02-18-2009, 06:33 AM
Along the Line: By Don Day <Printed in March, 07>. Toys or not
Let’s start with getting rid of the notion that we are “playing with toys.” Toy trains are something made of wood or plastic that I’d allow a one-year old to pull their blocks in around a room. OK, I’ll admit, there are metal toy trains that actually run, but they have little in common with what we refer to as “scale” trains, usually lacking the details and craftsmanship of model trains. It is almost insulting to have someone remark about an intricate model railroad layout as a toy, so please don’t even think that. What we are talking about here is someone’s dedicated effort to model things to scale, be it in the real or imaginary world. To a serious modeler, accuracy and detail are paramount. A modeler usually picks a scale that suites them for whatever reason. Mostly it has to do with how much space a person has to work in, how much detail the modeler wants and lastly, their physical ability to perform the tasks needed for that scale. Scale is a measure of size compared to a full-sized, or prototypical railroad. To really confuse the issue, we have “gauge,” which is the actual distance between the rails. Some people use the two interchangeably, but that’s not accurate since one scale can have several different gauges. Thinking about it makes my head hurt, but let’s talk about a few common scales anyway. The trains set the scale and everything else on the layout follows. Obviously, the larger the scale, the more detail one can get, but more room is required to achieve this detail. The largest common scale used by modelers is G, or one-twentieth of full size, mainly found outdoors. O scale is about half that size and was once the only scale manufactured. Some O scale is considered toy-like and is quite collectible. The most commonly used indoor scale is HO, or half O, followed by N, which is about one-eight G (see the picture for comparison). Z scale is smaller still.
As far as gauge goes, it’s defined as the inside distance between the two rails. Standard track gauge here in the US is 4’ 8.5”. Kind of an odd measurement but apparently it has its roots in England since our first trains were manufactured there. It seems like the early train makers were also carriage and wagon makers and this was their pseudo-standard. It gets a bit complicated, but originally, someone though the ideal wheel spacing for a Roman chariot was the width of two horse’s rumps side by side. Well, it continued this way from then on so that all wheels would fit in the ruts made in the roads by others. There are other gauges, narrow gauge is one, used frequently by logging lines, and is usually three or three and one-half feet. There are modelers that model exclusively in narrow gauge. Yes, everything else is still to scale.
When I first got into the hobby, I had to decide what scale I wanted to work in. HO was a good choice, lots of stuff available for it and it was easy to work with. I tried it and was pleased with the detail I could achieve, but with limited space, I just had to try something smaller. With N scale, I could get almost four times as much in the same space although I wondered if my body would allow me to work with parts that small. Well, working with small electronic parts all those years as an engineer paid off. My hands and eyes were still good enough to do most everything I needed to achieve a realistic-looking layout. The only downside is that I couldn’t get the close-up detail that I wanted. Some modelers use the “three-foot rule,” that is, if you don’t notice the detail looking from three-foot away, it’s not important. That depends on how meticulous you are. Figures of people are what suffers from detail most at this scale, but I guess I’m going to have to be satisfied with people that have no eyes, hands without individual fingers and pant legs with built-in shoes if I want to squeeze in as much as I can in the amount of space I have. I envy those people with large basements or attics that have virtually unlimited room for large layouts. Here in Arizona, these are not practical or normally an option, so we make do with what space we can find. That’s just one more challenge that makes this hobby more interesting and rewarding.
Let’s start with getting rid of the notion that we are “playing with toys.” Toy trains are something made of wood or plastic that I’d allow a one-year old to pull their blocks in around a room. OK, I’ll admit, there are metal toy trains that actually run, but they have little in common with what we refer to as “scale” trains, usually lacking the details and craftsmanship of model trains. It is almost insulting to have someone remark about an intricate model railroad layout as a toy, so please don’t even think that. What we are talking about here is someone’s dedicated effort to model things to scale, be it in the real or imaginary world. To a serious modeler, accuracy and detail are paramount. A modeler usually picks a scale that suites them for whatever reason. Mostly it has to do with how much space a person has to work in, how much detail the modeler wants and lastly, their physical ability to perform the tasks needed for that scale. Scale is a measure of size compared to a full-sized, or prototypical railroad. To really confuse the issue, we have “gauge,” which is the actual distance between the rails. Some people use the two interchangeably, but that’s not accurate since one scale can have several different gauges. Thinking about it makes my head hurt, but let’s talk about a few common scales anyway. The trains set the scale and everything else on the layout follows. Obviously, the larger the scale, the more detail one can get, but more room is required to achieve this detail. The largest common scale used by modelers is G, or one-twentieth of full size, mainly found outdoors. O scale is about half that size and was once the only scale manufactured. Some O scale is considered toy-like and is quite collectible. The most commonly used indoor scale is HO, or half O, followed by N, which is about one-eight G (see the picture for comparison). Z scale is smaller still.
As far as gauge goes, it’s defined as the inside distance between the two rails. Standard track gauge here in the US is 4’ 8.5”. Kind of an odd measurement but apparently it has its roots in England since our first trains were manufactured there. It seems like the early train makers were also carriage and wagon makers and this was their pseudo-standard. It gets a bit complicated, but originally, someone though the ideal wheel spacing for a Roman chariot was the width of two horse’s rumps side by side. Well, it continued this way from then on so that all wheels would fit in the ruts made in the roads by others. There are other gauges, narrow gauge is one, used frequently by logging lines, and is usually three or three and one-half feet. There are modelers that model exclusively in narrow gauge. Yes, everything else is still to scale.
When I first got into the hobby, I had to decide what scale I wanted to work in. HO was a good choice, lots of stuff available for it and it was easy to work with. I tried it and was pleased with the detail I could achieve, but with limited space, I just had to try something smaller. With N scale, I could get almost four times as much in the same space although I wondered if my body would allow me to work with parts that small. Well, working with small electronic parts all those years as an engineer paid off. My hands and eyes were still good enough to do most everything I needed to achieve a realistic-looking layout. The only downside is that I couldn’t get the close-up detail that I wanted. Some modelers use the “three-foot rule,” that is, if you don’t notice the detail looking from three-foot away, it’s not important. That depends on how meticulous you are. Figures of people are what suffers from detail most at this scale, but I guess I’m going to have to be satisfied with people that have no eyes, hands without individual fingers and pant legs with built-in shoes if I want to squeeze in as much as I can in the amount of space I have. I envy those people with large basements or attics that have virtually unlimited room for large layouts. Here in Arizona, these are not practical or normally an option, so we make do with what space we can find. That’s just one more challenge that makes this hobby more interesting and rewarding.
Don (ezdays) Day
Board administrator and
founder of the CANYON STATE RAILROAD
Board administrator and
founder of the CANYON STATE RAILROAD