Model Railway N Gauge

[Aide Broeckel]

Thispage lists the most relevant model railway scale standards in the world. Most standards are regional, but some have followers in other parts of the world outside their native region, most notably NEM and NMRA. While the most significant standardised dimension of a model railway scale is the gauge, a typical scale standard covers many more aspects of model railways and defines scale-specific dimensions for items like catenary, rolling stock wheels, loading gauge, curve radii and grades for slopes, for instance.

MOROP (the European federation of national model railway associations) is a European organisation which publishes NEM-standards. NEM-standards are used by model railway industry and hobbyists in Europe. The standards are published in French and German and both versions have an official status. Unofficial translations in English from third parties exist for certain NEM-standard sheets.

For instance, a metre-gauge model railway in H0-scale is designated H0m. In German text the letter "f" (for Feldbahn) is sometimes used instead of "i". The letter "e" represents the French word for "narrow", troit. NEM gauges are arranged conveniently to use the normal gauge of smaller scales as narrow gauges for a certain scale. For instance, H0m gauge is the same as the TT-scale normal gauge, H0e same as the N-scale normal gauge and H0i same as the Z-scale normal gauge.

The NMRA (National Model Railroad Association) standardized the first model railway scales in the 1940s. NMRA standards are used widely in North America and by certain special interest groups all over the world. To some extent NMRA and NEM standards are compatible, but in many areas, the two standards specify certain model railway details in somewhat incompatible ways for the same scale.

There are two NMRA standard sheets where the scales have been defined. NMRA standard S-1.2 covers the popular model railway scales and S-1.3 defines scales with deep flanges for model railways with very sharp curves or other garden railway specific design features.

In certain NMRA scales an alternative designation is sometimes used corresponding the length of one prototype foot in scale either in millimetres or in inches. For instance, 3.5 mm scale is the same as HO. For HO and O -scales, NMRA uses the letter "O" whereas NEM uses the number zero (H0 instead of HO).

The NMRA published alternative, more accurate and realistic standards for track and wheels sheet in S-1.1 These model railway standards are based on the full size prototype standards and the scale model operational reliability is therefore reduced in comparison to the models conforming to the normal NMRA standards. Proto and finescale rails and wheels are generally not compatible with the normal scale model railway material with the same scale ratio.

Proto scale was originally developed by the Model Railway Study Group in Great Britain in 1966 and later adopted into NMRA standards with modifications necessary for the North American prototype railway standards. Proto scale reproduces faithfully the prototype wheel tread profile and track work used by the Association of American Railroads and the American Railway Engineering Association.

Finescale reproduces the prototype wheel tread profile and track work used by the Association of American Railroads and the American Railway Engineering Association with minor compromises for performance and manufacturability.

When H0 scale was being introduced, the motors available were too large[4] to fit in scale-sized bodies and so as a compromise the scale was increased from 3.5 mm to 4 mm to the foot, but the gauge was not changed so other elements could be shared. For 00 therefore the track is about 12.5% narrower than it should be for the scale used. EM and P4 standards correct this anomaly by adopting a wider track gauge.

Live steam model railways are not standardized systematically by any single standardization body. There are, however, certain scales and gauges which have become de facto standards and in some cases correspond to either NEM or NMRA standard scales. One example is the "IBLS" (International Brotherhood of Live Steamers), an informal organization which has published standards for some of the gauges. Many clubs have their own standards, which also may vary slightly from country to country. Hornby Railways have pioneered commercial model live steam in 00 (1:76 scale on 16.5 mm gauge), the existing models are heated using a controllable electric current through the two running rails and have the steam pressure chamber in the model tender.

In addition to these scales, the United Kingdom has, over the last forty years, fathered a scale that is based on the predominant British narrow track gauge of 2 ft (610 mm). Using 32 mm (1.26 in) - 0 gauge - track, there is an extensive range of 16 mm to the foot scale [1:19] live-steam and other types of locomotives, rolling stock and accessories. Many of these models are dual gauge, and can be converted to run on 45 mm (1.772 in) track (gauge 1), and radio control is common. Locomotives in this scale are generally large and "chunky", and can range from the tiny 0-4-0 seen on Welsh slate quarry lines all the way up to the very largest found in the UK, such as the ex-ACR NG/G16 Beyer-Garratt locomotives, seen running on the Welsh Highland Railway in North Wales. The hobby is supported by a number of 16 mm live steam and electric traction builders, dominated by the likes of Roundhouse Engineering and Accucraft UK.

