Model Railway Trains - Gauges and Scales

Before deciding to purchase any equipment it  will obviously depend on what you are hoping to achieve with your set up. Consideration should have been given to:-

• The location where you intend to assemble the layout.
• Whether it is intended to be a basic train set for use by the children, to be assembled and disassembled quickly.
• If you intend the setup to be more permanent and to be extended in the future.
• The degree of detail that you would be satisfied with on your model railway trains.
• What budget you intend to work to.

Once you have considered these factors you should decide what gauge and model train scale of track would best suit your requirement. The scale denotes the physical size of the locomotive and rolling stock which is the ratio of the model size compared to the life sized. The scales adopted in the model railway world, did not in the early days, conform to any universal standard but was chosen at the whim of the maker to suit his preferred model size, over time however a degree of conformity was established and gave rise to the model scales of today. Generally the larger scale the finer the detail.

There are numerous gauges in use worldwide, all serving to satisfy the particular requirements of railroad companies and the regions in which they operates. Track gauges generally range either side of the so-called "standard guage" which is defined in lifesize as being of 1,435 mm between tracks. Those tracks with a dimension greater than this figure are known as "broad guage railways" and those of less dimension "narrow guage railways". Narrow guage railways were over time discontinued and whilst cheaper to produce, standard guage became the preferred choice. The larger proportion of the worlds railways, approximately 60%, are of the standard guage tracks. In a similar manner, a scale model railway has several track gauges. During the transition it was not unknown that the two guage systems met which necessitated the off and on loading of cargo.

Different gauge designations are given to the different scale ratios between a life size rail track dimension and a model railway track. The dimension is that distance between the track rail centres.

Here is a table of the wide range of the more popular model railway trains guages and scales in use today.

 There are several other model train scales in use and there are some variations between the US. UK. and European scales.

At the end of the day the scale that you decide upon must be a personal choice influenced largely on the cost that you are willing to pay and the available room in which to build the setup.

A useful site which would be of interest to the more serious model railway enthusiast, looking for further information on the history and details of model railway train scales is:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Model_railway_scales