The Many Scales Of Model Railroading

Modelers have many scales to select from when building their model railroad layout. Scale refers to the ratio between prototype and model. For example, on an HO Scale or 1:87 model railroad layout, rolling stock, scenery and buildings will be 1/87 the size of the prototype, or real life size.

The most popular model railroad scale today is HO Scale, or 1:87. The smaller scales are N scale (1:160) and Z scale (1:220) and are ideal scales to use where you have a limited amount of space in which to build your layout. On an N scale layout everything would be 1/160 the size of full scale, and on a Z scale layout, things would be 1/220 the size of full scale. The smaller scales call for better vision and hand eye coordination when assembling buildings and working on rolling stock.

The larger model railroad scales are S Scale (1:64), O scale (1:48) and G scale (1:24). Many of the old Lionel trainsets of the 50's and 60's were O scale, and today O scale is still a very popular scale in model railroading. G scale is known as Garden Scale and is extremely popular for outdoor model railroad layouts where it is easy to keep the natural scenery in proportion to the rolling stock.

For those who like to model G scale, several Garden Railroad Clubs can be found across the country. The best part of garden railroads is that it's a hobby that both husband and wife can enjoy. One can tend to the railroad while the other tends to the plants. Some garden centers have even started to carry plants and shrubs specifically for the garden railroader.

The term scale and gauge do not have the same meaning. Scale refers to the size of objects in proportion to their prototype. Gauge refers to the distance between the rails. Most scales model standard gauge track. Standard gauge railroads are those whose rails are 4 feet 8 and one half inches apart.

Some modelers prefer to model narrow gauge railroads, or 3 foot gauge. This is done by using a combination of gauges and scales. If you modeled narrow gauge in HO scale, you would be modeling HOn3, where the "n" means narrow gauge and the "3" means 3 foot gauge track. The 10.5mm gauge track one would use in HOn3 is narrower than if you were using HO scale track.

You can also model O scale, N scale and S scale as narrow gauge. They are called On3, Nn3 and Sn3. Again, the only thing that differentiates them from their parent scale is the use of narrow gauge track. It is possible to use 30" gauge track (30 inches between the rails) and 2' gauge track (24" between the rails). Some popular scale/gauge combinations are On30 and On2.

Park rides and live steam layouts use large scales and gauges such as 1:12, 1:8 and even 1:4. A popular gauge for live steam and miniature railroads is 7.5 inch gauge.