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O scale (or O gauge) is a scale commonly used for toy trains and
rail transport modelling Railway modelling (UK, Australia, New Zealand, and Ireland) or model railroading (US and Canada) is a hobby in which rail transport systems are modelled at a reduced scale. The scale models include locomotives, rolling stock, streetcars, ...
. Introduced by German toy manufacturer
Märklin Gebr. Märklin & Cie. GmbH or Märklin (MÄRKLIN or MAERKLIN in capital letters) is a German toy company. The company was founded in 1859 and is based at Göppingen in Baden-Württemberg. Although it originally specialised in doll house accesso ...
around 1900, by the 1930s three-rail
alternating current Alternating current (AC) is an electric current which periodically reverses direction and changes its magnitude continuously with time in contrast to direct current (DC) which flows only in one direction. Alternating current is the form in whic ...
O gauge was the most common model railroad scale in the United States and remained so until the early 1960s. In Europe, its popularity declined before
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
due to the introduction of smaller scales. O gauge had its heyday when model railroads were considered toys, with more emphasis placed on cost, durability, and the ability to be easily handled and operated by pre-adult hands. Detail and realism were secondary concerns, at best. It still remains a popular choice for those hobbyists who enjoy running trains more than they enjoy other aspects of modeling, but developments in recent years have addressed the concerns of scale model railroaders making O scale popular among fine-scale modellers who value the detail that can be achieved. The size of O is larger than OO/HO layouts, and thus is a factor in making the decision to build an O gauge layout. Collecting vintage O gauge trains is also popular and there is a market for both reproduction and vintage models.


History

The name for O gauge and O scale is derived from "0
ero ''Ero'' is a genus of pirate spiders first described in 1836. They resemble comb-footed spiders due to their globular abdomen, which is higher than it is long. Description The upper side of their abdomen bears one or two pairs of conical tu ...
gauge" or "Gauge 0" being smaller than
Gauge 1 1 gauge, gauge 1 or gauge one is a model railway and toy train standard that was popular in the early 20th century, particularly with European manufacturers. Its track measures , making it larger than 0 gauge but slightly smaller than wide gauge ...
and the other then-existing standards. It was created in part because manufacturers realized their best selling trains were those built in the smaller scales. In the United States, manufacturers such as the Ives Manufacturing Company, American Flyer, and Lionel Corporation used O gauge for their budget line, marketing either Gauge 1 or 'Wide gauge' (also known as 'standard gauge') as their premium trains. One of the Lionel Corporation's most popular trains, the 203 Armoured Locomotive, was O gauge and ran on tracks with rails spaced 1.25 inches apart. The
Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
wiped out demand for the expensive larger trains, and by 1932, O gauge was the standard, almost by default. Because of the emphasis on play value, the scale of pre-
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
O gauge trains varied. The Märklin specifications called for 1:43.5 scale. However, many designs were 1:48 scale or 1:64 scale. Early Marx Trains and entry-level trains, usually made of lithographed tin plate, were not scaled at all, made to whimsical proportions about the same length of an
HO scale HO or H0 is a rail transport modelling scale using a 1:87 scale (3.5 mm to 1 foot). It is the most popular scale of model railway in the world. The rails are spaced apart for modelling standard gauge tracks and trains in HO. NMRA"Mo ...
("half O") piece, but about the same width and height of an O scale piece. Yet all of these designs ran on the same track, and, depending on the manufacturer(s) of the cars, could sometimes be coupled together and run as part of the same train. After World War II, manufacturers started paying more attention to scale, and post-war locomotives and rolling stock tended to be larger and more realistic than their earlier counterparts. This has been reflected in the change of name from O ''gauge'' to O ''scale'': ''gauge'' describes merely the distance between the rails, while ''scale'' describes the size ratio of a model as it relates to its real-world
prototype A prototype is an early sample, model, or release of a product built to test a concept or process. It is a term used in a variety of contexts, including semantics, design, electronics, and software programming. A prototype is generally used to ...
. Since the early 1990s, O scale manufacturers have begun placing more emphasis on realism, and the scale has experienced a resurgence in popularity, although it remains less popular than HO or N scale. However, newer manufacturers including MTH Electric Trains, Lionel, LLC, Atlas Model Railroad Co and Weavermodels are making very exact, 1:48 scale models of trains. In the United Kingdom the dominant O gauge manufacturer before World War II was
Meccano Ltd Meccano Ltd was a British toy manufacturing company, established in 1908 by Frank Hornby in Liverpool, England, to manufacture and distribute Meccano and other model toys and kits created by the company. During the 1920s and 1930s it became th ...
. who from 1920 produced a range of clockwork and electric models under the "Hornby" name.