The National 2.5 in Gauge Association continues to support live steam passenger hauling in 2.5-inch gauge using MES tracks. They use a "scale" appropriate to the original prototype modelling both standard and narrow gauge locomotives to run on 2.5-inch track.

There have been many short-lived and often promising model railway scales which are very much defunct nowadays. Quite often these were backed by only the company that created a new scale in the first place.

In the early 20th century manufacturers decided to standardise on a numbering scheme for the various sizes of models being produced. Gauges 0, 1, 2 and 3 were created to cover the four popular scales at the time.

Gauges above these tend to use the measurement concerned compared to the foot, for instance 3.5in gauge, 5 1/2in gauge or 7 1/4in gauge - these tend to be the realm of live steam miniature locomotives and model engineering rather than model railways.

Later, it was considered by some that 18mm was too approximate, so the Protofour (P4) Society was formed, working to the exact scale track gauge of 18.83mm. The P4 Society was superceeded by The Scalefour Society who took over the reins of exact scale 4mm modelling.

Loch Tat is an N gauge model railway set in the Highlands of Scotland. The smaller size of N gauge makes it easier to create greater landscapes for a given space than OO or O gauges. Read more about this layout here.

The scale of 2mm:1ft was tried out in the UK by Lone Star in the 1960s and branded OOO gauge. It was German manufacturer Arnold which first produced a full range in the scale and called it N after its nine-millimetre gauge. Changes occurred in Britain, possibly because of the problems in fitting suitable mechanisms into our stock. The UK and the rest of the world use the standard track gauge of 9mm, but the UK uses a scale of 2.06mm:1ft. Other countries use a scale of 1.91mm:1ft (ratios of 1:148 and 1:160 respectively).

The newest of the scales is T, produced in Japan, with the remarkably small gauge of 3mm between the rails, which scales to 0.61mm:1ft or a ratio of 1:450. You can now achieve your model of the terminus at Waterloo in a small room!

Following a downturn, because of the popularity of OO gauge, O gauge has become more popular recently, due in no small part to the efforts of the Gauge O Guild and manufacturers old and new. As with most other scales, there is a difference between O gauge in the UK, mainland Europe and the USA. The scale in Europe has settled down over time to the unusual mixture of imperial and metric. Europe has a track gauge of 32mm, but the Continental ratio varies from country to country.

Do you know the difference between model railway gauges and model railway scales, or wondering what gauge model railway supplies you need? These two terms are closely associated with the hobby of railway modelling, but are often used interchangeably, which means they can become confused.

Before World War II, very little existed in the way of standards for railway modelling, which meant that the modeller was usually tied into a single brand to ensure consistency. After the Second World War, the industry began to rebuild itself; Tri-ang for example, had given their production facilities over to manufacturing the STEN Gun (a British submachine gun used during WWII). One of the Lines brothers, the brothers behind the Tri-Ang name, took the STEN Mk II and improved its design to become the Mk III.

As part of this process, the development of standards for model railway scales was considered, and the British Railway Modelling Standards Bureau was formed by the then-editors of Model Railway News and Model Railway Constructor, along with several eminent modellers of the time.

However, the Bureau was unsuccessful in achieving its goal on several counts: it had no direct links with the model railway club movement; its meetings were held at irregular intervals and unpublicised locations; and it lacked the necessary 'teeth' to influence the manufacturers, with most paying no more than lip service to their recommendations.

After the end of the Second World War, most railway models produced were manufactured to the Gauge 1 scale. As technology improved, the popularity of model railways increased and costs came down, and more people realised that they could afford to get in on the hobby, but many needed something a little smaller than what was available at the time.

So, what could be smaller than Gauge 1? Gauge 0! Note: in Europe, the zero is still used when talking about this model railway gauge, but the US and subsequently the UK has changed this to O Gauge over time.

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