Different scales

[Anonymous]

I'm kinda confuse about the difference between HO HOon3 and on3. Could anyone explain the difference in laymans terms. Thank You Steve

[egmurphy]

In these designations, the first letters indicate the scale that you are working in, in relation to lifesize. HO is 1:87, O is 1:48, N is 1:160, for example. Look here for more info:
http://www.trains.com/Content/Dynamic/Articles/000/000/000/709htshz.asp

Railroads in North America usually run on rails that are 4'-8-1/2" apart (standard gauge). Gauge is the distance between the rails. Some railroads were built with narrower distance between the rails, Narrow Gauge. Typically these rails were 36" or 30" apart. In this case, if you were working in HO scale, but modeling a narrow gauge railroad with rails 3' (36") apart, your designation for gauge/scale would be HOn3 (HO scale, n = narrow gauge, 3 = 3' (36") gauge).


If you're relatively new to the hobby, you might look here for some useful basic info.
http://www.trains.com/story/story_list.asp?idMenuCategory=3&idMenuSubCategory=31&idMenuMinorCategory=3107

Hope this helps.

Regards

Ed

[Anonymous]

Thank you Ed. It helped me out alot. I appreciate it