Standard gauge scale for vehicles

It is all a matter what you like. I like 1/24 scale vehicles. Most folks use 1/32. I also like Barclay figures. I have found the G scale figures look nice too. Some people use a combination of many different scales. All said , it is a matter of personal preference.

I use 1/24 scale. I have some Franklin mint cars and even the $10 ones at the drug store don't look bad.

Tinplate Wide Gauge or Standard Gauge trains have no true "SCALE" so you can use ANY toy cars that pleases your eye. It can be tin, cast iron, white metal, plastic, wooden or whatever, IF it pleases you that's all that matters.

 

Remember it's YOUR railroad.

 

Ron M

The old Barclay lead figures are about 3" tall, which is a 6' 0" man at 1:24 scale or 1/2" = 1'.   The new Preiser figures for G scale are also 1:24.   Most of my standard gauge layout uses 1:24 figures and vehicles. 

 

But:

The other old lead figures that are commonly used with standard gauge are the Timpo, Britains, Johillco (Crescent, Charbens, etc. etc.) figures which are 54mm or about 2-1/4" tall which is closer to 1:32 or 1:35, which is 3/8" = 1'.  If you want figures to actually fit, say, on the back deck of your standard gauge observation cars, these will fit better.  There are also some standard gauge accessories that the smaller figures work well with.  These figures are also a lot of fun to collect because there is a much wider variety.

 

So I have an area of my layout that has the smaller accessories and the 54mm lead figures, with 1:32 vehicles.  It's further back from the front of the layout, so a "forced perspective" works.  Surprisingly, mixing the scales seems to work, I have never had anyone mention that they noticed two different sized people or vehicles.  I think you could only pull that off with standard gauge:  all the equipment is random scaled, so they eye accepts anything within that range.

 

I also think 1/24 cars look good with Standard Gauge, and there is a great variety available.  But as has been mentioned, Standard is not a specific scale, so use whatever looks good to you.

I use 1/32. The pickup trucks and fire engines that MTH has used for flatcar loads appear to be about 1/32. I put passengers in my Standard Gauge Hiawatha cars and USA Trains 1/32 passengers fit perfectly and looked just right. Unfortunately those passenger packs are no longer made. 

Consider using classic "pressed steel" toy cars and trucks that were fabricated in the 30's and 40's.  Girard, Marx and Wyandotte made some great ones that look perfect with Standard Gauge trains.

 

Bob Nelson

As Bob said..I reconditioned a Marx truck ( the post elsewhere in Tinplate) for this purpose.

Thanks for all the info. I understand what people say, standard gauge really does not have a scale, so use what you want and I am not a over crazy person when it comes to detail but I do want it to look nice. Since standard gauge is smaller then G gauge, I thought the 1/32 would be better. I have checked around some and Preiser figures look very nice but they make both 1/32 and 1/24, so I think I might get a couple of both sizes then see what I like. I am also going to search around for the lead type figures and see how they look. For now my tinplate layout will be up for Christmas only so I can play around with it and hope by the time I am ready for a layout to stay up year around I will be locked into what I want to use. Thanks again everything and hope you all have a great holiday season. Take care, Frank

A mixture of modern Preiser, old 3" lead, 3" Trico, and other assorted 1:24 scale figures on Standard Gauge layout:

 

 

Here is the area that is exclusively vintage Barclay 3" lead figures with 1:24 vehicles:

 

 

Preiser 1:24 are just right for the window and door heights on some stations:

 

 

But these are 1:32 figures and a 1:24 vehicle with this Lionel 113:

 

 

G scale figures work well with older Lionel like the #7 loco and #29 day coaches; also with McCoy - 

 

 

This is part of the area using smaller stations, 1:32 scale vehicles, and the 54mm series of old lead figures: Timpo, Johillco, Crescent, and so on:

 

 

Here are some 54mm lead figures on Standard Gauge observation decks:

 

 

But the 1:24 LGB figures fit better on the Green State Set Observation: