Off - topic: Model Railway scale
 

A pal of mine is a keen railway modeller, and we have often wondered,
how the scale for 'O'- gauge ever came to be set at 7 mm to the
imperial foot. The track gauge is 32 mm, which is about right for 4
feet 8.5 inches. Anyone any ideas?

"4square" wrote in message
oups.com...
A pal of mine is a keen railway modeller, and we have often wondered,
how the scale for 'O'- gauge ever came to be set at 7 mm to the
imperial foot. The track gauge is 32 mm, which is about right for 4
feet 8.5 inches. Anyone any ideas?


http://www.rsme.org/Features/Rsme-history.htm
gives a clue - the standardisation to one and a quarter inches between the
rails - to accommodate different manufacturers products.

Hugh

"4square" wrote in message
oups.com...
A pal of mine is a keen railway modeller, and we have often wondered,
how the scale for 'O'- gauge ever came to be set at 7 mm to the
imperial foot. The track gauge is 32 mm, which is about right for 4
feet 8.5 inches. Anyone any ideas?

and here's another link which points out that early Hornby trains weren't to
scale:
http://www.hrca.net/o_gauge_factsheet.html
looks like it just evolved over time rather than at any one point in time.
Hugh

In article .com,
4square wrote:
A pal of mine is a keen railway modeller, and we have often wondered,
how the scale for 'O'- gauge ever came to be set at 7 mm to the
imperial foot. The track gauge is 32 mm, which is about right for 4
feet 8.5 inches. Anyone any ideas?

I thought the 'O' gauge was originally German?

--
*I yell because I care

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

Dublo or 00 gauge is 4mm to one foot. That gives a scale of 12 x 25.4 = 304.
8mm. Divide that by 4 to get 76.2:1
I thought that 0 gauge was 8mm to 12". In my youth, late 1950's, there was
no road transport to match the 00 scale. Someone could have made a fortune
by making transport to suit both of those scales.


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"4square" wrote in message
oups.com...
A pal of mine is a keen railway modeller, and we have often wondered,
how the scale for 'O'- gauge ever came to be set at 7 mm to the
imperial foot. The track gauge is 32 mm, which is about right for 4
feet 8.5 inches. Anyone any ideas?

In the early part of the 20th century, model railway gauges standardised on
Gauges 1, 2 ,3 & 4, which were based upon inch sizes. However, the
standardisation was on track gauge, to allow enthusiasts to use each other's
tracks, rather than on a specific scale. For example, Gauge 1 is normally
1:32 (3/8in = 1ft), but scales of 1:24 and 1:22.5 are also used, to allow it
to represent 3ft6" and 1 metre narrow gauges as well.

By the 1920s, railways were moving indoors, so a smaller scale than Gauge 1
was needed. That lead to Gauge 0 1/4in = 1 ft, with a track gauge of 1.25".
However, that gives a scale track gauge of 5ft, so the scale was redefined
to 7mm = 1ft, to bring the track to a scale 4ft 8.5ins.

Colin Bignell