Hello, I have been collecting and operating O Gauge trains for quite a while now and enjoy the CTT forum very much. Recently I began to dabble in Standard Gauge. Would Standard Gauge topics be an appropriate topic here and if so, do any forum members collect or run Standard Gauge?
I don’t ever remember CTT Magazine ever covering anything in Standard Gauge(the heading on the Magazine states “O and S gauge for the operator and collector”). However the heading at the beginning of the forum states:
"Interested in O gauge, S gauge, and Standard gauge toy trains? Are you a fan of Lionel, MTH, American Flyer, and other brands of toy trains made today and in the past? If so, the Classic Toy Trains Toy train operating and collecting forum is just for you. "
Yes, Standard Gauge would be an appropriate topic for this Forum which feature the trains of Lionel, American Flyer, Marx, and just about all model trains originally made to be toys whether they are today or not.
Unfortunately Standard Gauge, if we are talking about the larger pre war tinplate trains made by Lionel and others, is slowly loosing out in popularity as the older collectors who grew up with them pass on. Baby Boomers like myself grew up with O trains and that is what we tend to collect. Magazines like CTT tend to reflect the interests of their subscribers so the subjects of the of articles tend to reflect that. I do see occasional SG articles in CTT. They tend to appear during the holidays when Grandpa’s old trains come out for their annual appearance. Mikes is also making some fine SG reproductions but I suspect it’s a very small market.
It’s a normal experience for adults to want to collect and have the trains they wanted as children. Alas, I fully expect my son to one-day subscribe to the yet to be created Kalmbach publication, “Classic video games” were I expect the feature story will be something like, ‘Restoring your N64 controllers’.[:D]
I’d say 40% of my collection is Standard Gauge Tinplate. I have Std. Ga. from Lionel, MTH, McCoy and CMT. My Lionel Std. Ga. No. 5 Special is now over 100 years old and still runs.
Thanks Bob for the information,
For many years now I’ve been collecting O gauge and reading CTT Magazine. Since I wasn’t into Standard Gauge, I must have been ignoring the Standard Gauge articles. I’ll have go back and find the articles.
Absolutely! The interest may not be there to the degree that it is with O or S gauge, but hey, they’re toys, even if they were any bigger you’d need a ticket to ride 'em! Certainly not a taboo subject.
I must echo and emphasize what Firelock76 wrote. To me, standard gauge is the epitome of toy trains. Although most of my collection is with the smaller pieces in that gauge, there is nothing like the rumble of steel wheels on 2-1/8" gauge track. From an investment standpoint, there are better options, but for an operator this is the best of times. Less than pristine old models can be had for prices much lower than when I got started, and MTH has done a remarkable job keeping new items with wonderful technology at a reasonable price.
To those who say Standard Gauge is dieing, I say oh-contrair monfrair! [:D] Conventional wisdom does say that since the kids who played with sg are passing on, the interest in it should be diminishing right along side. But the reality is the opposite.
For example, I was born in 69, WAY late for the golden age of prewar trains and too late for the golden age of postwar trains as well. But I love the trains from both of those eras just as much (and maybe even more) than the MPC and modern era trains of my lifetime. They’re tough, innovative, exciting and most of all reliable. And besides that, I can fix trains from those eras unlike the uber-siliconized trains that dominate today’s marketplace. Ever make a “Lottery list”? A list of all the trains and other stuff you’d buy if you ever finally won the lottery? Well, mine is topped by the Lionel Broadway Limited of 1932. That’s a 392E pulling the Stephen Girard cars. It’s been the train of my dreams since I first heard of it’s existence. It would just be a question of whether to go after an original Lionel set on Ebay (which could take years) or buy one of the excellent MTH reproductions. And thanks to books, magazines, train shows and generous collectors there’s A LOT of people out there who like me fell in love with Standard Gauge the first time they saw what it was all about.
So I’d give the original question a resounding YES! [Y] If this isn’t the place to discuss Standard Gauge (which I do all the time) I don’t know what is! [:D]
Yea…what she said! As I was born in 70 I too missed the golden yrs. but love the SG trains. I figure the future will have me running postwar and MPC era trains while my high priced legacy engines will make beautiful shelf queens. My “lottery” train? A standard gauge Blue Comet. All the Norfolk Southern heritage engines wouldn’t hurt either though.
Probably never happen but a standard gauge Polar Express would be wonderful! Would not have to be a 2-8-4, but something more than 2-4-0 would be great. Hmm. Lionel does have Hudson drive train tooled.
Not that I would want to discourage any ideas, but a plastic body and standard gauge just would not appeal to me. However if that would be the only way to get it done, it might be ok. Who knows? At least it is good to discuss the possibility.
If you’re handy you could probably make it work. Standard gauge and G scale seem to be very, very close, although I think Standard’s just a little bit bigger.
Or, someone could take an MTH 400E repro and with some clever repainting and redressing make a Polar Express out of it. It’s a replica anyway, so there wouldn’t be any harm.
I’ll appologize in advance if I misspell a lot, I went to the eye doctor today and my eyes at 8:15 pm are still very dilated.
Anyhoo. The problem with comparing Standard Gauge to G Scale, Large scale or Gauge One is very similar to comparing any prewar train (except for very few) to later models. “Scale” is a misnomer for all Standard Gauge trains. (It’s been one of my pet peeves for years that ebay’s catagory is “Standard Scale” rather than “Standard Gauge”.) The 700E Hudson was the first true scale locomotive to be mass produced and it didn’t come along until Standard Gauge was falling out of favor (because of both cost and the large amount of space required for a decent layout, not because it wasn’t awesome! [:D]).
Now, I don’t own any big expensive Standard Gauge locos like the 392E, 400E, 408E or 381E. All I’ve ever had was the shell of a #33 and my Supermotored #8. But I know from books, magazines and catalogs that a 381E could eat my #8 for lunch and still have space left over for a few O gauge locos for desert! [(-D] So with that in mind, here’s how my little #8 compares with a Lionel Large Scale NYC Atlantic:
There’s some evidence that Lionel considered using the #8 shell for the O gauge 256 btw, although it would have dwarfed even their 810 series freights.
So, it’s hard to say which is biggest. I’ve seen 400Es, 392Es, 381Es and many others at train shows where I’ve also seen G Scale Pacifics, Mikados, Hudsons and Challengers. Which was bigger? No clue and I doubt anyone would have let me put them side by side to find out. But I’d love to see a 400E next to a G Scale Hudson to find out!
I think for a true “apples to apples” comparison, a 392 has the same wheel arrangement as an Atlantic, so that could be your best bet for a side by side view. As Becky noted, standard gauge was not a scale, but a track width. G gauge is somewhat the same, but there are various scales that run on the same track. I think the range there is from 1:22.5 to 1/32. Standard gauge ran the gamut from 110 series freight cars to 14" long American Flyer Wide Gauge, and a bigger disparity in engine size. This is a good topic and nice to see some lively discussion.