Standards

The differences in the various O gauge and O scale standards can be confusing. O gauge model railroad tracks typically have their rails spaced apart with the United States National Model Railroad Association (NMRA) standard allowing spacings between 31.75 mm and 32.64 mm.


Scale and gauge

Scale refers to the size of the model relative to the actual full-sized object being represented, while
gauge Gauge ( or ) may refer to: Measurement * Gauge (instrument), any of a variety of measuring instruments * Gauge (firearms) * Wire gauge, a measure of the size of a wire ** American wire gauge, a common measure of nonferrous wire diameter, ...
is the width of the model track. Most commercially produced model track is a compromise between appearance and a trouble-free running surface.


Scale

Scale is the ratio of a model dimension to the real life dimension. O Scale in the UK is commonly 1:43.5 or 7 mm to the foot, in continental Europe it is commonly 1:45 though 1:43.5 is also used particularly in France, and in the USA 1:48. Each region tends to design models to its own scale. The
NMRA The National Model Railroad Association (NMRA) is a non-profit organization for those involved in the hobby or business of model railroading. It was founded in the United States in 1935, and is also active in Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom ...
and the
MOROP MOROP is a European association that federates national associations of railroad and model railroad enthusiasts. MOROP was founded in Genoa, Italy by Italo Briano in 1954, and now has its headquarters in Bern, Switzerland. In 2006, MOROP federate ...
maintain detailed standards for a variety of scales to help model makers create interoperable models.


Gauge

''Gauge'' refers to the distance between the inside edges of the load-bearing rails. Various sizes of
track gauge In rail transport, track gauge (in American English, alternatively track gage) is the distance between the two rails of a railway track. All vehicles on a rail network must have wheelsets that are compatible with the track gauge. Since many ...
exist around the world and the normal O gauge track represents the Standard gauge of . "O gauge" refers to tracks that are apart. When used as a
narrow-gauge A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curves, smaller structu ...
track, O gauge allows scales such as 1:32 representing gauge track. 1:20 representing narrow-gauge railways. Regional model manufacturers design their O-scale rolling stock with minor regional scale differences — manufacturers support their rolling stock with track made to the same regional scales, so there is no universal width for O-gauge model track. Models could represent the real-world standard gauge track spacing of by choosing various spacings such as at 1:48 scale, at 1:45.2 scale, at 1:44.8 scale, at 7 mm:1 ft scale, and at 1:43.5 scale. Model makers choose their scale based on many considerations including the existing marketplace, aesthetic concerns and compatibility with existing models.


Wide- or narrow-gauge track

Some O-scale modelers choose to model prototypes at other than standard gauge and follow wide gauge (also known as
broad-gauge A broad-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge (the distance between the rails) broader than the used by standard-gauge railways. Broad gauge of , commonly known as Russian gauge, is the dominant track gauge in former Soviet Union (CIS ...
) or
narrow-gauge A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curves, smaller structu ...
railroads. There is no standard for wide- or narrow-gauge model track, and modelers wishing to portray such railway track either build their own, or more commonly accept the shortcomings of appropriately wider or narrower gauge model track. , and are the more popular track widths used by indoor enthusiasts modeling narrow gauge. Differences in regional scales give different prototype gauges to these different model track widths. For example, using specially manufactured gauge track, scaled at 7 mm to the foot (with appropriately spaced, larger
sleepers ''Sleepers'' is a 1996 American legal crime drama film written, produced, and directed by Barry Levinson, and based on Lorenzo Carcaterra's 1995 book of the same name. The film stars Kevin Bacon, Jason Patric, Brad Pitt, Robert De Niro, Dustin H ...
, etc.) underneath: # UK O scale rolling stock (1:43.5), it becomes a narrow-gauge track of , and is referred to as " O 16.5". Modelers portray gauges between and . # European O scale rolling stock (1:45 or 1:43.5 in France), it becomes a narrow-gauge track of , and is referred to as " Oe" portraying a , and prototype. Modelers portray gauges between 650 mm and 800 mm prototype. # United States O scale rolling stock (1:48), it becomes a narrow-gauge track of , and is referred to as " On 2½" (or On30, as in 30 inches).


