I’ve always loved British railroading, and have toyed on and off with the idea of building a small side layout set during the last days of BR alongside my main Canadian layout.
I currently don’t own any Brit prototypes but I was thinking that it would not be too much of a reach with my current Canadian layout. One of the things I’ve already added to the rolling stock list is a demonstrator train with a rebuilt F7A (not unlike the final incarnation created by Metro North) pulling several Bombardier bi-level cars in GO Transit scheme. The idea behind this is that the freelanced commuter line Selenian Lines Commission, is trying out new equipment to replace aging older commuter stock.
Under that program it would not be unreasonable, in my mind for the line to try out Brit equipment as well. VIA reciently began using coaches of UK origin for long haul trains in real life as well.
So my question becomes, how horrible would OO-scale DMUs look next to HO-scale commuter trains? Is the size difference really that noticable and, other than couplers what other modifications would I have to make to say Hornby trains to work on my DC layout?
Appearance would depend on how much of a purist you are. If you keep your trains all OO or HO it shouldn’t look too bad. Kind of like O27 and O on the Lionel layouts - trains of O27 and trains of O look okay on the same layout together, but a train of O27 and O cars mixed together looks a little odd. OTOH G gaugers seem to mix and match their scales with abandon.
Because of the difference in loading gauge, British OO on HO track is actually very close to American HO in size. I have the same situation, where HOj (1:80) scale models of Japanese prototypes are not very different from U.S. HO models in ‘bulk’ or clearance dimensions. The only noticeable difference is in door dimensions - and that is only noticeable on equipment with small doors.
Just to clarify it further, OO scale is 4 mm/ft where HO scale is 3.5 mm/ft. The 16.5 mm gauge used by HO corresponds almost exactly to the 4 ft 8 1/2" gauge of the prototype. In OO scale, 16.5 mm gauge represents just over 4 ft. British locos and rolling stock are quite a bit smaller than both Continental European and American and the 16.5 mm gauge doesn’t look out of place. The British modelers actually use 3 different gauges with OO scale. Those are 16.5 mm, most commonly used for what the British call the “proprietary” trade (e.g. Hornby et. al.). The next gauge is 18 mm or EM gauge, which is closer to a proper scale/gauge combination for OO scale since it represents a track gauge of 4’ exactly. Finally there’s Proto4/Scalefour which both use 18.83 mm representing an actual gauge of 4 8 1/2" and whose respective societies have now been combined into a single entity. The British are quite creative in this area as can be seen from this: