Ok boys and girls…I’m trying to reach a decision here…how wide is really large 1:20.3 rolling stock? I’m thinking a truly hulking loco might come in at about 5" wide? That 8.4 feet, or 101.5"…Anyone? Anyone?
Don’t know about 1:20.3 but a 1:22.5 ? Bachmann Annie Tender is 5.0 inches wide at the grab bars.
Bart:
My Bachmann GE 45 ton diesels are 5 5/8" wide or 9’ 6" at 1:20.3. You probably know that it’s an accurate model of the GE prototype that uses a standard gauge carbody riding on 36" gauge trucks. I recently measured several 44 & 45 tonners at the Pacific Locomotive Association’s Niles Canyon Railroad and the Bay Area Electric Railway Association’s Western Railway Museum. The B’mann model is within a (scale) inch or so of the prototype.
Randomly measuring my B’mann Shay, Don Winter Industrial caboose & passenger cars, AMS cattle car and similar puts them all in the 5" to 5 1/4" range, or about 8’ 11" max. Perhaps some grabs extend a few scale inches beyond those rough measurements.
Just for comparison, the RGS clearance gauge I use is 7 1/8" wide or 12’ at 1:20.3.
Hope this isn’t TMI!!
Happy RRing,
Jerry Bowers
The D&RGW Ks push near 10’ across the cylinders, though I don’t have an exact width off the top of my head. The Uintah/Sumpter Valley mallets exceeded 10’, to something like 10’ 6". The White Pass diesels are similarly wide. That’s 6", plus or minus a fraction. Those, I believe, top the charts in terms of motive power size.
Freight cars varied, but in later years hovered between 7’ 6" and 8’ 6". Passenger cars were–from the 1880s forward–almost universally between 8’ and 9’ wide.
Later,
K
OK! That does it for me!!! I’m “downsizing” my railroad to 1:20.3 scale…what I’m not able to accomplish what I want as a long term goal in 7/8 scale anylonger…its time for a change…the good thing is My Shay fleet will be convertable with only cosemetic changes! (They were always a bit anemic for 7/8 scale) REwork of the cabs and some new appliances and I’m golden! They are gonna be MASSIVE in 1:20.3…the 4 truck is 5 3/4" wide…almost Standard Guage proportions! This summer is gonna be interesting!!!