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HOn3 - Is it "Scale" or Just "Narrow"?

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  • Member since
    August 2003
  • From: Collinwood, Ohio, USA
  • 16,367 posts
Posted by gmpullman on Thursday, December 22, 2016 2:46 PM

Sometimes the East Broad Top would place narrow gauge trucks under a standard gauge car when time could be saved by not having to trans-load the freight.

http://www.totalracing.com/ebt/stdgauge.htm

I'll have to see if I can find photos of this. They had a large timber crane for lifting the car and swapping the trucks. A cast aluminum coupler adapter was used to make up the coupler height difference.

Mention of THAT would have made your expert red-faced!

Regards, Ed

  • Member since
    February 2008
  • 8,865 posts
Posted by maxman on Thursday, December 22, 2016 2:32 PM

"He is nuts!

Ulrich"

Well, that part is not debateable Smile

 

gmpullman
Without seeing the particular cars he was referring to it's hard to say. HO and HOn3 are the SAME scale, so a door, an automobile or a human figure will be the exact same size. A ratio of 87.1 to 1 or 3.5 mm/foot. The only thing that would change is the distance between the rails.

I agree with this.  Unfortunately when he pointed to the Blackstone boxcar and compared it to the similar kit-built boxcar, the kit-built was physically larger.  So I wasn't able to come up with a reasonable reason why that might be.

 

  • Member since
    August 2011
  • From: A Comfy Cave, New Zealand
  • 6,247 posts
Posted by "JaBear" on Thursday, December 22, 2016 2:06 PM
No expert here, but I would suggest that aforementioned individual has not taken into consideration “Loading Gauge”.
 
Cheers, the Bear.Smile

"One difference between pessimists and optimists is that while pessimists are more often right, optimists have far more fun."

  • Member since
    August 2003
  • From: Collinwood, Ohio, USA
  • 16,367 posts
Posted by gmpullman on Thursday, December 22, 2016 12:44 PM

maxman
So, what is the expert opinion???

Here's the expert opinion...

http://www.nmra.org/beginner/scales

Without seeing the particular cars he was referring to it's hard to say. HO and HOn3 are the SAME scale, so a door, an automobile or a human figure will be the exact same size. A ratio of 87.1 to 1 or 3.5 mm/foot. The only thing that would change is the distance between the rails.

From what I know about Blackstone Models, they are regarded as industry leaders in the narrow gauge field.

Try to sort out the G scale—gauge #1, 1:22.5 or 1:29 or 1:32 so and so! That really gets into some hairy discussions! It all runs on 45mm gauge track.

Regards, Ed

  • Member since
    December 2001
  • From: Northern CA Bay Area
  • 4,387 posts
Posted by cuyama on Thursday, December 22, 2016 12:39 PM

maxman
So he pointed to a bunch of cars, primarily Blackstone, and said that those cars were not protoype cars scaled down to HOn3, but were really cars somewhere between HO and N made to run on HOn3 track.

Totally false.

  • Member since
    April 2003
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Posted by Anonymous on Thursday, December 22, 2016 12:18 PM

He is nuts!

  • Member since
    February 2008
  • 8,865 posts
HOn3 - Is it "Scale" or Just "Narrow"?
Posted by maxman on Thursday, December 22, 2016 12:16 PM

For those who wish to get into another discussion, I was at the club this past week and one individual stated that the cars on the narrow gage were not really HOn3 narrow gage, but just "narrow gage".

I said what do you mean.  So he pointed to a bunch of cars, primarily Blackstone, and said that those cars were not protoype cars scaled down to HOn3, but were really cars somewhere between HO and N made to run on HOn3 track.

Then he pointed to another couple cars, probably Labelle, and said "see, those cars are bigger and are truly scaled down from the prototype.

So, what is the expert opinion???

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