Salutations!


aambrosio

New Member
Hello, my name is Cleric. I'm new here, and new to the model train hobby in general. I started working at a hobby shop as their auctioneer and we got in a lot of trains... and i just sort of fell in love! I'm really into N and Standard scale, with N being my favorite.

I take pictures of items I get in, so I hope to be able to share them! I might even post links to their auction platform, if there is an interest. I mainly get my hands on O and HO, but a lot of Standard has been coming in.

Anyway, I hope everyone can teach me more and I get to see everyone's beautiful trains.
 
Welcome to the forums. I also model in N Scale so will be interested in seeing any of the work you have done, intend to do, with an N Scale layout.
 
Hey Cleric welcome aboard!
That sounds like a dream job for a lot of people here, I'll bet you see some rare and unique stuff come thru!
 
Welcome to our forum Cleric. Glad to have you aboard. I see that you made it over to the Coffee Shop already. All members here are more than willing to answer questions; after all, that's how we learned.

Willie
 
Hi Cleric, welcome to the forum.

When you say "Standard" Is that Lionel Standard O you are referring to or is that something else I am unfamiliar with?
 
When you say "Standard" Is that Lionel Standard O you are referring to or is that something else I am unfamiliar with?
I would like to know that also, because to me Standard Gauge is 1:32 scale or commonly called Gauge #1. Today I think it would collectively fall into the G-gauge bracket.

My only true "Standard" gauge set is a tin 1938 vintage Ive's Brand box electric locomotive with a passenger train.
 
I suspect that "Standard Gauge" would mean 3 rail tinplate standard gauge, either old originals or the reproduction stuff that's been released. Most folks don't call G scale garden railway stuff Standard Gauge.
 
Standard as in Lionel's! I was wondering why I hadn't seen anything else with that... that explains a lot, thank you all!

My only encounter with them had been pre-war era Lionel trains. I'll have to show some things I run into, haha.
 
Only recently (last 2 maybe 3 years) Lionel stopped using the Standard O nomenclature for its close to scale O trains. Now they make true scale, 1/48 O and have stopped using the Standard O name. Now they call them O scale. Of course they still make Traditional scale as well. Traditional Scale is about the equivalent of O27 and is by far Lionel's and other O gauge manufacturers biggest sellers.

O is full of confusion due to the many names and sizes. Traditional O, Standard O, O27 and now O scale (all Lionel Terms). In addition I know of Semi-Scale O (Williams by Bachmann). Rail King by MTH Electric Trains (Rail King is MTH's name for it's version of traditional scale trains) and MTH Electric Trains (true 1/48 scale) You can likely add to the names of others I am unaware of.

If I am not mistaken; Lionel's Tin Plate is where Lionel's Standard O name came from.

To further confuse things Lionel Tin Plate is now made by MTH although they still use the Lionel name for new Tin Plate trains. That is what happens when the courts settle disputes.

All these different sizes is why Lionel and most others use the term "O Gauge" rather than O scale to refer to their O trains. To call them O scale would be mostly incorrect or would leave out their most popular items.
 
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All these different sizes is why Lionel and most others use the term "O Gauge" rather than O scale to refer to their O trains. To call them O scale would be mostly incorrect or would leave out their most popular items.
But to make it less confusing one can just remember that all O-Gauge trains run on rails with a gauge of 1 1/4" or 5' scale feet rather than a prototypical 4' 8 1/2" .
 
Hello, my name is Cleric. I'm new here, and new to the model train hobby in general. I started working at a hobby shop as their auctioneer and we got in a lot of trains... and i just sort of fell in love! I'm really into N and Standard scale, with N being my favorite.

I take pictures of items I get in, so I hope to be able to share them! I might even post links to their auction platform, if there is an interest. I mainly get my hands on O and HO, but a lot of Standard has been coming in.

Anyway, I hope everyone can teach me more and I get to see everyone's beautiful trains.
Hi again, Cleric.. Just wish to help you a bit with your RR and model RR terminology/nomenclature, as you asked help with...So,...Let's go this way....... :
Set some verbal standards of the real, 1:1 scale: Here 'standard gauge' refers to the distance between railheads which is 4'8.5" (4 foot, eight and one half inches). This was set around late and past, US Civil War time thru American pioneering days, to completion, circa 1900, say, so that all RRs could finally exchange cars and route cars cross-country. We established a system of sharing each others tracks. Before then there were hundreds of smaller, privately owned RRs, all with different gauges, which made it enormously tough to ship things anywhere past your RR (enter dual-gauge in places). Now the only need is permission to use another RR's track, via 'trackage rights'...There were already too many wheels-axles already in use under carriages riding on (what was soon to be deemed) 'standard gauge' track, all over the US. So, the less costly and fastest way to achieve a standardized gauge in the US was to unspike and move one rail either inward [there were 5' and 6' spreads then] or outward, across the nation, with all RRs converting to standard gauged wheel/axle, there on out... NEXT: Toy trains and Standard Gauge. In the hobby's history toy trains were first pewter models you pushed on the floor, then eventually motorized and up onto rails and switches. They were made of tin, called 'tinplate' due to the parts folding process of the vehicles and the rails they ran on... Peoples homes were way larger then, with miles and miles of farmland and even unpaved roads. The first 3-rail AC current ran (save this for later if you wish) 'toy' trains were allowably very large in scale then.. The very earliest and largest track then was like 4" to 4.5" in gauge made of tin. [Gets a bit foggy here]: This was larger than what is 0 scale today and 92% sure it's actual name was Standard Gauge track made by Lionel Trains and possibly AC Gilbert (before their S gauge)or others. As homes grew smaller and smaller/population growing larger and larger, trains got smaller and smaller..The rest is history. Though I will never go back to N, and happily back in HO, now we gotz Z, to boot ! Says something about the kind of world we've become..And, ironically, is exactly why we do love the model; it's ability to give us an imaginary huge amount of land and own and run the 'huge' railroad that goes through it !.. Mark, Los Angeles
 
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PS. Cleric, there may be others with a more precise explanation of things. But it's well in the ballpark, for sure. I hope I haven't insulted your knowledgeability in any way. Just keep learnin', same as we all done diddly did..

__There's no crying in baseball and there's no anger in model railroading !__ M
 
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I stumbled across this the other day from Brady's and thought of this thread. There is my definition of Standard Gauge way out to the right. I was not correct. It looks slightly larger than One Gauge.
trainscales.jpg
 
One on far right is 'Standard Gauge', but looks like a newer issue than 1950s. The original was near same construction as the original Lionel O, with the out of scale, 3 folded tin rails up on heavy, folded, sparsely spaced metal ties.. One in pic looks like it may be Walthers, because the ties are closely spaced and rails look more realistic ..
 



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