Lionel Prewar Tin Buildings 184, 189, & 191. Are these O gauge? They seem small.

Yes, They are O gauge.

Yes they are technically O gauge but back in the day they weren’t as concerned with exact scale building sizes like today. More of a toy like appearance and size was the norm which is OK with me! 

They are about 4 inches tall, which is 16 feet in o scale, so Eddie g is correct, this is what they actually are.

But interestingly enough, the were originally marketed for Standard Gauge train layouts, despite being half the size they should have been. But in tinplate land, crossing gates are as tall as a locomotive and as long as a boxcar, and gatemen a d flagmen are twenty feet tall.

I like the white one with the green trim. Architecture is very New Jersey. Not surprising, Lionel was based in New Jersey, and two of the houses were based on the homes of Lionel executives, namely the Caruso brothers.

Thanks for all the great info and insight guys! 

Those buildings and elevated plots were removed from a Lionel 920 Scenic Park . I have never seen them separated from the plywood base like that. Very interesting find I wonder what happened to the rest of it.

My yellow 911 with a red roof was given me for my 8^th birthday in 1942. Interesting that my dad could still find one (leftover stock) at the downtown Los Angeles Bullocks Dept. store nine months after Pearl Harbor. At 78 with its plot intact, it’s the center piece of my layout. But placed back a ways, its slightly small size works out perfectly.