Om gauge

The Om gauge (O-22.5 gauge) includes the actual narrow-gauges from 850 to 1250 mm and with it the metric gauge. This applies to both 1:43.4 and 1:45 scale model trains. Metric model railroaders generally use the 0m scale with a gauge of 22.5 mm. The starting point is the NEM standards concerning 0m gauge that were created at the end of the 1950s.


O-27 gauge

''O-27 gauge'' is variant whose origins are slightly unclear. Some historians attribute its creation to
A. C. Gilbert Company The A. C. Gilbert Company was an American toy company, once one of the largest in the world. Gilbert originated the Erector Set, which is a construction toy similar to Meccano in the rest of the world, and made chemistry sets, microscope kits, ...
's American Flyer, but Ives Manufacturing Company used O-27 track in its entry-level sets at least a decade before Gilbert bought Flyer. The modern standard for O-27, however, was formalized after 1938 by Gilbert, who scaled the locomotives and rolling stock to 1:64 scale. After World War II, this practice was continued by
Louis Marx and Company Louis Marx and Company was an American toy manufacturer in business from 1919 to 1980. They made many types of toys including tin toys, toy soldiers, toy guns, action figures, dolls, toy cars and model trains. Some of their notable toys are ...
, who used it throughout its product line, and Lionel, who used it for its entry-level trains. O-27 track is spaced at the same width as regular O gauge track, but is slightly shorter in height and has thinner rails than traditional O gauge track. A shim underneath the O-27 track enables the use of O and O-27 track together. The O-27 name comes from the size of the track's curves. A circle made of eight pieces of standard 45-degree curved O gauge track will have a diameter. A circle made of 8 pieces of 45-degree curved O-27 track is smaller, with a diameter. Full-sized O cars sometimes have difficulty negotiating the tighter curves of an O-27 layout. Although the smaller, tin lithographed cars by American Flyer, Marx, and others predate the formal O-27 standard, they are also often called O-27, because they also operate flawlessly on O-27 track. Marx may have dedicated its entire line to O-27, but only the Lionel Corporation remains to produce O-27 track and trains. Its tubular rail is a standard of the tinplate era.


Super-O gauge

"Super-O gauge" is a variant whose origin stems from Lionel's desire to create a more realistic looking track and improve sagging sales in the late 1950s.


Exact scale standards

Dissatisfaction with these standards led to a more accurate standard for wheels and track called ''Proto:48'' This duplicates to exact scale the AAR track and wheel standards. In the United Kingdom a similar ScaleSeven system exists. The track gauge normally used for O of 32 mm or the near-approximation  inch is for Standard gauge () approximately equivalent to at 1:48 scale, at 1:45 and at 1:43.5. Possibly because of the large size of American railroad systems, accurate scale modeling in standard gauge O gauge is rare in the United States, though
narrow-gauge A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curves, smaller structu ...
modeling is much more common. Four common narrow-gauge standards exist, and the differences among ''On3,'' ''On2,'' ''On30,'' and ''On18'' are frequent sources of confusion. On3 is exact-scale 1:48 modeling of gauge prototypes, while On30 is 1:48 modeling of gauge prototypes, On2 is 1:48 modeling of gauge prototypes, and On18 is 1:48 modeling of gauge prototypes. On30 is also sometimes called On2½. Because On30's gauge closely matches that of HO track, On30 equipment typically runs on standard HO scale track. While many On30 modelers scratchbuild their equipment, commercial offerings in On30 are fairly common and sometimes very inexpensive, with
Bachmann Industries Bachmann Industries (Bachmann Brothers, Inc.) is a Bermuda-registered, Chinese-owned company, globally headquartered in Hong Kong; specialising in model railroading. Founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the home of its North American headqu ...
being the most commonly found manufacturer. Hobbyists who choose to model in any of these O gauge standards nevertheless end up building most, if not all, of their equipment either from kits or from scratch.


