What are the latest demographic figures for model railroad scales?
Correct me if I’m wrong but I see things like:
-
HO
-
N
-
G
-
O
-
Z
-
S
-
No. 1
-
TT
Are there any published figures?
If I were guessing I would put O above G otherwise not much to quibble with.
If you include O27 (Lionel) then O would definitely be #3 and probably not too far behind N.
In the used market/collector’s market/eBay, O is king…(In fact in eBay, O scale is more popular than HO!) In LHSes and new Internet sales, G scale looks more popular.
It is curious that you mention in LHS’s? This must be a regional thing as in my area the stores that I frequent don’t carry G scale at all. They are all HO, N and some O.
If you’re looking at the United States, then my scale (HOj, 1:80) is waay down at the bottom - all the way off the chart.
If you’re looking at Japan, HOj is fighting it out with N scale for #1.
In my garage, HOj is #1, and there is no second place.
Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
I’m sure you know that “G” doesn’t represent any one particular scale: it is merely a gauge with several scales associated with it. And what the heck is HOj(apanese)??
Mark
I would have thought is was more:
HO
N
O Scale and hirail
G
S Scale and hirail
Z
OO
TT
#1
But I haven’t seen any recent (last 10 years) figures.
Enjoy
Paul
Japan’s standard gauge (except for the Shinkansen, known as Bullet trains here), is 3’ 6", they run on HO track, but the scale is adjusted to get closer to the right gauge. If I am not mistaken, they use 1:150 for N scale, for the same reason. I think the system breaks down if you want ‘regular’ trains and Shinkansen on the same layout, since there should be a difference in gauge, but there isn’t.
As far as the original post goes, please don’t try to make any value judgements based on whatever the real or perceived answer is. There are reasons for all of the different scales and gauges, and I think it is a bad idea to want to ‘rank’ them, implying that one is somehow ‘better’ than another.[soapbox]
For the sake of argument, LGB and compatible trains.
Jeff,
Thanks for enlightening me about HOj. Seems like a nice scale, but if it is 1/80 (per Chuck), about 9% smaller than HO, wouldn’t HO gauge track be closer to 52 inches rather than 42"? Shouldn’t the scale be about 1/70 (that’s even nicer) if HO gauge track is to represent 3.5 foot (42") gauge?
Mark
Hence the word ‘closer’ in my post. As far as why it ended up the way it is, I have no idea.
I thought some more, I imagine that it ended up as it is because at the time it evolved it was too (difficult, expensive, challenging) to make the mechanisms any smaller, so they compromised. That’s just speculation, though.
Quote user=“Vail & Southwestern RR”
Hence the word ‘closer’ in my post. As far as why it ended up the way it is, I have no idea.
I thought some more, I imagine that it ended up as it is because at the time it evolved it was too (difficult, expensive, challenging) to make the mechanisms any smaller, so they compromised. That’s just speculation, though.
close quote
Actually, the driving force was - drivers!!!
Also plain-jane car wheels.
By some coincidence, 63 inch HO drivers scale out just right for several classes of Japanese steam locomotives in 1:80 scale, while HO 36 inch wheels are a perfect match for the ubiquitous 860mm wheels used under passenger cars, freight cars and locomotive lead and trailing wheels. That, IMHO, was more of a factor in setting the scale at 1:80 with the standard HO track gauge than anything else.
(I’ve taken advantage of this, by mating US prototype HO RTR steam loco mechanisms with scratchbuilt superstructures that closely approximate JNR 9600-class 2-8-0’s.)
Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)