Ok, here goes.
G Gauge encompases #1 Gauge and a bunch of scales? I think I at least have that right.
Now for the stupid part. When reading stuff on the web, how do you know which scale your looking at? I was at the show today. Looked at the Aristo -9. Listed as a 1:29 scale. How do I know any rolling stock I pick up is the same? None of it, appears to be marked on web sites.
Everything Aristo is 1:29.
Except their Delton/Classic line, which is 1:24.
All recent USA (new stuff for sale) is 1:29.
All MTH is 1:32.
All LGB started as 1:22.5, then goes to “suitable for large scale”.
All Bachmann rolling stock is 1:22.5, except for one V-dumper, and the 20-foot cars which are allegedly 1:20, but aren’t.
Hartland is generally 1:24.
How much more do you need?
TOC
Thanks.
Lots.
So how do folks handle items from different mfg, or do you just pick one and stick with it?
Basically pick one or two, or be very selective on how the item “looks” with the rest.
Ferinstance, Delton 1:24 high-cars are the same length, height and width as Bachmann, LGB and old USA 1:22.5 stuff.
I mix 1:24 selected items with 1:22.5.
I NEVER got 1:29 to look right with it.
I have 120-130 chunks of rolling stock in the terminal, and it’s all Delton, Bachmann, old USA, LGB…I think I’ve scrapped all the Lionel and MDC stuff except for some cabeese which were 1:24 (go figure).
TOC
Steve, that dash 9 was cool though wasn’t it? I saw one at the store in Vegas, that and a cab forward, I would be in hog heaven. Curmudgeon thanks for the size info, I have saved it to word so I can understand.
Tim
TOC, you forgot Bachmann’s locomotives, which are 1:20.3. (Well, except the 4-6-0, which is 1:22.5), as well as Accucraft’s 1:20.3 and 1:32 offerings…
Still, you will find yourself gravitating towards two or three different manufacturers, but for the most part they all play nicely together, with the notable exception of the couplers. A vast majority of garden railroaders subscribe to the “if it looks okay” school of aesthetics. If you’re a bit more of a railroad historian, you can tailor your choices towards era, style, or other considerations, but you’ll still find offerings from multiple manufacturers fitting the bill.
So, pick your style of railroad–standard gauge or narrow, your era–modern, golden age, or early, and go from there. With the variety of models available today, it’s far easier to put together a credible stable of coherent rolling stock than it was 15 years ago when “if it looks okay” wasn’t so much a choice as it was the only option.
BTW, the next “Garden Railway Basics” tackles the issue of scale, and how it relates to the myriad manufactueres and models we have available.
Later,
K
Hi SKMoss
The confusion of scales is a bit of a problem.
Most on the forum appear to handle this in two or three ways
1 buy what they like from any manufacturer and who cares what others think
2 buy only form one manufacturer
3 And IMHO the best one choose a main manufacturer who suplies most of the railway and still buys carefully selected items from other manufacturers
noteing how the size matches ect and in some cases deliberatly exagerating the size differenc to achieve the desired result.
To give an example of this I wanted a different but still looks right locomotive to pull a Feldbhan train so have a Hartland mac ( at the time cost was also a big issue as well ) locomotive hauling a train of these tiny items of rollingstock the result is pleasing to the eye because all is in prportion to each other.
Good proportions and balanced apearance are of far more importance in the garden than scale fidelaty.
The best thing to aim for is perhaps the hardest to explain and that is a sense of rightness
Although if all the trains are one scale this would be a lot easier to arrange then you take the buildings you have the same problem all over again.
regards John
Some of the newer LGB is very close to 1:29, 53’ flats , grain hopper and I hear the new modern box car. As time goes on your learn just by looking at the car what scale they are.
Practice…
I carry a tape measure with me everywhere. If I like it, and it’s about 4 1/8 inches wide, it’s close enough to 1:29 for me.
When I was looking at a Bachmann Annie last spring at the MWLSTS, I was carrying around the Aristocraft show car. I set it behind an Annie on display, and a couple guys and I decided, “That doesn’t look too out-of-place.”
My Annie does lots of work around the Asylum Valley with my 1:29 equipment. Don’t tell William, the HO rivet counter[;)] – but then, William recognized as the Tweetsey loco and let me read his cool book. Even William thought it looked appropriate with my Aristo Sierra passenger train[:D]
Wow, thanks for answering the question is such detail, without making me feel like the dummy.
I wrote a small program a while back that helps me in MR. I call it ModelCalc.
Basically it does three things.
First it calcs scale speed.
Second it calcs grades. Give it a distance and elevation, and it will calc grade %. Give it needed grade % and elevation and it will calc distance needed. Once calculated, give it how many risers or how frequent the risers need to be and it will calc the height of each riser.
Lastly it also converts measurments to and from scale. I use this part a lot when scratch building buildings. Input an actual size, it will display on screen the scale
size of the item. Both in numeric form and graphically. The cool part is you can hold a scale part up next to your screen, click the mouse on both sides of the part and it will give you the proto size.
I originally tried to sell it to raise some money for a non profit model rail orginzation I was involved with. I finally gave up trying to get the org off the ground. Now i just give the program to friends who want it. So if anyone wants to use it, let me know. I’ll email you the setup. If there’s interest I’ll post a couple of screen shots so you can see it.
SKMoss,
Welcome to the most confusing scale in the entire hobby. I like what was mentioned earlier. Pick what you like and stick with that. BTW…the only dumb question is the one that never gets asked! Have fun! Later eh…Brian.
That is what I call a SMART question for any large scale newbie, I asked it and so have many others. The great thing about this forum and others is that you can ask a question and get an answer the same day or close there of, instead of going through the frustration alone.[:)]
Kev- I purposefully left out locos.
What, you want to chase him permanently away?
John
You forgot to include the most important one “4” make your own .
This way you do get the scale right .
Tony
I operate my Aristo-Craft on the lower level, my Bachmann on the upper level logging or i just operate all Aristo-Craft or all Bachmann at one time. Buildings seem to all be 1/24 scale. From 5’ everything looks to the eye just fine.
mikadousrp.
Well, personally the DUMBEST question I was ever asked was…
“Is my New Bright set as good as that expensive LGB stuff???”
TOC pretty much encapsulated the scale issues of G gauge.
Hi Gscalechuffchuff
Well like me you will choose them funny 3’ 6" gauge Antipodean ones[:D]
So what choice do we have but to build or in my case try to build our own.
regards John.
For some reason, I seem to remember someone mentioning (a long time ago at another web site) that some of LGB’s stuff scales out to 1:26 as well. Either that or I dreamt it.
Mark[^]
Mark-
“All LGB started as 1:22.5, then goes to “suitable for large scale”.”
That’s why it says “started”.
Some folks have measured the F-7, depending on whether you measure L, W or H, it’s 1:25, 1:26, 1:27.
Suitable for Large Scale.
TOC
And don’t forget the article in this issue of the mag about scale, the three box cars just show how confusing it can all get. The older the car, in real life, the smaller it was and then there’s the ‘is that standard or narrow guage’ because they both look the same size on 45mm track for us garden guys. Still, in the eyes of the beholder…
Cheers,
Kim
[tup]