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How do you gauge size?
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Well, here it goes. "Scale" refers to the size of the model train in proportion to a real train and "gauge" is the gauge of the track. Here's a list of the most common scales/gauges going from smallest to largest: <br />Z- 1:220 scale, 6.5mm gauge (about 1/4 of an inch) <br />N- 1:160 scale, 9mm gauge or 0.35 inches <br />TT- 1:120 scale, 12mm gauge (just under half and inch) <br />HO- 1:87 scale, 3/4 of an inch gauge <br />S- 1:64 scale, 5/8 of an inch gauge <br />O- 1:45 scale, 1.25 inch gauge <br />Gauge 1- 1:22.5 scale, 45mm gauge, about 1.75 inches <br />G- 1:32 scale, also 45mm gauge <br />Standard Gauge: close to G and 1 <br /> <br />And if you thought that was confusing, here's more. This is sort of an explaination of why the gauges are what they are. <br /> <br />Back in the 1800's, when the very first toy trains were made, most were floor toys and very few ran on track. If they did run on track, it was usually a grooved type of track, like wooden Brio-type trains run on, except metal. There was no standardization of gauges and even trains by the same manufacturer didn't all run on the same track. Finally, something was done about this around 1890, when the famous German manufacturer Marklin (which is still making trains today!) came out with tinplate sectional track that actually had ties and rails, as well as standardized gauges. They called the gauges 1, 2, 3 and 4 (later even a gauge 5 came out). Soon afterwards, other manufacturers were producing trains and accessories of the same gauges that would be compatible with Marklin's. <br /> <br />Gauge 1 was very large and the higher numbers were even more huge. Marklin realised that there should be a smaller gauge that took up less space and was more affordable. They came out with trains half the size of gauge 1, but since 1 was already taken, they called it gauge zero. Everyone calls it O gauge, however. The bigger gauges were mainly purchased by very wealthy people (many for adults), but were soon fazed out. By WWI, gauges larger than 1 were practically extinct. People realised that you could build a bigger layout with more trains if they were smaller. <br /> <br />In the US, there were many early manufacturers and most of them had different track gauges as well. The first Lionel trains ran on a 2 7/8 inch gauge track. Joshua Lionel Cowen, the founder of Lionel, decided to start making trains that ran on gauge 2 track. The one thing he didn't realize, however, was that in Europe track gauge is measured from the center of one rail to the center of the other, while in North America, it is the distance between the rails. He eventually realized this, but being a clever marketer, called his trains "Standard Gauge", even though they fllowed no standard. (Standard gauge lost popularity around the end of the 1930's and none were made after WWII, although there are some companies making standard gauge trains for collectors.) Soon after, the other major manufacturers like Ives and American Flyer wer also making standard gauge trains. Lionel started making O gauge around 1915 and so did the others. <br /> <br />At this time, most trains were intended as toys for children, rather than scale models. There were some modellers, though and they desired even smaller trains. One very famous British manufacturer that produced more realistic trains at this time was Basset-Lowke. In the 1920's, Henry Greenly of Basset-Lowke came up with an idea for trains that were half the size of O gauge, called OO (pronounced "double oh"). They were to be manufactured by the German company Bing (who made many trains for Basset-Lowke). The scale for these trains would be 3.5mm=1 foot. At that time, the technology wasn't available to make trains that small, so they made them to 4mm=1 foot scale because it would be "close enough". Now Briti***rains are smaller than North American and European ones, so elswhere they didn't have this problem and could produce trains to the correct 3.5mm scale. This was called HO (half O). British OO trains are still made in this scale and run on the same track as North American HO trains. In North America, some modellers wanted to have trains in a 4mm scale, so then came North American OO, which ran on a slightly wider gauge of track. It's popularity pretty much died out by the 1950's. Also, in Britain, there are some modellers who want to have their trains run on the correct gauge of track, so they use EM gauge, which is the proper width for OO scale trains, but this isn't too common. <br /> <br />S gauge was first invented I think in the late 30's, but didn't become popular until after WWII, when American Flyer started making S gauge trains. S gauge is half the size of gauge 1 and in Britain it's called H1 (although, people who use H1 in Britain are VERY scarce). <br /> <br />Also, a word about the scale of O gauge. While the proper scale is 1:45, many are much smaller. If you see O27 that means that it's O gauge track that has a 27 inch diameter curve. These trains are closer to S scale in size. <br /> <br />TT stands for table top and came out in the US in the late 40's. It never really caught on in the US, but became very popular in Europe and still is today. N scale came out in the 60's and Z was later. <br /> <br />In G scale the G stands for gross, German for large. G scale is sometimes referred to as "large scale". A revival in the popularity of big trains came in 1968 when the German toy maker Lehmann came out with LGB (Lehmann Gross Bahn) trains. These used the 1:32 scale. Many other manufacturers soon joned LGB in making G scale trains. <br /> <br />There are other gauges, too, like HOn3, Sn3 and On3. These are models of narrow gauge trains. For example, HOn3 trains are HO scale trains that run on N gauge track. There are even some people doing Zn3! There are also a few weird tiny European narrow gauge trains with different gauges like HOem. <br /> <br />Well, I think that ought to be sufficient to answer your question! <br /> <br />
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