Information About Model Railroad Trains
Model railroad trains have been the focus of many hobbyists for a long time! You can get absorbed in your model train hobby and spend hours creating new layouts and working on equipment. There is so many different ways to approach model trains and it certainly involves more than just collecting. As a hobby, working with model railroad trains includes building little houses, scenery, trees, streets, cars and it goes on as well as getting a thorough understanding of train scales and gauges.
When working with model railroad trains the term scale indicates the relationship between the size of a model train and a large very real train. There are 4 basic scales for model trains and they are G, O, HO, and N. The larger scale trains are grouped into the G scale and that has a ratio of 1:22 and the 0 scale with a ratio of 1:48…these are generally thought of as the larger scale trains. An important feature of the large scale trains is that they run on a No. 1 track. The scale for HO is a ratio of 1:87 which is approximately half the size of the 0 scale. Ironically, HO is an acronym for Half of O! Next would be the N scale and it’s ratio is 1:160 which again, is half the size (smaller) of HO scale. As you would expect, each size has it’s benefits and purpose and these good points will determine which scale you’ll want to begin your journey into model trains. There are 2 scales left, the TT scale is actually larger than the N scale with a ratio of 1:120. The smallest scale, which is the Z scale is smaller than the N scale and has a ratio of 1:220.
Another important aspect of model trains for model railroad trains enthusiasts is the term “guage” which refers to the distance between the two rails or a railroad track. The concept of “guage” is important because it brings some uniformity to the manufacturing of tracks and trains, all manufacturers had to agree on a universal scale so that a train built by company A would fit on the track by Company B for the same scale, in other words they had to be interchangeable. Four feet eight and one half inches is considered the standard guage for American trains. “Narrow Guage” is the term associated with rails that are closer together than the Standard Guage. A distance of 3 feet 6 inches is considered “narrow guage”.
In the beginning of your model train experience you might not even think of things like “scenery”, yet it plays a big part of the whole process. As you grow more experienced in your abilities while working with model trains, it becomes important to make your layout as real as possible. The train hobbyist is limited to his imagination when it comes to scenery. You can add things like rivers, trees, hills, mountains, lakes, ponds, cities, farms to your layout. Determining how to position your track amongst the various physical features of the landscape is half the fun of building your model train layout. The basic track layout keeps the train running in a continuous loop. The loop can be a simple oval shape or even a figure eight shape, and it might be something called twice around which is 2 loops, imagine a dogbone shape. Every model railroad train enthusiast wants to keep their train on the tracks and evade the inevitable derailment, so, plan your curves wide for keeping it on the tracks!
Building and messing around with model railroad trains is as much of the American experience as Apple pie and the hobby of model trains crosses internation boundaries because each country has had a unique experience with trains. Trains are as fascinating for a 5 year youngster as an 80 year old hobbyist not to mention both boys and girls. Probably the greatest part of the experience of planning and building model railroad trains is sharing that experience with friends, relatives and family…..something that can be carried on for generations to come!
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