter I gotta question! How many rivits should be on Ruby? 32mm, 45mm? Are they on the right track. ? Gentelmen, I mock you not, I stand in awe (yuck) of this question of Proper gauge/scale - is it right question. Total confusion for beginners, madness for everyone else..........For you newcommers, jump on in and have fun laying down some common Aristo Craft track, take a look at some catalogs or better yet visit a shop and pick out a loco that you like and a few pieces of rolling stock. As time goes by you can refine your "scale eye", don't bog down with it right now.......Have fun! For the record, I really like 1:1

[Anonymous]

Hello fellow model railroaders! Is there a website that has pictures that compare the large scale locomotives from 1:32, up to 1:20.3? I'd appreciate the help. Thanks.

[underworld]

Ok......here's some more confusion. Current Marklin large scale trains that run on 45mm track are 1/32. I have some prewar that runs on 45mm 3 rail track. The locomotive and tender from about 1920 appears to be 1/32, the passenger car from about 1917 appears to be a bit small for 1/32, the gepackwagen (baggage car) from about 1906 seems a bit larger than 1/32 and the post wagen also from about 1917 seems a bit larger scale than the gepackwagen. All of these from the same manufacturer from around the same time with this much apparent difference in scale. Oh yeah I also have a cement wagon labeled for the UK market from about the 30's....it does seem to be 1/32. [xx(]

[:D][:D][:D][:D][:D]

underworld