what constitutes scale

[GMTRacing]

As I collect things for my HO layout, I can't help but notice some inconsistancies in what should be one scale. If I compare my old locos (TYCO and Lifelike), they are seemingly "in scale" with my newer rolling stock except for a steam 080 IHC. The cars all seem ok so far, but I have been building both laser/bass kits and Walthers and Atlas, and the porportions of for instance my Atlas signal tower seem all wrong. shouldn't a two story tower be taller than a locomotive? The diesels seem large by comparison, and the 080 switcher positively looms over the tower. I know I didn't buy and build an N scale tower aby mistake. Except by trial and error, how does one determine what will look right? I would have thought at least larger companies would have followed scale dimensions more closely. J.R.[?]

[orsonroy]

Actually, the pieces are quite possibly all exactly in the correct scale. The problem you might be having is in realizing just how HUGE the machinery of railroading really is. I'm 6'2", and can walk under a boxcar bent over. Steam engines were regularly 13 feet tall, and signal towers loom tall over ANY piece of equipment, sometimes 30 feet in the air. Steam engine drivers were often 75", which is taller than I am.

Of everything you've mentioned, the Atlas tower is probably the one piece which may not be scaled properly. It was designed in an age when the small layout dominated, and the general idea back then was that nothing should overshadow the trains (unlike in the real world, where buildings are the largest things around). Any older structure kit is generally suspect in scale, since they were purposely designed to be smaller than life size.

[GMTRacing]

Ray,
Thanks for the reply. I'm not as knowledgeable as you, but I have spent a little time looking at the prototypes, and what you say makes sense. Now that I think of it, when we visited the Danbury rail museum a couple of weeks ago, the one steam loco they had did have huge drivers on it and it did tower over the cars. I probably just need to spend more time reading and observing. regards, J.R.

[orsonroy]

No sweat JR. I'm not really any smarter than anyone else; I just spend a lot of time noodling over these sort of questions! I keep looking at model signals and say to myself, "those seem too tall." I then look at a photo of a N&W Y-6 running past a signal mast that's at least twice as tall as the engine and say, "Why do manufacturers make these signals so short?"

[Jetrock]

Most scale structures tend to be a bit smaller than actual "scale", for the reason stated above--a building built precisely to scale would often look TOO large, and eat up a lot of layout space. Even modern structure kits are designed with this in mind.

[orsonroy]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Jetrock

Most scale structures tend to be a bit smaller than actual "scale", for the reason stated above--a building built precisely to scale would often look TOO large, and eat up a lot of layout space. Even modern structure kits are designed with this in mind.

Not as much as before, JR. The entire line of Branchline house kits are to scale, as are the new Atlas houses. Walthers building kits are approaching scale dimensions, and many modelers are building structure to loom large over their layouts. I love DPM modular components because it's easy for me to build industrial structures that are larger than the boxcars I park next to them!