Large Scale Central

Blending scales of railways

General Discussion
#21

Cliff, I see your logic, definitely forcing perspective…

But how I was thinking was that if you did this, the HO would be so far in the distance, you could not appreciate any of the detail of the locos and rolling stock.

That was how I came up with the reverse, putting the HO nearer the eye allows taking all that nice detail, but being smaller it needs to be closer. The G being larger, can “withstand” being further away.

That gave me more of a blend and still could enjoy the far away trains. Also, putting the G closest makes a loop pretty much impossible, the track needs to be pushed out to the limits of the shed.

Not arguing, just presenting my reasoning.

Greg

#22

All good reasoning, Greg. I was mainly focusing on what the “forced perspective” in the OP, fwiw.

Graeme has lots of fun choices!

===>Cliffy

[edited to spell Graeme’s name right…]

#23

Cliff Jennings said:

Graeme, I’m picturing your G scale close to the viewer, and the HO higher up and further away.

For example, the G layout has a steep mountain in back of the track. And the HO layout appears here and there on the mountainside. To help the illusion, trees & buildings get smaller as they go up the hill.

Perhaps make a mainly G layout on one side, the higher HO layout on the other, with a mountain backdrop common to both, but the HO only poking into the G side occasionally.

Just random thoughts…

Cliff,

Looking at the sketch that is what I was thinking of doing.

Greg

Your idea of having the HO closer also has merit.

Most of the G’s loop will be outside of the shed with only a small part of it running through the shed (the loop is going to be a type of dogbone with the one end in the shed and the rest outside.)

The main trackage inside the shed will be a marshalling yard so the track will have to be pushed back against the back wall which will leave only a small area for scenery.

Think its time for a mock up or 2 to see how it looks.

It’ time for me to do a mock up I think

#24

I had a large g scale outdoor layout till 2004 and was viewable from 3 sides, and had several O scale buildings and cars in the center it gave a lot of depth to the scene

#25

Or - as a completely different idea:

Since HO is very roughly 1/3 of G Scale, this 19" railroad is about HO size on a G Scale layout.

#26

By my calculator HO is nearly 1/4 of G gauge. 1:87<1:22.5 G gauge is 3.86666666 larger than HO (https://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)

#27

Joe Zullo said:

By my calculator HO is nearly 1/4 of G gauge. 1:87<1:22.5 G gauge is 3.86666666 larger than HO (https://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)

IIRC

1:29 was touted as 3X HO.

#28

Using the term “G Gauge” cornfuses the conversation, when you start talking about HO being 1:87 "Scale…

What is “G” gauge…mentioning GAUGE is only telling the distance between the rails…or which “Scale” running on “G” gauge track are you speaking of…

STOP mixing up SCALE and Gauge in a conversation.,…PLEASE

#29

Fred Mills. said:

Using the term “G Gauge” cornfuses the conversation, when you start talking about HO being 1:87 "Scale…

What is “G” gauge…mentioning GAUGE is only telling the distance between the rails…or which “Scale” running on “G” gauge track are you speaking of…

STOP mixing up SCALE and Gauge in a conversation.,…PLEASE

I hear you, Fred, gauge and scale are very different animals. Ironically, the hobby of ‘G Gauge’ essentially has only one constant and that is 45mm gauge track that we use for all of our weird and varied scales. So ‘G Scale’ is not a technically correct term.

The 1:87 scale hobby runs standard gauge HO on 16.5mm and narrow gauge HOn3 on 10.5mm so their constant is scale. Virtually all the other scales do the same.

Sad that 45mm gauge got into such a strange web of nonsense.

Incidentally, I run almost 100% 1:24 trains on 45mm track. That is the equivalent of 42 inch narrow gauge which did exist in a limited number of places. I like 1:24 for several reasons:

  1. One of my first and still major hobbies was and is model cars and many of those are 1:24 (let’s don’t get into 1:25 discussions)
  2. Many buildings are 1:24
  3. My favorite rolling stock makers are Kalamazoo, Delton and Hartland - all 1:24
#30

G Scale = GARDEN GAUGE …so there is no right or wrong!

