I think that some of us take war to seriously. I like 1/29, Aristo and USATrains. Great realism, especially in the modern diesels.
Ed
I think that some of us take war to seriously. I like 1/29, Aristo and USATrains. Great realism, especially in the modern diesels.
Ed
Another opinion was that the “G” was also from the LGB “Gross Bhan” (spelling ?) meaning Big Train in German.
How and when the #1 gauge track became part of the Alpha lettered way of describing all gauges of model railroad track is someone else’s story to tell.
As far as what Tony has just stated…well; I’ve often wanted to make that direct, no-holds-barred remark, but held back, just because this whole hobby is supposed to be fun and fellowship, for all, and in the long term, does it all really matter ?
The only real need to know the facts, and keeping it simple, is to aid in communications, so that we can all share knowledge and skills with each other.
My friend jb, who posts hereabouts, says that G stands for Geezer. That’s what he says.
No , No , No , LGB means Long Green Box . (or red with a green stripe , but red doesn’t start with a G).
Or Lunatics Grow Beards .
Let’s Go Boozing ?
Mike LuGuBriously .
Ed Halo said:
I think that some of us take war to seriously. I like 1/29, Aristo and USATrains. Great realism, especially in the modern diesels.
Ed
I like Aristo too , but I would not let my daughter marry one .
Mike
Mike Morgan said:
Ed Halo said:
I think that some of us take war to seriously. I like 1/29, Aristo and USATrains. Great realism, especially in the modern diesels.
Ed
I like Aristo too , but I would not let my daughter marry one .
Mike
heads might roll…
Mike Morgan said:
So let’s get this right .
Some of you don’t give a monkies about the scale of what you are buying because it says “G Scale” on the box .
The point I was trying to make is that if a manufacturer wilfully misrepresents his product , he should not be surprised at the loss of sales when people find out they have been conned .
When I buy Kiss , Aster , Schoeba , Accucraft , Bachmann I know that they will have made the model to as near an ADVERTISED scale as possible within price constraints .
If I see a model with “LGB Scale” on the box , then I know it is approximately 1/22.5 and will not look out of place with other models so advertised .
Why do you think Bachmann make 00 and H0 as separate lines ? Because the UK market , loosely described by some “don’t care” manufacturers as 00/H0 , is predominantly for 00 .
As a result , Bachmann sell a heck of a lot of stuff here and , dare I say it , raised the standard somewhat .
The scale/gauge argument goes right across the spectrum of model trains , 0 gauge is 1/43.5 , hence H0 is 1/87 (Half 0) , but not everywhere ; 0 is also sold as 1/45 and 1/48 .
A similar mess up occurs with N .
As long as we are aware of these variations , and can rely on honest advertising , it doesn’t really matter what the various ratios are .
I just enjoy what I buy , and generally look for something that is pleasing to the eye (my eye) and as I have two eyes , I get quite a mix of scales . And a lot of fun .
Mike, no you do not “got that right”! But I know what I am buying and I keep like scales together, for the most part. I model in 1:24, and 1:24 and 1:22.5 will play ok together. I also run mainline 1:29, with a 1:32nd boxcar here and there. It adds visual interest, even though I know its “wrong”.
With a little research, a buyer can determine the scale, or apoximate scale, of what he buying. To thouse who just run trains, the differences may not matter. To some of us, it does matter. But to say this or that caused a company to falter is a bit… Well, there was a lot more too it thant that, I am sure.
I think…
Aristo’s demise was lack of quality control. I suspect Lewis of the old school believed in his Handshake deal, while the Chinese, who earned our dollars by making stuff cheaper, substituted. Earn a raise by using cheaper stuff.
Aristo didn’t con me, they bragged about the Wow factor, but really needed cross over support from the established scales. I could see that. Bumping up the size narrowed the distance between gauges.
One can hold their breath and stomp their feet, but the nomenclature is evolving. I define my fun as G24. I use my mind’s scale and get to wear a cape!
Happy Rails
John
I hope some of Aristo’s products return, but am not optimistic as to the future of affordable G scale.
After all the criticism, what could have been done differently towards a long-term successful Aristocraft??
Ed
Still buying Aristo, A C of G covered hopper arrived today.
David , what I said was
Some of you don’t give a monkies about the scale of what you are buying because it says “G Scale” on the box .
Note the word “Some” . It was not aimed at anyone specifically and I do know people who fit in that category .
