Information for the Beginner

Central Hobbies carries a complete selection of scale model railway products.

• Model Railway Scales
• Eras
• Gauges
• Rail Height
• Layout Design
• Scenery
• Books
• Magazines

Model Railway Scales

Scale? What is the scale? What are the scales? What is the most popular scale?
Scale is the size ratio between the model and the real thing. HO scale is 1/87 which means that an HO scale model is 1/87 the size of the real thing. A real 60' box car would be 60'/87 or about 8 1/4 inches long.

The Common Scales

The most common scales are (from largest to smallest):

• G Scale - Garden Scale (for various reasons the G scale track gauge is a constant 1 3/4 inches but the scale varies from 1:32 to 1 :20.5)
• O Scale - 1/48 or 1/4" to the foot. Lionel.
• S Scale - 1/64.
• HO Scale - 1/87.1 or 3.5 mm to the foot. (The reasons why we use a metric measurement for an imperial measure are lost in time).
• N Scale - 1 /160
• Z Scale - 1/220

The Most Popular Scales

The scales in order of popularity:

• HO Scale - 1/87 is the most popular scale (about 60% of the market). The largest variety of product is available in HO scale.
• N Scale - 1 /160 is the second most popular scale (about 30% of the market). A good selection of product is available but not as extensive as HO scale.
• G Scale - Garden Scale is now the third most popular scale.
• After this comes O Scale Tin Plate (Lionel), S Scale (mostly Sn3 narrow gauge), O Scale (1/ 45.2) Z, TT and others.

Eras

When we talk about an era we are talking about a particular time (usually in the past) that you want to model. The eras break into the following broad catagories:

1. 'Today' - what you see on today's railroads

2. 'Modern' - 80' and 90' diesels and equipment

3. 'Diesel' - 60s and 70'

4. 'Steam to Diesel' - 40s to late 50s Steam engines are still running but diesels are taking over.

5. 'Late Steam' - 30'- 40' Steam only.

6. 'Between the Wars' - post WW I through the depression to WW II.

7. 'Early 20th Century' - 1900 to the end of WW I.

8. 'Late 19th Century' - American Civil War to 1900.

9. 'Early' - 1829 (or so) to the 1870's.

Gauges

Most railroads in the world run on Standard gauge. Standard gauge is 4 feet 8 and one half inches between the rails. Despite the urban legends (Roman Chariots, etc.) surrounding the choice of the gauge the simple fact of the matter is that when George Stephenson built the Stockton and Darlington Railroad he used the gauge that he was familiar with, that of the last colliery he had worked at. Had that colliery been of a different gauge, today's standard gauge would be different.

Broad Gauge is any gauge wider than standard gauge. Russia uses 5 foot gauge. India uses 5' 6" and meter gauge. Broad gauge was more widely used before Standard Gauge became the standard. Gauges up to 7 feet wide were used. Canada had large sections of 5' 6". The San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit System is broad gauge.

Narrow Gauge is any gauge narrower than standard gauge. Gauges as small as 1' 11 1/2" (Welsh Slate quarries) have been (and still are) used. At one time three foot gauge was common in the USA; Colorado was a noted location for 3 foot gauge and three tourist lines in Colorado still run on three foot gauge. The White Pass and Yukon railway uses three foot gauge. The Newfoundland Railways were 42" gauge (3' 6"). Meter gauge is common overseas. Other gauges were used. They were common for branch line or mining railways.

Which gauge was used in a country depended on where the rail engineers came from. Engineers from the southern US spread 5' gauge (the main gauge of the south before the US Civil War). British engineers spread standard gauge or 3' 6". Continental engineers spread meter gauge. Others were home grown. Most countries had one main gauge (not always standard; India's main gauges are broad and meter) and one other gauge. Australia is a notable exception with nearly every state picking a different gauge.

Few model railroaders model broad gauge (mostly British modelers of the Great Western Railway - 7' and a few Russian modelers)
Narrow gauge is much more common.
N Scale modelers use Z scale track for Nn3.
HO Scale modelers use N Scale track for HOn30. HOn3 products are commercially available.
Sn3 is quite common. O scale modelers do many gauges. Proper LGB G Scale is meter gauge equipment.

Rail Height

Rail height is the height of the rail in thousandths of an inch.
Most HO scale track is Code 100 (black ties). Code 83 is now quite common and is a better representation of current mainline track.

Sectional track comes in code 100 and code 83. Other codes are available (70, 55 and 40).

Most N scale track is code 80. Peco makes a good code 55 track system although it is of European appearance. Ballasted this still looks very good. Atlas has a new N Scale Code 55 track system. This track has problems with deeper flanges. Micro Engineering makes both Code 55 and Code 40 flex track. Micro Engineering Code 55 track can handle all current N scale flange sizes. If you wish to use code 40 Micro Engineering track you will have to change the wheel sets on all of your equipment.

The following table relates rail height (Code which is measured in 1/100 of an inch) to the equivalent prototype rail size in the various scales. Comments of "Too Small" are subjective as you could use the smaller rail if you were modeling a light field railway. Comments of "Too Large" are also subjective. Manufactures have often used rail sizes that were available regardless of whether they were appropriate. Most common N scale Track is code 80 which is way too large for any prototypical rail size.

Rail Size (Code)	Model Scale
	Z	N	TT	HO	S	O	G
100	Too Large	Too Large	Too Large	155+	115	75	20
83	Too Large	Too Large	Too Large	132	85	55	Too Small
80	Too Large	Too Large	Too Large	132	85	50	Too Small
75	Too Large	Too Large	Too Large	115	75	45	Too Small
70	Too Large	Too Large	>155	100	65	35	Too Small
60	Too Large	> 155	85	80	50	25	Too Small
55	Too Large	155+	115	75	40	25	Too Small
40	>155	115	75	40	20	Too Small	Too Small

Layout Design

Few layouts are completely designed before they are built. Most evolve as they are built. If you are stuck for ideas Kalmbach Publishing has several layout plan books. Kalmbach and Carstens publish track planning books.
Building a model of a prototype scene works if you have the space or can compress the scene to fit your space. Many model railways are built to duplicate a section of real railway. Many use real railway scenes (sometimes from several railroads) to make their own railway. Others are totally imagineered to their builders specifications and desires.
If you need help with your design, bring your ideas to the store and we can critique them for you.

Scenery

On many model railroads construction stops or slows down when trains are running. Scenery is a fun inexact process. There is no correct way to make your scenery. The Woodland Scenics Scenery System is simple to do. We have several books on various scenery methods.

Books

There are many, many books on railway subjects. From rail atlases, railway histories, to books on specific pieces of equipment. There is probably a book that can help or inspire you.

Magazines

There are many hobby magazines. Some are general "MR", "RMC", some cover specific scales "N Scale", some cover specific aspects of the hobby "Narrow gauge and Shortline Gazette". See our magazines pages for a list of the Magazines we carry.

Links to product pages for various scales:
HO Scale - N Scale - G Scale - Z Scale - O and Other Scales - S Scale