Model Railroading

Many of us got started with model railroading when we received a small set for Christmas, and the thrill and excitement of that first set stays with many. Model railroading has been called “The Worlds Greatest Hobby,” though undoubtedly there are others that would argue for basket weaving.

Model trains have enlivened the imagination of hobbyists for a long time. It’s a great way to spend your time, and engages many talents. If you desire to go beyond collecting a few locomotives, you will be engaged in design, building, painting, working with small hand tools, and ultimately in creating a world (or at least a part of one) of your own making! There are fewer hobbies where one can say that about it!

Model railroading and model railroad trains have been around since the 1840’s when ‘carpet railways’ came about. Crude replica electric trains began to appear in the late 1900s. Modern model railroad trains often are exact likenesses of a ‘prototype’ locomotive or rail car, and layouts often are built to recreate exact locations and/or time periods.

Model railroad enthusiasts are involved in the hobby in many different ways. Some only collect locomotives, content to view their collection on a shelf, while others may have a small layout they mount to a tabletop and store away when not in use. The most ambitious spend countless hours and money creating large exact scale model railroads, building scenery and buildings from scratch.

Model railroad equipment ranges in size from 1:450 (‘T’ scale, the smallest to date) to 1:4 and larger. Live steam powered ridable models are generally 1:8 scale, these run outdoors. The most popular size is ‘HO’ scale, which is 1:87.1. The distance between tracks in HO is 16.5mm.

There are many sizes of model railroad trains. Size is also referred to as ‘scale,’ sometimes confused with ‘gauge.’ I’ll discuss gauge next. The most popular scales are G (1:22), O (1:48), HO (1:87.1) and N (1:160). Note – in various parts of the world, these scales are slightly different.

G and O scale are in the ‘large scale’ trains category. G scale uses a No. 1 gauge track. This gauge is 45mm between the rails. O scale uses 32mm between the tracks. O scale is sometimes thought of as a ‘toy train’ scale. Lionel trains use the O scale, and they certainly can be as lifelike as any other model train!

HO stands for ‘half of O’ and is half the size of O scale, at 1:87.1, and uses a track gauge of 16.5mm between the rails.

N stands for ‘Nine millimeter’ because this scale train uses 9mm between the rails.

The use of ‘scale’ and ‘gauge’ may be confusing, since many modelers and even article writers tend to use them interchangeably (HO ‘scale’). However, scale and gauge refer to two different aspects of model trains.

Scale refers to the ratio of the model to the prototype (the original). Thus with HO, 1 inch represents 87 inches of the prototype, and with N 1 inch represents 160 inches.

Gauge simply refers to the distance between the track rails.

See – that’s pretty simple, isn’t it!

by Scott Watkins model-train-info.com