1/55 scale or 5.5mm for 3 foot narrow gauge on HO track
#1
I remember someone mentioning this idea in one of my posts. I was working with
some 28mm Roman figures and realized this was a nice size. The figure guys call
them 1/56. I started thinking.

The Bachmann On30 cars measure out better in 1/55 than they do in 1/48. The HO
code 83 track looks better, still slightly undersize ties but works.

The plastic Roman and Celts can be "modernized for the 1890's. The metal figures
are typically wargame "dwarfish". There are 28mm wagons available from Dixon
and others.

[Image: noon_stage.jpg]

[Image: pi_266.jpeg]

and there is later equipment like cars and trucks, more than in 1/48

[Image: SJ-IWV003_withfigs.jpg]

[Image: BG-IWV07_lg.jpg]

The Mantua HO ten-wheeler becomes a viable narrow gauge loco in 1/55. You cannot
make real three foot 1/48 locos from HO locos.


The dreadfully undersized for 1/48 Bachmann 4-4-0 with a 1/55 roman:

[Image: 440x.jpg]

Now it gives me a correct narrow gauge 3 foot 4-4-0 .

Anybody up for this?

Harold
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#2
A Mantua HO ten-wheeler compared to a 1/55 plan of a Pacific Coast Railway Mogul:

[Image: 460z.jpg]

5.5n3 has possibilities.
Harold
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#3
Harold, the freight cars scale out to over 8 1/2 feet wide. They are also over 8' tall...and 32' long...which is ok. The width is noticeably wider than any 3' gauge car I can think of...EBT combines aside. I think they are for exactly what they are: small, old 3' gauge freight cars...whether they ride on 30" or 36" gauge wheels.

Yes, the scale-gauge combination could work, but the sacrifices in scale are greater than that experienced in modeling 3' gauge with On30...or, if you are getting tired of 31" gauge track, just use On3 or Sn3. The 4-6-0's wheels scale out to an acceptable 39", but those would require massive work (including new driver centers, rods, etc) to turn them into credible 3' gauge locomotives...and that is to say nothing as to the running characteristics (or at least for mine).
Michael
My primary goal is a large Oahu Railway layout in On3
My secondary interests are modeling the Denver, South Park, & Pacific in On3 and NKP in HO
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#4
The cars can be narrowed in a few hours. A gondola in an hour.

[Image: narrowed_gon.jpg]


The house cars only fault is the width and that is easily corrected. Just narrow it by 4 boards. I converted a On30 box car into an S scale standard gauge car in an evening. That was lowering, narrowing and changing the trucks. So the house cars should only take about an hour.

The compromise in gauge is too serious to use O scale on HO track. The track whether handlaid or ME it looks like what it is, 31inch gauge too narrow, for American Narrow Gauge. If the difference doesn't bother then you need a new hobby. Bachmann's On30 line has such a limited range of motive power for American Narrow gauge in the 1880-1890 period. It is too big, too new , or too foreign. The inside frame locomotives look malformed with the drivers too far under the super stucture.

Converting models is the fun part of the hobby.

[Image: 280A.JPG]

A Jeff Saxton model in "On30" using an HO chassis, sure looks like 55n3 to me.

Sorry your thought box is so limited.

"Scale 55 - We Don't need no stinkin' letter"

Harold
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#5
Way to go Harold!

You are not alone 2285_

There's already a 5.5mm Association!

790_smiley_picking_a_fight They use 12mm-gauge track for modelling 2-foot gauge!! 790_smiley_picking_a_fight Slightly wide guage for 2-foot...

Lots of Talyllyn and Ffestiniog kits are available in this scale.
Ron Wm. Hurlbut
Toronto, Ontario, Dominion of Canada
Ontario Narrow Gauge Show
Humber Valley & Simcoe Railway Blog
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#6
Harold, I'm surprised that you are now opposed to On30. You were a promoter and advocate of it.

As you can see from the link in my blog, I scratch build most of my models in On3...I am not an On30 modeler. I generally find it faster/easier to just build cars from scratch than performing major surgery...but that would change if I had an appropriate table saw (scratch would still be cheaper).

Yep, B-man is lacking for RTR 19th century US modeling...except for the 1880s design shay. Still, the mogul is a decent starting point for an accurate 19th century locomotive...and far cheaper than the Spartan series power. (and she isn't much effort for me to re-gauge)
Michael
My primary goal is a large Oahu Railway layout in On3
My secondary interests are modeling the Denver, South Park, & Pacific in On3 and NKP in HO
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#7
I didn't say that I was opposed to On30. I just found that the limitations didn't suit my tastes.

Your work is great but, when you have to scratchbuild that third boxcar it will start gathering cobwebs.

The Bachmann Mogul isn't typical of the 1880-1890's, if you try to backdate it to it's original configuration it doesn't look right for that time period, no wagon top boiler. It was technologically ahead of it's time with the boiler through the cab. A typical narrow gauge 4-4-0 will look awful in On30. Besides up-gauged locomotives usually don't run as well as they did in their original state.

"Scale 55 - We Don't need no stinkin' letter"
Harold
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#8
Not all 1880s locomotives had wagon top boilers...not by a long shot. The mogul, while not a classic wagon top boilered Brooks 2-6-0, is a decent starting point for my favorite 2-6-0s...the Cooke locomotives built for the South Park and Colorado Central. Similarly, the OF 2-8-0 is a decent starting point for the Oahu Railway 2-8-0s and 0-6-0s built between 1897 and 1916. And I'm planning another to be SG&N #34. I do have hopes to save one of the IF 4-4-0s...they may be appropriate for OR&L #15 (actually smaller than the B-man model).

I really enjoy scratch building...and it is the only way to get accurate cars for many of my favorite prototypes...most of which are from the 1870s and 1880s.

I think can agree, it would be great to see an affordable 8-18C 4-4-0, a Brooks 2-6-0, a Porter-Bell Class-C, and a 30ton Baldwin 2-8-0. The 4 basic food groups for 19th century narrow gauge railroads.
Michael
My primary goal is a large Oahu Railway layout in On3
My secondary interests are modeling the Denver, South Park, & Pacific in On3 and NKP in HO
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