hey guys
i thought that we HOers should have an area to talk about just ho stuff soo here you can ask or post just stuff post pic.s and much more! :]
You’re already here, LOL!
[#ditto][(-D]
Okay… will somebody tell where HO got started???.. Anybody out there think 3.5 mm to the foot is kind of goofy? Why not 1/8" to the foot? HO, to me is a good size to work with, but 1/8" to the foot would be very close.
thats a good qustion i’m not sure lol look it up with www.google.com :]
^^^^^
can’t livee without it.
H0= Half 0 (scale)
Jay has it right.
To quote the definition of scale from the WGH site:
“Scale: The size of things on a model railroad relative to things on a real railroad. For example, in the most popular scale, HO, models are 1/87th full size. Other popular scales are Z (1/220), n (1/160), S (1/64), and O (1/48).”
Half-‘O-scale’ has been shortened to HO. I don’t know when that happened, I can’t recall ever hearing anyone say, “Half O-Scale.” It has been HO since I can remember.
But if HO was really half O scale…would it not be 1/96 ? …Not that it matters…just curious…
It was actually called, “Halb-null” which is German for “half zero”. (I’m guessing their computers, er typewriters, couldn’t differientiate between zero and the letter “O”.) Actually it was only approximently half O-scale. I don’t believe accurate modeling was a priority to early adopters of HO (1930s?). Rivet counters came later (1950s-60s).
A long time ago, back when model railroading was starting and airplanes had not reach 200mph with thier wings still attached, there were several guages/scales that are no longer popular: #3, #2, #1 (still with us) and the tiniest was #0 (aka O). 0 was and still is 7mm per foot in England were the once tiny scale was invented. Later, again in England, they came up with a scale that was one half of 0, and it was dubbed H0 or HO, with 3.5mm per foot.
It’s wasn’t the scale (the prototype-to-model size ratio) that was half of O, it was the gauge (the spacing between the rails) that was half of O.
Next time you come across a piece of 3-rail Lionel O gauge track, try to put an HO loco or rolling stock on it. You will find that the wheels will rest comfortably on the inside and one of the outside rails.
Thanks for answering my HO “trivia” question… intersting stuff out there.
…and who do those “rivit counters” mentioned in one poet think they are?.. I’ll settle for “plausible realism” on the Heartland Division… thanks again
Happy Model Railroading !
Garry
Another triva question. (I don’t know this one either. I’m kinda ignorant, right?)
What was the first commercially made US HO model. What, when and who?
Have Fun!
Garry
“US HO model” meaning manufactured in the USA or a model of a USA prototype?
Made in USA like Mantua or whomever was before them… Just curious, not important.
i have absoulutly no clue but i’m going to gusse that it was a Santa Fe of some kind because it is very popularly made. :]
The track guage is the same so an OO scale will run on an HO layout and visa-versa, but the actual scale is different. HO=1:87 OO=1:76 OO trains look oversized when next to HO, I know as I periodically run both on my layout.
I think that was the plan, but it wasn’t possible to build things that small that actually worked, so everything was scaled to fit the driveline.
Like OO, which is slightly larger because the motors were too wide to fit an HO body, but they retained the HO track.
dose anyone have pics. of there layout? i like seening other peoples layouts lol sounds kinda funny but i think they are neet looking and they also give ideas for other peoples layouts thanks!
I think HO started in the US some time in the 1930s, with Mantua being one of the first HO manufacturers. Around the 40s and 50s is when it started getting popular, and a lot of new manufacturers came around, like Bowser, Rivarossi, Lindsay, Athearn, Hobbytown, Varney, Penn-Line and Tyco, to name a few. That’s also when assembled track started to become available. Before that you had to put the track together yourself.
Beyond that, I don’t know much about the early years.