I had some non-model friends enjoying my layout, and one asked the question “Why 1/87 scale, how did that come about”? I didn’t know the answer, but I’m sure most of you probably do. Thanks ahead of time for “smarting me up”.
Hal
I am not quit sure, but to my knowledge, it was Marklin in Germany who developed the HO scale, with the HO standing for “Half - O” O scale in Germany was 1/43.5 - hence 1/87 for HO scale.
If you search the forums, you’ll see similar questions have come up before, and the answers can be quite extensive. Here’s a short version:
100 years or so ago, Marklin was the first manufacturer to offer electric trains in different gauges, numbered IIRC 1-2-3-4 with No.1 (the track gauge now used by LGB trains) being the smallest.
When they came out with a smaller size - 1-1/4" gauge - they had to call it “0” (zero) gauge. In time people called it O (“oh”) instead of 0 (“zero”) gauge. (Kinda like saying “double-oh seven” for “007”)
When they created it, they didn’t really care about what scale would be correct for that gauge, since they were making toy trains not scale models. It worked out the correct scale for that gauge was 1:43.5.
Later, smaller trains came out that used a track gauge and scale one-half the size of O gauge trains. Dividing 1:43.5 in half resutls in a scale of 1:87.
So 1:87 scale was “Half O” scale…“H.O.” for short.
Along those lines, note that HO is 3.5mm to the foot, an “easy” scale for metric measuring. 1/43 still lives as a static car display scale (and now a growing slot car scale), and is, of course, 7mm to the foot.
I had always wondered why “half O” (1/48 scale) was 1/87. It just didn’t make any sense, now I know!
Thanks!
It all started with 0 (as in zero) gauge. That was a toymaker standard, 1.25 inches between rails. Scale modelers used the commercial wheelsets and found that 7mm/1 foot gave a pretty close approximation of standard gauge. Thus 7mm/foot became 0 (zero) scale, at least it did on the far sid of the Atlantic.
Along came some folks that wanted a smaller modeling scale. Since there were drawings available in 7mm/foot 0 scale, the simplest trick was to halve all the dimensions. 3.5mm/foot thus became H0, or Half-Zero scale. The exact-scale track gauge for standard gauge prototypes in H0 is 16.47…mm. For convenience, this was rounded to 16.5mm.
As time went by, people forgot about the zero and simply used two letters, “Aitch-Oh.” That is the present state of the scale, 3.5mm/foot (1/87.1) with a track gauge of 16.5mm.
Spin the globe to the opposite side of the world. In Japan, some modelers discovered that available HO scale drivers of several sizes matched those used under Japanese locomotives - in 1:80 scale. The 16.5mm track gauge, which is way too wide (the JNR is 1067mm gauge) was retained, and HOj was born, using the aforementioned drivers and 10.5mm car wheels (36" in H0, 840mm in HOj.)
Fun, isn’t it.
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964 - 1:80 scale, 16.5mm gauge)
Search for threads on the history of gauges or scales.
Anyway. Originally the track gauges were set in even fractional inch increments. For example O gauge was 1 1/4 in. That was modeled with 1/4 in scale (1:48).
Then people figured out the gauge and scale weren’t exact, so they went in two directions. At first they kept the gauge the same and changed the scale, that way the moving parts (engine mechanisms, trucks, wheelsets) and the track could be used as manufactured. So the the closest scale that made 1 1/4 inches apporximate standard gauge, 4 ft 8 1/2 in, was 7mm scale. So the “scale” modelers in O scale used 7 mm scale. At some point another group decided to keep the original scale, 1/4 in = 1 foot, the same and change the gauge to be correct.
Later there was a desire for an accurate, smaller scale. Since there was a large accurate scale modeling community in 7mm O scale they decided to use half that size, 3.5 mm Half O or HO. 3.5 mm = 1 ft works out to 1:87.1.
So the answer to why 1:87.1 is because the model manufacturers initially mismatched scale and gauge, then the modeling community awkwardly compensated for it and then based another scale off the awkward approach. Had they focused on scale rather than gauge and just started with a clean slate, HO could have been 1:96 (1/8 in scale) or 1/100 scale or even 4 mm scale.
Another common scale in the neighborhood is 1/72 and 1/44 scale, commonly used for model airplanes. That has its origins in the printing trade, as “pica” was a unit of measure in typeface 1/12 in wide and there were a lot of rulers with measurements in 1/6 inch and 1/2 inch increments, so scale rules were common.
That whole scale/gauge blending is still alive today. “G” gauge track operates several scal
Just to clarify, O gauge / scale is 7mm = 1ft, 1:43.5 scale. After O gauge came along, modellers in countries using feet and inches instead of meters started building 1/4" = 1 ft. models (1:48 scale) to run on O gauge track, working out to an incorrect track gauge of 5’ instead of 4’ 8-1/2".
IIRC the correct “English” ratio is 17/64’ = 1 foot, but that is much harder to work with than 1/4" scale. A few modellers have worked in that scale (sometimes called “Q” scale) but most have accepted the wide track and stuck to 1:48 scale for O scale. Lionel’s pre-Hudson scale trains, the UP M10000 and Milwaukee Hiawatha, were 17/64" scale I believe, but the Hudson was built to 1:48 scale.
Whether a nation is metric or inch-based can determine what scales the manufacturers use, based on what their labor force knows best.
When AC Gilbert/American Flyer decided to take on HO production, they used 9/64" = 1’ scale, probably because the “boys” in the tool room insisted. That is 1/85 scale. Track gauge stayed the same 16.5mm HO. No 3.5mm for those guys.
1/76 is a common British RR and vehicle scale, sometimes called OO; it is 4mm = 1 foot. “British HO” has been used to describe 4mm = 1 ft RR stock running on 16.5mm gauge rails.
1/8" = 1 ft scale is 1/96, a favorite ship modeling scale, but unknown in RR circles, as far as I know.
1/64 is S gauge scale, 3/16" to the foot, which has never been tampered with or adapted (except for its opportunistic use as narrow gauge in other scales).
1/4" = 1 ft scale is 1/48, an easy to use scale in inch-based nations, but a bear in metric based nations. That is another reason why 1/43 (7mm to the foot) is used as “European O gauge” scale.
3/8" = 1 ft scale is 1/32. Used by Marklin for a limited line of German RR stock, based on No. 1 gauge. Not a metric scale, but widely adopted throughout the world as a slot car racing scale, and static model airplane scale, even in metric countries that have few 3/8" to the foot architects’ scales. 1/32 scale may have first been used in England.
1/35 is used for plastic kit armor modelling, a stand-alone scale that emerged from Japan in the 1960’s, for unknown reasons. The US (Revell) contributed 1/40 for armor kits in the 1950’s; I assume that was based on engineers’ scale rulers. 1/25 was used for plastic automobile kits because Henry Ford insisted his industry (and the drawings that resulted) be conducted in inches and decimal inches, so the promotional model car companies used one inch equals 25 inches. 1/24 was close, and was based on 1/2" to the foot.
1/20
Thanks to everyone for answering my question, which turned out to be a very interesting history lesson. I appreciate your time to respond.
Have fun modeling today! Hal
According to the British model railway books I have, when HO came along the existing motors available to UK manufacturers were too big to fit into 1:87 scale British outline engines, so they increased the linear scale from 3.5 mm = 1 foot to 4 mm = 1 ft but running on the same HO track. Then the motors fit. By the time smaller motors came along, enough people were modelling in OO that they just kept making stuff that scale…although some modellers use what I think is called “EM” scale (??) which is 4mm equipment but with the track widened out to the proper gauge.
In the thirties American Flyer and Lionel made some very nice “scale detailed” engines which were built to 3/16" scale but had detailing much more like real engines than previous tinplate engines. At the time, many scale modellers adapted them to use on their layouts. Later of course Am Flyer would produce the S scale trains to that scale but using the correct track gauge, but Lionel has continued to make products to 3/16" size to run on O three rail track.