Power supply

Models that are either built to 1:43 scale, 7 mm:1 foot (1:43.5), 1:45 scale, or 1:48 scale can run on realistic-looking two-rail track using
direct current Direct current (DC) is one-directional flow of electric charge. An electrochemical cell is a prime example of DC power. Direct current may flow through a conductor such as a wire, but can also flow through semiconductors, insulators, or eve ...
(Commonly known as ''2-Rail O''), or on a center third power rail or a center stud supply system. If modeling such a system, an external third rail or overhead supply may be employed. While two-rail O has traditionally been more popular in Europe, and
alternating current Alternating current (AC) is an electric current which periodically reverses direction and changes its magnitude continuously with time in contrast to direct current (DC) which flows only in one direction. Alternating current is the form in whic ...
powered three-rail more popular in the United States, two-rail O is currently experiencing a resurgence in popularity in the United States, due to increased availability of ready-to-run models from several manufacturers. The recent development of Digital Command Control (DCC) power systems with built in sound have also increased the popularity of two rail O scale models.


Die-cast metal models compatible with O scale

Many manufacturers produce die-cast models of trucks, cars, buses, construction equipment and other vehicles in scales compatible with or similar to O scale model trains. These are available in 1:43 scale, 1:48 scale and 1:50 scale. Manufacturers include Conrad, NZG,
Corgi The Welsh Corgi ( or Corgi, plural Corgis, or occasionally the etymologically consistent Corgwn; ) is a small type of herding dog that originated in Wales. The name ''corgi'' is derived from the Welsh words and (which is mutated to ), mean ...
, TWH Collectibles. Ertl, and many others. These are popular with collectors and easy to find.


Geographical area


European (other than UK and former USSR)

0 scale is one of the scales defined by the
NEM Nem (Vietnamese language, Vietnamese: món nem) refers to various dishes in Vietnamese cuisine, Vietnamese, depending on the locality. Nem may refer to: *Nem rán, known in foreign countries as spring rolls, fried rolls or Vietnamese Imperial r ...
as 1:45 scale. However, for historical reasons they use the number "zero" rather than the letter as the name for the scale. A situation similar to that in Britain exists in continental Europe, although the market revolves less around kits and more around expensive hand-built metal models for the deep-pocketed collector. Additionally, Czech Republic-based Electric Train Systems started manufacturing and selling lithographed tin 1:45 scale trains in 1991, citing O gauge's advantages over smaller sizes for non-permanent floor layouts and outdoor layouts. The Spanish company Paya produces a smaller line of tinplate trains, based on designs dating back to 1906. In Germany a narrow-gauge train set is produced by Fleischmann, running on track, this scale is called "0e" ( prototype). The trains are marketed as children's toy trains (Magic Train), but are accurately built after Austrian prototypes and increased the interest in building narrow-gauge layouts in Germany and Austria significantly. Since 2006 there are again some reasonably priced O-scale plastic models available, manufactured by DCC developer Lenz. In the 1970s both Italian branches of Rivarossi and Lima produced large quantities of "0" models, mainly Italian and German trains, later on coaches and wagons from Switzerland. In the late 1970s hand made models of the Orient Express could be found in several German hobby stores, along with other highly detailed accessories. Special brands for high procession were Lemaco, Fulgurex, Euro Train, Markscheffel & Lennartz, making models in small quantities.