You then misquoted me and said
“But to say this or that caused a company to falter is a bit…”
It would hardly endear customers who found they were conned . And again , I know others who got conned and p/ex’d their Aristo for something more to their liking , so yes , it put peoples backs up and they lost sales and what made that worse was competing against their own second hand stuff
PIKO are currently making the same mistake , but partly make up for it by advertising the HarzKamel as LGB scale .
When, or in some people’s opinion, if, the ore cars arrive; it will be interesting to see if they are anywhere near the quality of the old LGB ones. The LGB ones were the best of all the ore cars produced, so far.
After the Trainworld video, it seems that Scott Polk is determined to move ahead. Good luck to him. A new piece of rolling stock, rather than just repaints is long over due.
Who knows what is in store for the next few years. The new head men from Germany, skillfully directed by Ron Gibson, have just done a tour of the US, looking at the market for new LGB product. Hopefully, they can see a place for something other than European stuff, or repaints of their old US product. An RPO for their old passenger train equipment line would be nice, or even an express reefer…few new moulds would be required to produce those, as new items.
Sorry for getting off on another track…back to Aristo…
LGB stands for ““Long, Gone & Bankrupt””… 
Ross Mansell said:
I always thought LGB coined the “G” term ( as meaning Garden…)…
LGB = Lehmann Gross Bahn, thought everyone knew that…
Looking at my Aristo catalogue (2009) and my Aristo boxes nowhere does it explicitly mention ‘G Scale’.
What is there is ‘G’ gauge 45mm. and 1:29 scale.
Yes there is a ‘G’ symbol, separate from the details mentioned, on newer production boxes, but that is not a statement of size just a generalization probably.
The boxes I have are all yellow so I have no reference to black or light blue boxes.
Alan Lott said:
Looking at my Aristo catalogue (2009) and my Aristo boxes nowhere does it explicitly mention ‘G Scale’.
What is there is ‘G’ gauge 45mm. and 1:29 scale.
Yes there is a ‘G’ symbol, separate from the details mentioned, on newer production boxes, but that is not a statement of size just a generalization probably.
The boxes I have are all yellow so I have no reference to black or light blue boxes.
I don’t even look at the boxes any more and haven’t for some considerable time , I do remember that the person who bought me the loco was conned ; even the place where it was bought admitted to having had returns for the same reason and did not know the scale themselves .
What they advertise now does not , quite frankly , interest me .
So , I shall go back to making my live steam Fowler . Oddly enough , the kit has no mention of scale on the box . But they do have an excellent description of Gauge and Scale on their website . No confusion there then . My Fowler is SM32 . By Roundhouse .
Mike
Mike, what in the world is SM32? Just had to ask!
As long as they fit my Kadees and play nice together, I’m happy.
Camera close-up of male in natty business suit with pocket hankie monogramed USA:
"You know, it only takes 15 minutes to understand what
"G" scale means!"
Response from male sporting engineer hat holding 1:32 MTH locomotive:
"Sure, everybody knows that."
Doug asked-----
Mike, what in the world is SM32? Just had to ask!
Well , if you don’t know , the sensible thing to do is ask .
It is G Scale running on 32mm track and scales out at approx 30" gauge , a very common gauge in the old British Colonies . Or Territories before I upset the ANZAC among you , and Fijians . Or even British Commonwealth for the real touchy ones .
32 is chosen because of the ready availability of 32mm , or 0 gauge track .
I have some dual gauge track in 45/32 , and while we are talking track , also 45/67 , where 67 works out to Standard Gauge in G Scale .
Thus are the advantages of having a common scale . Common-ish .
I think Wendell has it slightly wrong , assuming he isn’t leg-pulling , because 1/32 scale is ----ready?—Taraaaaaa! ! G1 . Or Gauge 1 .
What does SM stand for ?. Dunno . “Short of a Metre” perhaps ? “Slightly Misleading” ?
You see how a little comment can bloom into a quite interesting discussion and education ?
Someone (I bet it’ll be Tac) will come up with what SM means .
Mike
EDIT . I had a senior moment or two when I wrote the above .
Gauge 1(USA) is 3/8"/ft and is 1/32 scale
Gauge 1(UK) is 10mm/ft and is 1/30.5 scale
Both the above run on 45mm track
Apologies . Mike , running off wearing sackcloth and pouring ashes on his head whilst
beating chest and wailing