2 Questions

G

Gil Finn

Active Member
Aug 28, 2005
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Bergoo W Va
What is Kato? An engine or a manuacturere?

HO is a gauge, why is it called scale?

Is there more than one scale in HO or is it standard?

Thank you..ask and answered
 
Kato is a model manufacturer.

Calling HO a gauge is very common but erroneous terminology. It's a scale: 1/87th scale. If you model, say, the three-foot-gauge roads of Colorado in 1/87th, it's still HO. (Many people call that HOn3.) You may be confused by its British counterpart OO, which is 1/76th scale but runs on (incorrect) 1/87th track.
 
Triplex is correct: There is only one scale in HO, but there are many gauges. HO refers to the scale, the proportion between the model and the real thing. The gauge is simply the distance between the rails. Standard gauge in HO is 4'8.5" in HO scale--about 16.5mm. HOn3 is three-foot gauge, HO scale--HOm is meter gauge, HO scale--and so on.
 
...then, modelers like me put a twist in the mix when we model HOn30---HO scale equipment built to run on N gauge track. This allows the use of N scale parts and mechanisms to replicate 30" gauge prototype trains.
 
Years ago (decades ago!) we didn't care about it. We referred to everything by "gauge" because all that mattered was if thrains would run on the track. (The toy manufacturers made up the gauges originally.) Then someone said, "What do you mean, an O gauge barn?" and we all had to start saying "O scale". The toy manufacturers didn't care because most of their product wasn't to scale anyway.
So, HO is a scale but also a track gauge for models of standard gauge trains.

And don't even try to understand G.
 
There's more than one G scale, but there are many scales using the same track, and terminology is inconsistent. 1/32, for which the track represents standard gauge. This is technically called Gauge 1. 1/29, for which the track represents standard gauge (incorrectly). 1/24, for which the track represents... I'm not sure what. 1/22.5, for which the track represents metre-gauge. This is the scale made by LGB, and is one of the two scales that are actually called G. 1/20.3, for which the track represents three-foot gauge. This scale is also called G. I believe the NMRA decided to call it F, but this name hasn't caught on. Often, all of these are collectively called "Large Scale". Sometimes, that term encompasses other scales using different track.
 
HO came from the scale of the trains. the track is referred to as ho gauge track because its rails are a scale 4' 8 1/2" in HO, and mostly HO trains use it. generally though HO gauge reffers to track size, but HO scale is the scale of the trains and equipment. neither is really wrong, it just depends on what you are talking about.
 
Gil Finn said:
So what then, HO means Half of O gauge?
Click to expand...

Basically, yes, though HO is 1:87.1 and O scale is 1:48 or 1:45, depending on which camp you find yourself in, half of which would be 1:96 or 1:90 respectively.:thumb:
 
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