1/55 scale is alive and kicking in the UK - it was introduced as a commercial NG scale/guage in the mid 1960s by now largely defunct British kit manufacturer GEM. At the time their models were of Welsh 2ft -2ft3in guage prototypes so they used the then smallest commercial size TT (12mm guage) as a source for mechanisms, wheels and track.
Members of the 55mil Association use the scale today to model both 2ft-2ft3in using 12mm track and 3ft prototypes using 16.5mm track - one member even models standard guage trams (traction) using scratch built track - though I've never fully understood why! But there again he models traction .....
There is a Yahoo group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/55NG/ . The founding member also runs a small scale business making castings (figures, 2ft guage kits, etc) and etchings for the scale - and also has a white metal casting service for members of the Association. There are a couple of other British "cottage industry" type manufacturers that do some parts and etchings for the scale. However be warned you have to do a lot of scratch building which is one reason I am no longer actively modelling in the scale.
boxcar_jim However be warned you have to do a lot of scratch building which is one reason I am no longer actively modelling in the scale.
However be warned you have to do a lot of scratch building which is one reason I am no longer actively modelling in the scale.
If you look at my website Scale55 requires hardly any scratchbuilding. Most everything can come from another scale.
The Bachmann On30 2-8-0 represents a three foot consolidation from the early 1900's as-is in 55n3. Here shown with a Baldwin Catalog 10-30-E 2-8-0. Except for the Ten-Wheeler most of the Bachmann On30 equipment is suitable as 55n3.
Oversize HO structures are the right size or with a few mods scale out to Scale55;
The "HO" LifeLike stockpen can be used unmodified in Scale55.
55n3 is the only way to represent THREE foot narrow gauge ecomonically
Harold
Found a locomotive that matches the On30 2-8-0 in 55n3:Most of the On30 Bachmann locomotives will work in 55n3 if you are modeling post 1900 narrow gauge. The ten-wheeler is too large. The Mogul with a few Bowser parts will make a great 55n3 2-8-0. All that needs is the domes lowered.Harold
hminky boxcar_jim However be warned you have to do a lot of scratch building which is one reason I am no longer actively modelling in the scale. If you look at my website Scale55 requires hardly any scratchbuilding. Most everything can come from another scale
If you look at my website Scale55 requires hardly any scratchbuilding. Most everything can come from another scale
This is where we are probably going to disagree - there are people within the UK Association who have similar opinions - alter items from other scales. I don't agree with them either. If you are going to build in 1/55 scale - build in 1/55 scale.
An On30 loco is still an O scale engine in all aspects except the compromise in track guage (either plus or minus 6 scale inches). By saying - change the domes and some details I'm sorry but you don't have a 1/55 scale model - you'd need to change an awful lot more than that to end up with a scale model of the same locomotive. Sure you can use components, wheels or even complete chassis designed for HO or On30 - but you've got a lot of building ahead if you want a scale model. It strikes me you are focusing on the track guage as being the most important measurement, to me other issues are just if not more important. This is why I accept the compromise of modelling 2ft guage Maine prototypes in HO scale using 9mm guage track - HOn30. The availablity of N wheel sets, and tried and tested mechanisms coupled with improved stability and reliability out weighs the issue of track being 2mm wide over scale.
However, that is not to say that 5.5mm scale isn't a vaild scale - for example I buy the size argument - if you want something larger than HO that is. There is a lot more detail possible in a smaller space - this is of course both a blessing and a curse - an omitted detail in a larger scale becomes much more obvious.
As an example of how 5.5mm scale can look better than smaller scales here is a pic I took of a small 1/55 scale diorama I built representing a Welsh industrial line - there is no way N or HO figures could ever look this realistic (the figures are 28mm wargaming figures suitably altered).
Correct gauge is the most important component, it is the only stationary component on the layout. HOn30 works because there is very little correct HO two foot. On30 doesn't look right for two foot because it ain't two feet same as On30 for three foot. If you can't see the difference you should take up knitting.
55n3 is based on "Objects aren't "N, HO...S, O, etc. SCALE". An object is what it measures." If you take scale drawings and measure the parts on the Bachmann On30 models they match real componet sizes. The air pump on the On30 Bachmann 2-8-0 matches the Pruitt drawing air pump on the C&S #74 in Ferrell's Silver San Juan. Most Baldwin equipment was made proportionally. They scaled the components up and down.
The Bachmann On30 Mallet matches the standard gauge Caspar Lumber Company #5 "Trojan". All the components are Scale55. Except for a difference in gauge and a different cab it is the same loco mechanically.
That is how Scale55 rolls.
Here is another conversion applicable to 55n3: http://tumbledowncreek.com/www/K-27_.html Harold