Bachmann’s On30 line is great; what would be the gauge of HO track in S scale? What would be the “scale” of the On30 equipment in S scale?
16.5mm/25.4mm/(3/16) = guage in scale feet
16.5mm in HO standard guage
25.4mm to a inch
S scale is 3/16" to a foot
(1/4)/(3/16)= O scale relative to S scale.
O scale is 1/4" to a foot.
S scale is 3/16" to a foot
HO track in S scale is 42" (3 1/2’). A number of early narow gauge modelers used it for the the 3’ prototypes in this country as they could also use HO trucks and loco mechanisms. With the good support commercially of Sn3, this has pretty much faded away here. It is popular in Australia and New Zealand where there were (still are?) railroads build to this gauge. Also, many railroads in Africa used and still use this gauge.
I haven’t measured the On30 cars, but from eyeballing them, they appear to be too wide and probably too tall for S narrow gauge.
If you want to get into S narrow gauge, check out what is already available.
The site http://www.nasg.org is the National Association of S Gaugers. They have a links page to different manufacturers in S.
Enjoy
Paul
I have seen references to Sn 3 1/2 where S scale uses HO track.
Paul/Iron Rooster is correct about NZ and Australian railroads being in this gauge. In this country (USA that is) I think some construction or quarry railroads used the gauge (not concerned about interchange) and I seem to recall at least one city trolley system used it.
Dave Nelson
The gauge of the San Francisco cable cars is 42".
I believe some Canadian railroads used 42" gauge, too. IIRC, they were in the Maritime provinces.
Gary
The province of Newfoundland, Canada, used 42" gauge for many years until CN closed down operations in 1989. Incoming freight cars from the mainland either had their 48’ trucks exchanged for 42" trucks , or their loads were transferred from standard gauge cars to the local narrow gauge cars.
I am currently modeling CN Newfoundland in Sn42 (S Scale equipment using HO track).
Looks great and a whole lot more to do!
Andrew
Yes, the use of HO scale track with S scale models is popular in Australia, especially here in Queensland where our main rail network (Queensland Rail) is built to a gauge of 3 1/2’. There’s always at least one layout of this particular scale/gauge combination at most of the shows that I go to.