#31

Joe Zullo said:

By my calculator HO is nearly 1/4 of G gauge. 1:87<1:22.5 G gauge is 3.86666666 larger than HO (https://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)

Correct, Joe, I should have said VERY VERY roughly. (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-laughing.gif)

#32

David Palmeter said:

Joe Zullo said:

By my calculator HO is nearly 1/4 of G gauge. 1:87<1:22.5 G gauge is 3.86666666 larger than HO (https://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)

Correct, Joe, I should have said VERY VERY roughly. (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-laughing.gif)

HO is x’s 3 for 1:29 VERY VERY roughly

(https://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-foot-in-mouth.gif)

#33

Largescale, G scale - two of the most irritating denominations that are used in train modeling.
if we throw in gauge or “guage” (as many americans write) nearly everybody gets lost.
there is NO G-scale! nor any Largescale! these words embrace more than a handfull of scales and dozens of gauges!
the expression “rubbergauge” shows the average modeler’s helplessness, when confronted with scale and gauge.

the following is the European standard, established before WW1 and still valid in europe.
(other scales with other denominations (like N scale) were added later.)

scale = ratio - prototype - Gauge (in 1:1)

H0 = 1:87 - standard gauge - 16.5mm

0 = 1:45 - standard gauge - 32mm

1 = 1:32 - standard gauge - 45mm

2 = 1:22.5 - standard gauge - 64mm

3 = 1:16 - standard gauge - 89mm

4 = 1:11 - standard gauge - 127mm

the (in)famous “G-gauge” or “G-scale” from LGB mainly is a narrow gauge (meterspoor- 1,000mm) in Nr. 2 scale.

#34

#35

Joe, in your pic they compare pears and apples.

the left loco (the “G”) is narrow gauge (2m) while the other five are standard gauge.

standard gauge in 1:22.5 should be roughly a bit over 2 1/2" (64mm)

#36

Korm Kormsen said:

Joe, in your pic they compare pears and apples.

the left loco (the “G”) is narrow gauge (2m) while the other five are standard gauge.

Korm,

First: It’s not “My” pic. Obtained using Google

Second: Hey, it’s all fruit! (https://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-tongue-out.gif)

#37

An example of repurposing different scales for one cohesive layout (Joe you might have to tweak the URL (https://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-laughing.gif)) - Freelance loco and “O” locos operating a mythical beachside miniature railway running on 32 mm gauge track. That in itself is said by the builders to be a (nominal) 1:12 scale. Look closely and you may spot a 7/8ths scale (but 1:1 on the layout) Simplex on shed and there is an R/C tractor running around on the roadway too. There is other rolling stock they use that is based on repurposed 16 mm scale narrow gauge carriages.

I don’t know about the US but in the UK we have some very well established debatably 1:1 scale “miniature” railways - the Romney Hythe and Dymchurch https://www.rhdr.org.uk/ being the most widely known. This seeming obsession is reflected in quite a few show model layouts featuring miniature railways being incorporated into prototypical “full sized” ones. Now that probably makes as much sense as “G Scale” (Don’t start me).

#38

" Rooster " said:

G Scale = GARDEN GAUGE …so there is no right or wrong!

Scale is ratio of the model to the full sized version (prototype).

Gauge is the distance between the rail-heads.

So there is a right and a wrong. But the hobby has misused the terms for years, and so now its borderline impossible to separate the terms back into proper usage.

#39

OK unnecessary thread drift has occurred, so that usually signals that everyone has said all they want on the topic. (https://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-yell.gif)

So Graeme, what do you think? When will you mock something up?

Greg

Graeme Price said:

I have acquired some new real estate for my new layout.

Inside a 6x4.5 Mtr shed for my G scale and HO scale trains.

My grand plan is to have the G scale in the front about 1 Mtr or so off the floor and the HO at about eye level approx. 1.5 Mtrs off the floor toward the back.

I envisage a mountainous type area to give some sort of forced perspective into the layout.

The G scale will also run out a roller door and run along a 20 Metre length of fence and then run and back in a loop (most likely double track).

The plan is to have an indoor layout for rainy days with the outdoor section running in fine weather.

I have done a bit of searching for “blended scale model railways” but have not had much success.

Has anybody seen something like what I am planning?

PS. This is going out to 3 fora so if you see it on multiples just reply to one

#40

Greg Elmassian said:

OK unnecessary thread drift has occurred, so that usually signals that everyone has said all they want on the topic. (https://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-yell.gif)

The Thread Monitor has spoken. All hail the Thread Monitor! (https://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-tongue-out.gif)