Former Soviet Union

Between 1951 and 1969, a limited number of O gauge train sets were manufactured in the
Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
. Utilizing the same track and
voltage Voltage, also known as electric pressure, electric tension, or (electric) potential difference, is the difference in electric potential between two points. In a static electric field, it corresponds to the work needed per unit of charge to ...
as their U.S. counterparts, the colorful locomotives and cars resembled pre-
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
designs from U.S. manufacturers Lionel and American Flyer and the couplers were nearly identical to those of pre-war American Flyer. Some differences in U.S. and Soviet railroading were evident from comparing the Soviet sets with U.S. sets, particularly in the design of the boxcar, which looked like an American Flyer boxcar with windows added, reflecting the Soviets' use of box cars to haul livestock, as well as merchandise. Much like their U.S. counterparts, Soviet O gauge trains were toys, rather than precision-scaled models. Specifications *scale ratio: 1:48 *gauge: 32 mm *prototype gauge:


United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom, O gauge equipment is produced at a scale of 1:43.5, which is 7 mm to the foot (using the common British practice of modelling in metric prototypes originally produced using Imperial measurements). It is often called ''7 mm scale'' for this reason. Although toy trains were historically produced to this scale, O gauge's popularity across the whole of Europe reduced after World War II, and the standard is rarer than in the United States. Modelling in O gauge in fact almost died out in Britain but enjoyed a resurgence in the 1990s as modellers developed a new appreciation for the level of accurate detailing possible in this scale. Some ready to run models are produced in this scale but most are available only as kits for assembly by the modeller or a professional model-builder. O gauge is considered an expensive scale to model in although the necessarily smaller scope of a larger-scaled layout mitigates this to some extent. The two dominant British manufacturers,
Bassett-Lowke Bassett-Lowke was an English toy manufacturing company based in Northampton. Founded by Wenman Joseph Bassett-Lowke in 1898 or 1899, the company specialized in model railways, boats and ships, and construction sets. Bassett-Lowke started as a ...
and Hornby, ceased production of O gauge trains in 1965 and 1969, respectively. However, ACE Trains and for a while a revived Bassett-Lowke are once again producing tinplate O gauge sets, many of them reproductions of classic Hornby and Bassett-Lowke designs, and
Heljan Heljan A/S is a Danish model railway company based in Søndersø. Originally specialising in decorations and accessories for model railways, it has now also developed a substantial range of rolling stock. It has diversified into modelling the Br ...
also recently joined the market producing O gauge Diesel locomotives. A true-to-prototype version of British 7 mm O gauge exists, called ScaleSeven (S7) which uses 33 mm gauge to represent British standard gauge in a scale of 1:43.5. The British 1:43.5 rail scale gave birth to series of
die cast cars A die-cast toy is a toy or a collectible model produced by using the die-casting method of putting molten lead, zinc alloy or plastic in a mold to produce a particular shape. Such toys are made of metal, with plastic, rubber, glass, or other m ...
and
model commercial vehicle A model commercial vehicle is a scale model or die-cast toy that represents a commercial vehicle: truck (lorry), bus, etc. Overview Like model cars, model commercial vehicles are sold both as kits for the enthusiast to construct and paint and ...
s of the same scale which gradually grew in popularity and spread to France, the rest of Europe and North America at the same time that the rail models were becoming less popular. 7 mm scale is also popular for modelling
narrow-gauge railways A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curves, smaller structur ...
, a section of the hobby supported by the 7mm Narrow Gauge Association.


