I was recently embarassed by being asked how rr scales originated - HO, O, OO, N, e.g. Although I am acquainted with the varying track widths of each I have no idea how these designations originated. Any help will spare me from further embarassment. Cheers, Duane Ellison
To confuse you even further, some scales run on different gauges of track(HO, HOn3, HOn2 1/2, etc), and some gauges of track support different model scales (O gauge supports O scale models, also American Flyer made 3/16" scale trains for O gauge track).
Duane=A0Ellison wrote: I was recently embarassed by being asked how rr scales originated - HO, O, OO, N, e.g. Although I am acquainted with the varying track widths of each I have no idea how these designations originated. Any help will spare me from further embarassment. Cheers,
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Bill Bill's Railroad Empire N Scale Model Railroad:
Maerklin made the leap from selling non-expandable train sets to railway systems in 1891. The gauges were 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5. from smallest to largest. In 1900 they released "0" gauge. At that time the gauges were measured rail center to rail center with the rail head being 3mm(1/8") wide, so 0 gauge was 35mm and later 32mm between the rails.
Because Ma hadn't allowed for notation of even smaller gauges, each new one since has had to have a snappy title which may or may not have any meaning.
HO is of course Half 0, TT is Table Top, N is nine (millimeters) in most European languages, Z is the last letter of the alphabet.
I've got nothing against Lego trains -- I have a few acquaintances (actually my 20yo son's adult friends) who are into it, and regularly take modules to train shows -- but I'd hardly call it a "scale". Seems more in the toy train category (not that there's anything
*wrong* with toy trains, says he quickly, trying to appear all liberal and broad-minded ;-).
My guess is the NMRA sees Lego as a way to get youngsters interested in the hobby, so that it doesn't die out c.2050.
The toy train designations began as _track gauges_ and in some cases are still used that way. Today the designations are generally thought of as _scales_ by modellers and sales tools by manufacturers.
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