scc (12/02/82)
Can somebody tell me what the scaling factor is for HO size model railroads. Thanks in Advance Sally Catena Western Electric-burlington, nc floyd!burl!scc
jcw (12/03/82)
And while they're telling us the HO scale, can someone tell us what readily available toys are available in the same scale? Seems like I once heard that 'matchbox' toys are HO scale, but I've never been able to verify it.
swanson (12/05/82)
#R:burl:-12700:uiucdcs:20600001:000:490 uiucdcs!swanson Dec 5 12:36:00 1982 For HO scale the scale data is: Proportion to prototype : 1/87.1 Scale to prototype feet, in decimals of an inch : 0.138 Scale to prototype feet, in fractions of an inch : 1/7.3 Distance between rails, in inches : .65 This information is from "The Complete Book of Model Railroading" by David Sutton, (Castle Books:New York). It is a bit old (1964) and a little outdated, but still an excellent starter book. Robert Swanson Thiensville Railroad
prgclb@sri-unix (12/07/82)
A bit of trivia -- I understand that the meaning of HO is "half - 0." HO gauge was the first attempt to miniaturize the predominant O gauge. However, I don't think that HO is exactly half - 0, I think it's a little larger. Any experts who can confirm, deny or amplify this? Carl Blesch
heliotis (12/08/82)
What is HOn3 and HOn2-1/2? I saw these in an issue of Model Railroader.
jis (12/08/82)
I have always been curious to know why the HO gauge is called HO in the US and OO (or double-O) in UK. As far as I know the scaling factors and everything else is the same in both. Then why the two different names? The scales of model railroads are usually with reference to the standard gauge (4'81/2"). Is there any convention for specifying scale factors with respect to other gauges? I am interested in HO scale factors with respect to broad gauge (5'6"). This is the predominant gauge in several countries of the world: eg. India, Pakistan, Spain, and some others. Any info about this would be much appreciated. Jishnu Mukerji BTL Holmdel 1B-425 UUCP address: harpo!hocsd!jis ARPA address: jishnu at MIT-MC
CAD:quarles (12/10/82)
#R:rocheste:-29800:ucbcad:29000003:000:529 ucbcad!quarles Dec 9 16:08:00 1982 What is HOn3 and HOn2-1/2? I saw these in an issue of Model Railroader. These are terms used for referring to narrow gauge railroads. A standard gauge railroad is (I think) 4 feet 9 1/2 inches center to center between the rails, and standard HO scale models this with rails spaced 1/87 of this distance (approx. 18.7 mm) apart. HOn3 is a model based on a narrow gauge prototype with a 3 foot center to center rail spacing. Similarly, HOn2-1/2 models a narrow gauge prototype with a 2.5 foot center to center rail spacing.
stocker (12/10/82)
HOn3 is HO narrow guage with a distance between rails of 3 scale feet. HOn2 1/2 is the same with 2 1/2 scale feet between rails. Such smaller (than the 4 foot 8 1/2 standard) gauges were used out west where the mountains wouldn't allow for larger roadbed and equipment, in some Eastern railroads where the cost of 'real' equipmet nt was prohibitive, in amusement parks, etc. dave pur-ee!stocker
emma (01/07/83)
I don't know anything about the UK, but for a while Lionel had a OO scale over here, which was slightly larger than HO. While on the scale topic, here are some other questions-- what was American Flyer's S gauge? what was Linonel's OO gauge (all I know about it is "larger than HO") what is the difference between O gauge and Linoel's O27 gauge? what is N gauge? -Joe P.
heliotis (01/10/83)
I recently went to a model railroading meet, and asked about the difference between "O" and "O27" scales. I was told that the only difference is in the height of the rails (I forgot the reason). O27 is newer. The "27" refers to the radius of the curved track. One can use the same cars on either system, I believe. Jim Heliotis