OK, now we are getting somewhere. Good info, guys. Keep it coming.
Rich
This has already been said, but this is how I distinguish scale and gauge.
Gauge is how far in between the rails. Examples are Standard Gauge, and 3ft Gauge.
Scale is the relationship to the full size thing, expressed in a ratio, such as 1:48, comparing one actual thing to several model things. (1 full size foot is 48 scale feet.)
So, O is a scale, but On3 is a gauge, being O scale trains on 3ft gauge track.
I’m not an expert, but that is how I think of these things.
Yep, essentially, that is how I think of it too and how I refer to it.
Rich
“So, O is a scale, but On3 is a gauge, being O scale trains on 3ft gauge track.”
On2/30/3 are still O scale as well as a gauge.In other words in North America while they are all different gauges (24" 30" & 36" ) they are all still 1:48 scale.The same thing applies to all of the scales in standard or narrow gauges the scale remains constant while the gauge does not.
The recent boom in On30 I think has confused things a bit, because it’s often described as “O scale trains running on HO gauge track”. That’s because HO gauge track happens to work out to about 30" between the rails in 1:48 scale, so it’s easy to build a narrow-gauge layout using all the available HO standard gauge track products. But an On30 layout is O scale, narrow gauge, not HO scale or HO gauge.
Think of it this way…if someone says he models “Colorado three-foot gauge”, he’s telling me what real trains he’s interested in…but not what scale he models in. If he’s then says he’s in “On3” he’s saying first his scale, O scale (1:48 scale); then the “n” indicates he models narrow gauge equipment, then the “3” tells us what narrow gauge he’s modelling - 3’ gauge. In other words the first part tells me what scale he models in, the second part tells me what narrow gauge the real trains he models used.
O gauge and S gauge are frequently used to distinguish between the toy train and the scale side of the hobby. So O gauge would be trains that run on three rail track with wheels with deep flanges without regard to the actual scale of the models which can be anywhere from 1:48 to 1:64 (or 1:43.5 for some foreign models). O scale is 2 rail trains 1:48 scale with scale couplers (such as Kadee) and scale wheels (RP25). Similarly for S, S gauge is deep flanges and S scale is scale couplers (such as Kadee) and scale wheels (RP25). Most S gauge trains are 1:64, S scale trains are 1:64.
Enjoy
Paul
That was what I was trying to express, however I did not do so clearly.
With things such as OO, it becomes even more strange, 1:76 standard gauge trains on 1:87 track. I think this was because small British locomotives had inadequate room for early model mechanisms.