United States

In the United States, O gauge is defined as 1:48 (0.25 inches to the foot, "quarter inch scale" 1/4 inch equals one foot). This is also a common
dollhouse A dollhouse or doll's house is a toy home made in miniature. Since the early 20th century dollhouses have primarily been the domain of children, but their collection and crafting is also a hobby for many adults. English-speakers in North America ...
scale, giving more options for buildings, figures, and accessories. Many O gauge layouts are also accessorized with 1:43.5 scale
model car A model car, or toy car, is a miniature representation of an automobile. Other miniature motor vehicles, such as trucks, buses, or even ATVs, etc. are often included in this general category. Because many miniature vehicles were originally aime ...
s. While 1:48 is a very convenient scale for modeling using the Imperial system (a quarter-inch equals one scale foot), the discrepancy between O gauge in the United States and O gauge in Europe is attributed to Lionel misreading the original Märklin specifications. Although Lionel is the most enduring brand of O gauge trains, a variety of manufacturers made trains in this scale. Prior to
World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, the majority of toy trains sold in the United States were German imports made by Märklin,
Bing Bing most often refers to: * Bing Crosby (1903–1977), American singer * Microsoft Bing, a web search engine Bing may also refer to: Food and drink * Bing (bread), a Chinese flatbread * Bing (soft drink), a UK brand * Bing cherry, a varie ...
, Fandor, and other companies. World War I brought a halt to these German imports, and protective
tariff A tariff is a tax imposed by the government of a country or by a supranational union on imports or exports of goods. Besides being a source of revenue for the government, import duties can also be a form of regulation of foreign trade and pol ...
s after the war made it difficult for them to compete. In between the two world wars, shorter-lived companies such as Dorfan, Hafner, Ives, and Joy Line competed with Lionel,
Louis Marx and Company Louis Marx and Company was an American toy manufacturer in business from 1919 to 1980. They made many types of toys including tin toys, toy soldiers, toy guns, action figures, dolls, toy cars and model trains. Some of their notable toys are ...
, American Flyer and Hornby. Many of these pre-war trains operated by clockwork or battery power and were made of lithographed tin. The sizes of the cars varied widely, as the standard for O gauge was largely ignored. Dorfan went out of business in 1934, while Ives was bought by Lionel, and Hafner and Joy Line were bought by Marx. Hornby withdrew from the U.S. market in 1930 after selling its U.S. factory to the
A. C. Gilbert Company The A. C. Gilbert Company was an American toy company, once one of the largest in the world. Gilbert originated the Erector Set, which is a construction toy similar to Meccano in the rest of the world, and made chemistry sets, microscope kits, ...
. As early as 1938, the survivors Lionel, Marx, and American Flyer faced competition from Sakai, a Tokyo-based Japanese toy company who sold trains priced at the low end of the market. The product designs most closely resembled Lionel, but with Märklin-like couplers and detail parts that appeared to be copied from Ives. "Seki", another Japanese company, was an entirely different and independent company. Between 1946 and 1976, the primary U.S. manufacturers of O gauge trains were Lionel and Marx, with American Flyer switching to the more-realistic
S scale S scale (or S gauge) is a model railroad scale modeled at 1:64 scale, S scale track gauge (space between the rails) is 22,48 (22,5) mm, 0.885 in. S gauge trains are manufactured in both DC and AC powered varieties. S gauge is not to be confused w ...
and the rest of the companies out of business. Toy maker Unique Art produced a line of inexpensive O gauge trains from 1949 to 1951, but found itself unable to compete with Marx. Marx continued to make clockwork and battery-powered trains and lithographed cars into the 1970s, along with more realistic offerings that were sometimes difficult to distinguish from Lionel. Sakai re-entered the U.S. market after World War II, selling trains that were often nearly identical to Marx designs and sometimes undercutting Marx's prices, from 1946 to 1969. A company called American Model Toys brought out a line of realistic, detailed cars beginning in 1948. In 1953 it released a budget line. It ran into financial difficulty, reorganized under the name Auburn Model Trains, and ended up selling its line to
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-based Kusan, a plastics company who continued its production until 1961. The tooling was then sold to a small company run by Andrew (Andy) Kriswalus in
Endicott, New York Endicott is a village in Broome County, New York, United States. The population was 13,392 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Binghamton Metropolitan Statistical Area. The village is named after Henry B. Endicott, a founding member of the End ...
, who operated as Kris Model Trains, or KMT. Andy Kriswalus only produced the box, stock, and refrigerator cars from the Kusan dies, and on some of these cars he mounted die-cast trucks from the Kusan tooling. After Kriswalus' death, the tooling was sold to
K-Line K-Line Electric Trains is a brand name of O gauge and S gauge model railway locomotives, rolling stock, and buildings. Formerly the brand name under which Chapel Hill, North Carolina-based MDK Inc. sold its products, K-Line was then acquired ...
and
Williams Electric Trains Williams Electric Trains was an American toy train and model railroad manufacturer, based in Columbia, Maryland. Williams was sold to Kader via their subsidiary Bachmann Industries in October 2007, and is now identified as "Williams by Bachmann. ...
, who continued to use it to produce parts of their budget lines. From O gauge's beginnings up until the mid-1970s, the various manufacturers' trackside accessories would interoperate with one another, but the train cars themselves used couplers of differing designs, often making it difficult or impossible to use different manufacturers' cars together. The post-War consolidation did little to improve matters: Marx used three different standards, depending on the product line, and Lionel used two, so frequently the companies' own entry-level products were incompatible with their high-end products, let alone with the competition. Hobbyists who wanted differing standards to interoperate had to resort to replacing couplers. After Marx went out of business in 1978,
K-Line K-Line Electric Trains is a brand name of O gauge and S gauge model railway locomotives, rolling stock, and buildings. Formerly the brand name under which Chapel Hill, North Carolina-based MDK Inc. sold its products, K-Line was then acquired ...
bought much of Marx's tooling and entered the marketplace. K-Line's early offerings changed little from the old Marx designs, other than a new brand name and a Lionel-compatible coupler, making K-Line's offerings completely interoperable with Lionel. As O gauge regained popularity in the 1990s it also started to regain manufacturers, and as of late 2003, no fewer than six companies market O gauge locomotives and/or cars, all theoretically interoperable with one another. Lionel equipment retains a large collector following. Equipment from shorter-lived manufacturers prior to World War II is also highly sought after, while American Flyer and Marx are less so. Post-War Marx is gaining in popularity after years of being derided by serious collectors. There is little collector interest in Sakai today, possibly because of difficulty identifying the equipment and because the brand is much less widely known than its U.S. counterparts. In the recent years there has been a movement called 3-Rail Scale. It is three-rail trains on high-rail track, but with scale couplers and other more prototypical details, like fixed pilots and scale wheels. Most 3-Rail scale modelers use Kadee brand scale couplers. The biggest makers of American O scale trains today are Lionel, LLC, MTH Electric Trains, Atlas O, and Weaver Models.


