I remembered that a significant amount of Brazilian railroading is 5'3" Irish gauge, and there is a pretty well developed modeling community there. One approach there is to retain the HO proportions (English to metric) but to use "HOb" gauge in the track -- 18.2mm. I do not know the extent to which manufacturers make things like flex or sectional track in HOb, but would expect at least some market for it in areas this gauge would be modeled.
There is an active group of Civil War era modelers, at least one of whom uses finescale (P:87) components for track and wheels but at 17.5mm gauge.
Surely there is a community of modelers in India who work in their broad gauge and come here to read about 'the craft'...
LastspikemikeRussia adopted 5' to ensure German locomotives dropped between their rails at the border.
In partial defense, the idea that Russia preserved 5' to make invasion more difficult was widely promulgated, so it's not surprising to see it repeated. It's just that it ain't so in real life.
What you may be thinking of is some Russian military standards, notably gun caliber, where the Russian bore is just slightly larger than common "enemy" spec -- this would allow Russian guns to fire captured ammunition, but enemy guns to jam (or worse) if the opposite were tried.
Lastspikemike SeeYou190 - - Russia adopted 5' to ensure German locomotives dropped between their rails at the border. This is absolutely 100% untrue. The adoption of the 5 foot gauge in the Soviet Union, and previously Russia, predates the German advance to their borders, and any aggression between the two countries by decades. Prior to Barbarossa, the Soviet Union did not directly border Germany (controlled/occupied territory). How would a DB locomotive drop through the rails anyway? Are you under the impression that they butt-connected the two gauges? Did you think the Soviet Union reguaged all their equipment to 60" in the Summer of 1941 when Germany invaded? Seriously. Really? -Kevin Wow. I'm fairly sure a bit if dynamite would have been more effective than a 3.5 in gauge gap. You recall the other World War? And the Franco-Prussian War? And the Crimean War?
SeeYou190 - - Russia adopted 5' to ensure German locomotives dropped between their rails at the border. This is absolutely 100% untrue. The adoption of the 5 foot gauge in the Soviet Union, and previously Russia, predates the German advance to their borders, and any aggression between the two countries by decades. Prior to Barbarossa, the Soviet Union did not directly border Germany (controlled/occupied territory). How would a DB locomotive drop through the rails anyway? Are you under the impression that they butt-connected the two gauges? Did you think the Soviet Union reguaged all their equipment to 60" in the Summer of 1941 when Germany invaded? Seriously. Really? -Kevin
- - Russia adopted 5' to ensure German locomotives dropped between their rails at the border.
This is absolutely 100% untrue.
The adoption of the 5 foot gauge in the Soviet Union, and previously Russia, predates the German advance to their borders, and any aggression between the two countries by decades. Prior to Barbarossa, the Soviet Union did not directly border Germany (controlled/occupied territory).
How would a DB locomotive drop through the rails anyway? Are you under the impression that they butt-connected the two gauges?
Did you think the Soviet Union reguaged all their equipment to 60" in the Summer of 1941 when Germany invaded? Seriously. Really?
-Kevin
Wow. I'm fairly sure a bit if dynamite would have been more effective than a 3.5 in gauge gap.
You recall the other World War?
And the Franco-Prussian War?
And the Crimean War?
Germany was not a combatant in the Crimean War.
Alton Junction
Well, for a while American Flyer (circa 1940) made S scale trains that ran on O gauge track. This would be 6'8" - pretty close to the 7' 1/4" Great Western.
Lionel over the years made some of their locomotives to scales smaller than 1:48 - some that were 1:64 (S scale).
So get some of those 1:64 Lionel locomotives. Swap the trucks on the current American Flyer freight and passenger cars. And you're in business with wide gauge.
Paul
This photo is Sri Lanka. Broad gauge modeling looks interesting, but all modelers in that area seem to use only standard gauge.
http://works-k.cocolog-nifty.com/page1/2015/06/post-5a8c.html
Map showing track gauges in Australia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rail_gauge_in_Australia#/media/File:Cross-section_of_Australian_triple-gauge_track.png
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rail_gauge_in_Australia
I tried to sell my two cents worth, but no one would give me a plug nickel for it.
I don't have a leg to stand on.
- -Russia adopted 5' to ensure German locomotives dropped between their rails at the border.
Living the dream.
BEAUSABREIs anyone daring enough to model Great Western's 7 foot 1/4 inch gauge (please, in the name of all the saints in heaven, why, oh why, 1/4 inch!)
Remember that the original point of the broad gauge was to put the wheels all the way on the outside of the train -- whether or not this would have eventually gotten around to Breitspurbahn-level overhangs with the wheels under the lateral quarter-points of the equipment is an interesting question to consider, but in the absence of separately journaled wheels this would result in interesting minimum mainline curvature.
Much more interesting would be an Erie and associated systems (perhaps under Gould or the van Sweringens if the different standard had persisted) built out to what would have been a larger loading gage but still comparatively close track centers.
What would have been well and truly more interesting would be Joseph Ramsey's 'new' railroad following 1903, built out at 6' gauge with appropriate clearance for the (very substantial) earthworks, with an incentive for connections both to the east and west. There is something I've always thought a little compelling about a train that not only made Chicago in under 10 hours but did it with interior accommodations more common to ship scale than plain old trains... while retaining the ability to operate ordinary equipment either with wider truck exchange or gauge adjustment, or on specialty cars...
Incidentally most O scalers are modeling broad gauge... <ducks for cover>
Probably the finest -- and perhaps the best financially-supported -- example of broad gauge, modeled or not:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUERtAe73NI
That 14 inch was supposed to be a quarter inch....sorry
BEAUSABREEveryone knows that narrow gauge modelers form a large subgroup of our hobby...
A subgroup? - Yes. Large???
https://tstage9.wixsite.com/nyc-modeling
Time...It marches on...without ever turning around to see if anyone is even keeping in step.
Everyone knows that narrow gauge modelers form a large subgroup of our hobby - but what about WIDE gauge modelers...after all a substantial portion of the world operates on five foot or above
"Broad gauge is the dominant gauge in countries in Indian subcontinent, the former Soviet Union (CIS states, Baltic states, Georgia and Ukraine), Mongolia and Finland, Spain, Portugal, Argentina, Chile and Ireland.
And the Erie and Lackawanna were wide gauge in their eary days - not to mention the ante-bellum South
Is anyone daring eough to model Great Western's 7 foot 14 inch gauge (please, in the name of all the saints in heaven, why, oh why, 14 inch!)