Gauges smallest to largest?

Should start with  T - Z - N - TT - HO - OO - S ...

T is a newer tiny scale 1:450 originated in Japan. "T" stands for Three-millimeter gauge. It is becoming an established modelling scale in other countries.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T_scale

Not quite.

Z is the smallest gauge that is widely used: 6 mm between the rails. 1/220 scale

N is next at 9 mm.  In fact the N came from "Nine" or possibly "Neun" in German. 1/160 scale

TT is next at 1/120 scale.

HO is 1/87 scale.

S is 1/64 with a tiny bit over 7/8" between the rails.

O gauge is 1 1/4" between the rails.

1 gauge or G is 45 mm or a little over 1 7/8" between the rails.

Standard gauge is 2 1/8" and was an invention of JLC.  There was nothing standard about it since it was different from all other gauges around at the time.

There is a recent minority scale that is truly tiny.  T gauge trains are 1/450 scale and the rails are 3 mm (T for "Three") apart!

http://www.t-gauge.net/

I guess you are not including the off-scale stuff like On3? Supposedly O scale trains on H.O. tracks. Or Lionel's OO gauge?

Lee F.

I guess we started out talking scales. If we include all the gauge variations the list will be a lot longer ... 

what does the "Z"  in z gauge stand for ?

"Z" was supposed to be the smallest final gauge/scale. Like the end of the alphabet. But now "T" is less than half the size of "Z". Maybe "T" could have been designated "ZZ". 

NO:

From smallest to largest (most common consumer/commercially available scales): 

Z, N, TT, HO, S, O, Std., #1(G, F, etc.)

I do NOT include the many specialized/limited interest/novelty scale variations that are not common to the mass consumer market of the hobby of model railroading, such as T, Z, or whatever.  That list is virtually endless, with most being single-manufacturer products.

ON3 (and On30, On2) is still O scale, no matter how you slice it.  Only the track gauge is different. 

On3 doesn't run on HO track.  On30 will.

Rusty

what happened to OO   (1/76)  as in Lionel pre-war Hudson?   I read an article some years back that OO was used in England primarily because they didnt have motors small enough to fit into  HO gauge British prototype locomotives as they are smaller then US prototypes.  bertiejoa

TY is now the smallest at 1:900. It would be close to G scale on an O scale layout.

Pete

Don't forget 'T' gauge.   These are amazing little trains. I have thought of using some as a miniature/garden railway on an O gauge layout.  http://www.tgauge.com

From smallest to largest (most common consumer/commercially available scales):

 

Z, N, TT, HO, S, O, Std., #1(G, F, etc.)

 

Allan Miller, Editor-In-Chief O Gauge Railroading magazine

"T" scale is commercially available, it is no longer just in Japan. And it has Magne-traction !!! 

http://www.tgauge.com/ 

"At a scale of 1:450 T Gauge is the smallest commercially available model railway ... Our original T-shaped layout, "T for Three" that we showed around the UK is ... 

http://www.bukisa.com/articles...-gauge-train-layouts 

"T-gauge is the smallest working model train scale, with 3mm-wide track.  There are smaller-scale miniature trains, like the novelty TY-scale, but they do not run on actual track, merely drive belts, and are considered more novelty than practical scales to work with. 

"T-gauge was introduced by a Japanese company, Eishindo, and it is possible that other companies will soon begin producing T-gauge trains.

I think all these small gauges were invented by optomotrists (sp?) to bring in business.

Don't forget the largest of the gauges!  1:1 or prototype!

As we all know:

US 1:48 O "scale" and O "gauge" don't match up. It makes the

gauge equal to 5 feet, which is wrong. That's why the 1:43.5 "scale" used in much of Europe and Britain is correct for O "gauge".

Then the British love OO scale, but run it on HO track, I think, which makes that gauge or scale wrong for 4'8.5" standard gauge (not to be confused with Standard Gauge). So welcome to our world.

Monorail modeling would eliminate all this wackiness.

