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I was reading a old paperback book called "The Model Railroad Book" last night. I bought it in the 50's sometime as a second hand book. It was written by Warren Morgan in 1951. He tells the story of wanting to build a basement layout with his two sons sometime in the late 30's. They wanted a scale layout but only had tinplate Lionel trains. They couldn't afford to start over with scale trains so they decided to try tinplate trains and a scale looking layout. When they were finished one of the sons, Jack suggested they should have a club layout with a secret password. Now Jack's dad was in World War One in the 13th Engineers (railway). They were nicknamed "rails". Other Army guys would always greet the guys in the unit by saying "Hi, Rails". Jack's Dad suggested they use Hi-Rails as their secret password. After awhile Lionel, Polk Hobbies and Model Craftsman Magazine all were interested in this new kind of layout. Tin plate and scale. No one knew what to call this new kind of layout. Of course the boys suggested "Hi-Rail" and it stuck to this day. Bet you didn't know that. Don 

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Hi Don, I never knew that. I always assumed it was due to the high standards of the of that branch of the hobby. But, I always thought the term High Rail came about in the seventies.

 

I think you have a real historic document there.

 

You get  the five Cool award for this one,  and the fans loved it!

Originally Posted by scale rail:

Thanks everyone. I thought it was called Hi-Rail because the rails were higher than scale rail. It's amazing what you can find in old books. Don

Like you, Don, I too thought the term existed because of their tall rails. The true story is good to know. Thanks for the education.

Frank

The publishing date in my book is 1951 but looking at many of the pictures I think it was updated later. This version could be 53. One shot has the "newer" 027 switches with rotating lantern. Not sure when the Pennsy port hole caboose came out but it's on the cover. Can't make out the number on the F-3 but Lionel stuck a yellow Lionel Sign on the nose. Don

Well...cute stories are often not true - or at least not contain all of the truth, and I have a copy of a Louis Hertz book written in the 1930's wherein he uses the term "hi-rail" to describe what he was doing to Lionel O-gauge tinplate locos and equipment to improve the realism and add variety to his roster (he would cut up O-gauge tinplate steamers - no diesels then, of course - to make Consolidations, etc; he even provided templates). I still

go for the "higher rail" origin. But, I'm not betting the family treasure on any of it.

 

If you are not familiar with Louis Hertz, search his name.

I am familiar with Hertz. If you read the book the opening says, "To identify the branch of model railroading that attempts to duplicate life in miniature. The Commander (he was later in the Navy reserve) devised the term "High-Rail". The National Model Railroad Association has recognized "high-Rail" and has formed a committee for the purpose of promoting this phase of the hobby". Both Lionel in two pages of their "Model Builder" magazine, "Model Craftsman" in a series of articles and a number of large hobby shops said this is where the term "High-Rail" came from. D500, sorry you don't like "cute stories" but in this case I think it's true. Hertz's book came out in the 30's, so did the first layout of this father and two son's. Don

Last edited by scale rail
Originally Posted by gg1man:

Hi Jeff,I heard that the O-is a German designator that was picked up by early Lionel from Marklin who first produced three rail track.

I'm sorry someone who speaks German, or knows better needs to confirm this.

That's right, although they call it null (zero).  In the late 19th century the Germans came up with a standardized gauge classification which started with 0 as the smallest, then increasing as 1, 2, and even 3.  Gauge 1 is still around and is a fairly popular scale in Europe.  Ives in the US originally made gauge 1 trains but switched to Lionel's Standard gauge when that became the predominant large gauge train in here.

 

Regarding the origins of Hi-rail, I've heard the story that the OP did.  However, I have a 1940's Walthers catalog with an article by Mr. Walthers explaining it as using toy trains in a realistic way - with the term derived from the higher tinplate rails.  I have also seen the pre-war reference by Louis Hertz.

 

It's all good!

 

John

 


 

Originally Posted by N.Q.D.Y.:

I had always thought that High/Hi-Rail was called such because the O Scale track was taller than the O-27 track. 

Of course, in the real world of trains, that's true - the main line rails are called the "high rails" because the rails are taller (and heavier) than branch line rail.

I'm always interested in old '50s pubs.  This looks to be a great one.  As far as I can tell, the publication dates was, indeed, 1953.  But.  Were their previous editions with different covers? 

 

Don...could you take a photo of the copyright page if it's not too much trouble?  This is one of those great mysteries of train pubs of the '50s.

 

Thanks!

Seacoast, I do also. Glad I saved some of my older books and magazines. In the 1939 and 1940 Lionel catalogs you will see pictures of Lionel Hi-Rail layouts. Also, rthomps I must have been looking at the small print without my glasses, it was 1953. Fawcett books did another of these paperback books in 1952. It included all scales. Don

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If my memory serves me correctly back in the 70's Miron Bigger who then published O Gauge magazine came up with HI-Rail to distunguish O Scale three rail from O Scale two rail since the front cover of O Gauge Railroading magazine stated "For two and three railroaders".  Back then the two rail group didn't consider three rail group O Scale. At some conventions, words between these two groups were somewhat nasty.  Possibily Rich Melvin or Mr. Bigger can chime in about this discussion before we all had the internet.

 

Jack   

Originally Posted by scale rail:

Seacoast, I do also. Glad I saved some of my older books and magazines. In the 1939 and 1940 Lionel catalogs you will see pictures of Lionel Hi-Rail layouts. Also, rthomps I must have been looking at the small print without my glasses, it was 1953. Fawcett books did another of these paperback books in 1952. It included all scales. Don

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Great stuff Don! I found a website awhile back that contains many of the old Model Builder and other out of print magazines and its free. They are all scanned in.Try this link.

http://www.trainlife.com/magaz...anuary-february-1937

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OGR Publishing, Inc., 1310 Eastside Centre Ct, Ste 6, Mountain Home, AR 72653
800-980-OGRR (6477)
www.ogaugerr.com

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