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?
Hugh
and here's another link which points out that early Hornby trains weren't to scale:
I thought the 'O' gauge was originally German?
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.x-- 100 Proof News -
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
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