Is there a standard for measuring length of locomotives?

In the real world, the distance is measured from the coupler faces. Not sure if that's the standard in O scale or not.

In my world there are two considerations:

One being wheelbase, which turntable do I need to use to spin this loco?  With three rail you need to take into consideration the big flanges which add a trifle to the wheelbase length in order for everything to move past the land based rails.

Two being which track will this thing fit on?

Opinion

@Rich Melvin posted:

In the real world, the distance is measured from the coupler faces. Not sure if that's the standard in O scale or not.

Good point, I have never figured out if there is a standard with O-scale.  I see some with comments like exclusive of couplers, that suggests they're not measuring to the coupler face.  OTOH, I've measured some of the Lionel stuff and compared it to their specifications and it appears they are considering the couplers.

GRJ, that's one of the biggest problems with the 3-rail side of the O scale hobby - no standards. The National Model Railroad Association publishes a set of Standards and Recommended Practices for 3-rail, but the 3-rail world (manufacturers and users) seems to ignore them. And that's unfortunate.

This is one of the reasons why there are two essentially incompatible command control systems in 3-rail O scale, with Legacy and DCS. Model train manufacturers in the other scales figured out a long time ago that ONE standard for Digital Command Control (DCC) would be better for the long term health of the hobby than a bunch of different and incompatible standards. The 3-rail people never figured that out, and we are none the better for it.

Sadly, you are right Rich.   It's too late for me to change to another scale, so I'm stuck with it.

You be safe if you indicate when posting how you are measuring, couplers or no couplers

The problem is Bill, how do you interpret all the manufacturer measurements when they don't tell you how they measured.

It is an endless puzzle.  Are we playing with scale equipment or toy trains.  This reminds me of the time I was trying to decide how many different 'Scale' engines Williams produced.  There was a point when he started calling some of his equipment 'scale dimension'.  Well, the length measurement might have been correct but it was difficult to look at the engine and see, 'scale'.

I am happy if you measure the engine/car and just let me know where you measured from and to.

Perhaps we OGR Forum members should adopt the NMRA 3 rail standards for use here on the forum.  And then start lobbying the 3 rail manufacturers to adhere to it.          j

In my opinion 3 rail O  cars should be measured in length from coupler faces, but, two exceptions immediately come up: Some steam locos do not have operating front couplers and the pilot extends beyond the dummy coupler. Some 3 rail cars may have been equipped with Kadee couplers which makes them shorter than those with traditional knuckle couplers.

Maybe this is why HO scale came along and kicked everyone else's a**; they have always been about standards...

Mark in Oregon

@JohnActon posted:

Perhaps we OGR Forum members should adopt the NMRA 3 rail standards for use here on the forum.  And then start lobbying the 3 rail manufacturers to adhere to it.          j

This suggestion should be taken seriously and acted upon.

Someone has to start the ball rolling and it may as well be the folks on this forum to get it started.

Well, as a newbie to O gauge one year ago, the biggest surprise I have had is that there seem to be no standards whatsoever.

Even boxes that say that the product is "O Scale" are often not true.

The industry seem to be a "free for all" when it comes to categorizing products.

Given this, I think the manufacturers should just adopt a standard label that says something like, "This product is O Scale, . . .  err  O Gauge, . . . kinda."

Mannyrock

@Mannyrock posted:

Well, as a newbie to O gauge one year ago, the biggest surprise I have had is that there seem to be no standards whatsoever.

Even boxes that say that the product is "O Scale" are often not true.

The industry seem to be a "free for all" when it comes to categorizing products.

Given this, I think the manufacturers should just adopt a standard label that says something like, "This product is O Scale, . . .  err  O Gauge, . . . kinda."

Mannyrock

Good luck getting any of the 3-Rail toy train manufactures to comply with THAT!

Hot Water hit the nail on the head when he said "toy train Manufacturers". Toy being the operative word.  Actual O Scale is a very small market unique unto itself comprised of O scale, Proto48, and On3. Then there is O gauge, now often called O scale, which is the toy train side of the hobby with a handful of manufacturers competing for a slice of a not very large pie. With this competition has come an intermingling of the toy (not quite scale) trains and the highly detailed scale and almost scale trains made by these toy train companies in an effort to sell more product. At this point the question is similar to; "How do you unscramble an egg?" At this point I'll leave that to others.

modeltrainparts

You eloquently stated just what I was thinking until I read your post, TOY trains.  With Toy trains we do not get all bent out shape on how or if we measure the length of an engine.

With toy trains we do not want let minor details of the trains get in the way of enjoying and having fun with our model trains.  After all even a $2000 super detailed Scale engine is still just a Model train.

Charlie

For some steam, which hole in the drawbar are you using?  Is the tender set to go around O42 curves or O128 curves.

Come over to USA-made, prewar Lionel, where standards are "Loosey-Goosey!" In other words, if it looks close enough, that's good enough for some of us, me included.

Nice conversation. Happy Fourth to all.

Tom

Just ask my ex-wife.  "THEIR ALL TOYS" !          j