If you want to include more of the scale and gauge variations like On30 and Nn3, and some of the obsolete scales and gauges:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R...ort_modelling_scales

I believe there used to be a "Q" gauge which sought to correct the discrepancy between 1:48 scale and 1.25" gauge by using a slightly different gauge or scale?

"Z" stands for zip, i.e. nada, i.e. too small to see it.

.....

Dennis

Q gauge was 1/4" scale, but the track gauge was the correct 4'8.5".  Proto:48 has pretty much replaced Q gauge.

Rusty

Can we please get our terms correct here?

"GAUGE" is nothing more than the distance between the rails. I know, I know...it is used incorrectly ALL THE TIME, but wrong is still wrong. Shoot, even the title of our magazine is "wrong" so to speak.

"SCALE" is the relative size of the model compared to the real thing. That is what we're talking about here, not the gauge of the rails.

I appreciate the frustration, but without the OP clarifying, how do we know which one he meant? 

From the wording of his question, he very well might have meant how far between the rails, even though the question of scale would probably be more commonly asked.

-Dave

For an illustration of scales from Z to G, see post at the end of Page 1 of the thread, "Did Someone Say 'Santa Fe'?"

This is the photo referred to:

Good one, TrainsRMe ! Does this include TT ?

Yes it does (with an asterisk).  The 3rd one from the right is a Lionel diecast series from about 14 years ago, non-powered but TT scale.

Well Ace, L-to-R they are:

-Aristo-Craft 1/29 scale, or G or #1 or Large Scale, whatever you want to call it

-Marx #21, about O-scale

-Marx #1095, 027

-American Flyer #360, S

-Athearn, HO

-Lionel TT, 1/120 scale

-Life-Like, N

-Marklin, Z

My first goal in collecting was the Warbonnets in all the scales.  My wife helped enormously, gifting me the G, S and Z at Christmases.

I never heard of Lionel TT !   ... I guess those are the Lionel - Hallmark ornaments

Here is link to a youtube displaying a TY scale layout.

It is 4" x 7", yes , inches.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8n42kGTYbWY

I see the Alpha scales are covered here.

There is also the numeric scale some of which is an overlap.

#0000 Four ought  (This was a size designated over 60 years ago but to my knowledge was never built)

#000  Three ought

#00  Double ought

Half 0  Half ought

#0  Ought

#1

#2

#3

Then we have 1" and 1 1/2" at the Rahns PA club.

I wouldn't classify TY as a "real" scale/gauge.  I have one of these layouts (got it as a **** gift from a well meaning in-law) and the train rides in a slot between the "rails" with power from a belt that sits below the layout surface.  "T" gauge is the smallest rail-riding self-propelled model train out there at the moment.

Thanks everyone for clarification and yes when I indicated gauge I did mean distance between the rails.  However the comments on scale and respective photos were very helpful.  Just a great forum

Again thanks

I would agree as they are not self propelled but they would make an accurate sized garden railroad on an O scale layout. T would be closer to live steam.

Pete

T scale makes N look large !  That's Z in the middle. http://www.t-gauge.net/faq.htm

On an O scale layout, T scale could represent a 1:10 scale miniature railway with a track gauge of 5.7".  That's not too far off from 5" gauge used for some real-life rideable trains.

Here's a spaghetti bowl layout for T scale in 45"x 24". Possibilities for an amusement park railway in O-gauge.

http://www.t-gauge.net/plan_9.htm

All I can say is wow!  (Do they make a Santa Fe Warbonnet??) 

Back to the original question of track gauges and scales ...

These are the prototype gauges that can be represented by using a different modelling gauge with 1:48 scale.

Scale/Gauge -         gauge represented in 1:48 scale

G     45mm     1.77"     7'1"

O     32mm     1.25"     5'0"

S     22.4mm   7/8"      3'6"

HO  16.5mm   0.65"      31"

TT   12 mm     0.47"     23"

N      9 mm      0.35"    17"

Z      6.5mm    0.26"    12"

T      3 mm      0.12"     5.7"