In popular culture

This scale and gauge was used to model the
Skarloey Railway The Island of Sodor is a fictional island featured as the setting for ''The Railway Series'' books by the Rev. Wilbert Awdry (and his son Christopher), begun in 1945, and for the popular ''Thomas & Friends'' television series since 1984, alth ...
locomotives and rolling stock for
series 4 Series 4 could refer to: * Aston Martin Lagonda Series 4, the automobile model * BMW 4 Series, the automobile model line * GeForce 4 series, line of nVidia video cards * Scania 4-series, the truck model line * South African Class 6E1, Series 4, e ...
of ''
Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends ''Thomas & Friends'' (originally known as ''Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends'' and later ''Thomas & Friends: Big World! Big Adventures!'') is a British children's television series that aired across 24 series from 1984 to 2021. Based on ''The ...
''. However, the construction of the engines resulted in difficulties during filming. Series 5 introduced new models of the engines and rolling stock, which were bigger than the
gauge 1 1 gauge, gauge 1 or gauge one is a model railway and toy train standard that was popular in the early 20th century, particularly with European manufacturers. Its track measures , making it larger than 0 gauge but slightly smaller than wide gauge, ...
standard gauge engines and stock but still ran on O gauge track. They were used up until series 12 before the move to CGI animation. The small scale models occasionally still appeared, usually when interacting with gauge 1 standard gauge engines in series 5, 7 (stock footage), 9 and 10 and '' Calling All Engines!''.


See also

*
3 ft gauge rail modelling 3' Gauge rail modelling is a specialisation in rail transport modelling. Specifically it relates to the modelling of narrow gauge prototypes of gauge. This gauge was the most common narrow gauge in the United States and in Ireland. Apart from so ...
– representing narrow gauge * On2 gauge - representing narrow gauge * On30 gauge – narrow gauge modeling in O Scale using H0 scale track *
OO gauge OO gauge or OO scale (also, 00 gauge and 00 scale) is the most popular standard-gauge model railway standard in the United Kingdom, outside of which it is virtually unknown. OO gauge is one of several 4 mm-scale standards (4 mm to 1 foot, ...
*
Rail transport modelling scales Rail transport modelling uses a variety of scales (ratio between the real world and the model) to ensure scale models look correct when placed next to each other. Model railway scales are standardized worldwide by many organizations and hobbyist ...
* SE scale


References


External links


The Gauge 0 Guild, the main British society"About Gauge" guide
from Lionel discussing O versus O27 gauge
O Scale Trains
{{DEFAULTSORT:O Scale Model railroad scales Scale model scales