Why do so many European posters call “HO” scale “H0” scale?
Similarly, why do they call it “0” scale or “0n30”?
We do not pronounce it “Aitch-Zero,” but “Aitch-Oh,” so why write it the wrong way?
1/4" scale is pronounced “Oh” scale, not “Zero” scale.
Ideas?
Didn’t 1:48 start out as “zero” scale? If so, then half zero would be H0. Just guessing!
A bigger mystery to me is why MR calls On30 On2-1/2! Everyone else calls it On30. Probably “We are Borg, we do what WE want to”!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HO_scale
Incidentally, not terribly relevant in the context of HO vs H0, but it is fairly common to pronounce zero as “oh”. As in e.g. “oh-five-hundred hours”.
Grin,
Stein
Or my favorite, Oh dark hundred. My honest guess is that this another case of British and American Railroaders being seperated by the common language
Because it’s the correct usage.
Why do so many American posters assume that the rest of the world is out of step?
Because they are![swg]
Mark; I never knew that! Why is it called that?
I wonder why all us Americans got it wrong…[:I]
“In the beginning” there were the 0 (Zero), 1, and 2 scales. As the world grew smaller there was the need for smaller scales, hence the half-size 0 (Zero). Wiki has this little summary of some of the scales: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Model_railroad_scales
And as someone else said: zero is very often refered to as “OH” and I think that’s the easy explanation to the H-OH pronunciation.
Per
As for why 0n2-1/2 in Kalmbach land when everyone else uses 0n30, I think that there was an editorial decision made that the ‘off’ gauges would always be expressed in feet and fractions. I suppose an accurate model of an Irish Railways prototype would be (fill in scale of choice)w5-1/4. (X)w63 would make just as much sense.
As for me, I will continue to model in HOj (1:80 scale, 16.5mm gauge representing 1067mm gauge) and HOjn762 (1:80 scale, 10,5mm gauge representing 762mm gauge.)
Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
Hmm. I had always thought “zero” scale was actually 1:43.5 rather than 1:48 and that we Americans futzed around and made it 1:48 to make it “easier” to work with. IIRC, Continental Europe uses 1:45 for 0 scale, while the Brits use 1:43.5 (or 7 mm/ft). 1:87 is exactly half of 1:43.5, hence H0 (even if we Yanks do pronounce the zero as “Oh” as in Highway one Oh one). Incidentally, LGB’s scale of 1:22.5 is exactly twice the Euro scale for 0 scale. However, LGB uses 45 mm gauge track which scales out at around meter gauge which is a common European narrow gauge. 45 mm gauge is also used for 1 scale (1:32) standard gauge.
The proper gauge for 1:48 is something like 1.177" whereas 1.25" (which actually scales out to 5 scale feet ) is what is actually used unless you’re into Proto48 in which case you’re back to 1.177".
Andre
A century or more ago Marklin made trains in three gauges: No.1,2 and 3 with No.1 being the smallest (1-3/4ths of an inch - what LGB uses now). When they developed a smaller gauge of trains (1-1/4th of an inch) they had to call it 0 as in zero or zed.
I believe the correct scale dimension based on O gauge track is 17/64ths = 1 foot, or 1:45 scale. In the US we found 1/4"=1 foot, or 1:48 scale, easier to use. In Europe, 7mm=1ft or 1:43.55 scale, was easier for them to use.
Since in Europe they used 7mm=1ft for 0 scale, when they (I think Marklin again) made a size half that big it became 3.5mm=1ft. “Half 0” or H0 scale. Since most other gauge/scale sizes now are letters (N, Z, S) many folks started to call 0 scale “O scale” and H0 “HO”.
I think your reasoning is correct Chuck but it doesn’t alter the fact that MR is clearly wrong. Consider H0n3 or 0n3, the gauge used is appropriate to the scale. If MR is to be consistent then 0n2 1/2 should be modelled to .625 gauge not .650. 0n30 is a collective name that represents 2ft to 3ft prototype models running on .650 gauge track for modelling convenience.
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Why is it “correct”?
Wikipedia says: “HO scale (H0 scale in continental Europe) is the most popular scale of model railway in most of the world (outside the United Kingdom, where the slightly larger 00 gauge is most common). The name is derived from the fact that its 1:87 scale is approximately half that of O scale, hence H0 or ‘half zero’.”
BUT…“O Scale” is Not “Zero Scale.” It is “Oh-Scale.” So how does half-of-oh = “aitch-zero”?
It is correct because the original scale designations were numbers, not letters - No.1 gauge, No.2 gauge, and so on. What is now commonly known in English-speaking countries as “O” gauge was originally known as “0” gauge, as in zero or nought. Previous posts in the thread have explained this. Did you not read them?
As explained, people use the terms “O” and “0” interchangeably. “O” scale was zero scale to start with. Usage changes with time, what is commonly used is not always strictly correct.
And please, if you want to support your opinion with facts, you need to cite something a little more reliable than Wikipedia… [:D]
Cheers,
Mark.
I used Wikipedia because another poster suggested I read the entry.
And, please, your high-handed attitude is not needed nor appreciated.
So you did read the other posts in the thread? Then why argue the toss over O/0?
I have a “high-handed attitude”, do I? Is that because I corrected your initial mistake, or quite reasonably pointed out the fact that Wikipedia isn’t always the most reliable source of information?
When you start name-calling, it shows you have no valid argument.
Mark.