WorldRailFans

Hi gents, I've been smitten with O scale narrow gauge trains after a model train show in our area.
The question I have is are, Fleischmann O scale models made in 1:43.5 or in 1:45 which is Oe ?
I am a bit confused as I read on a web page from the US where it was in a listing of scales and gauges that i did not know eaven existed that Oe was 7mm.
Thanks in advance.
Robin.

AFAIK Fleischmann's Magic Train is 1:45 Oe. The confusion arises because O Gauge has several definitions. The MOROP Norm is 1:45 but with significant exceptions. That means that many models, especially in Britain and Germany are made to the scale 7mm = 1 foot (a curious mixture of metric and imperial measurement) which is actually 1:43.5. The narrow gauge Oe means the prototype 750mm track is modelled with a width of 16.5mm.

another relation is that H0 is Half 0. And H0 is 1:87 ... means that 0 should then be 1:43.5, no? But how come then Fleischmann constructed H0 models in the past with scale of about 1:82?

However, if you look at plastic kits -- cars, planes, and such -- you see 1:48 as a commonly used scale there (no relation with model train scales, here 0, but it is close by. Actually, 1:45 is closer to that then 1:43.5)

Us H0 guys suffer here the fact that most such plastic kits come in 1:72, some in 1:100 ... if 1:87 then most likely from a model rail-road company like Walthers. exceptions from that rule of course exists

Jens, I agree it would be more logical for O to be 1:43.5 (7mm) with HO being exactly half of that. I would be interested to know how the 1:45 became established as the primary norm.

http://www.morop.org/en/normes/nem010_en.pdf

Was this originally a compromise between 1:43.5 (Europe) and 1:48 (America) ? Or is it based on the track ratio 1435mm/ 32mm = 1:45 ? Why didn't 7mm scale establish itself correctly with 33mm track (Scale 7) ?

Thank you Alan and Jens, Just to add a little more confusion to this subject. As i want to model 2ft 6inch guage would not a ratio of 46.2 be correct, as that would give a correct spacing of 762 mm or 30 inches between rail heads which works out to be 16.49mm in our modeling world. Or am I writing a load of rubbish and just embrassing myself, in which case i will bury my head in sand. Or do I just go ahead and make my model outside the given norms.

Robin.

Robin, You calculations are spot on, and I doubt if Fleischmann are that accurate. Please tell us more about your plans, particularly what you intend to build yourself.

I find the entire O scale debacle makes me shake my head. Building models to run on the wrong gauge track should just be banned.

Of course, if you want to model Russian railways, all the American stuff is perfect, since the O gauge track works out to 5 foot gauge in 1:48! Not that they make a lot of Russian prototype equipment in the States...

Jurgen

Another accidentally correct gauge is that of the very popular Lionel "General" American-type (4-4-0) locomotives, since the prototype ran on the 5-foot-gauge Western and Atlantic Railroad.

Alan, A few years back I had made myself in HOe a couple of passanger cars based on Indian 2' 6" gauge, and a locomotive which really never ran very well. So I am back to it again, except larger ! I currently have built 2 open freight cars and am working on a open passanger cart based on the old
Darjeeling railway of around 1890.
My own small layout will be based In British India, In the North West Frontier
Province ( what is today part of Pakistan) and will be based on a military line that was opened in 1901 from Nowshera to Dargai to rush troops to the Afghan boarder (not much has changed there after all these years) except
mine would be based on general freight, with all sorts of beaten up old cars purchased from princely states.This all depends on the time i can devote to my dream With 2 young childen it's limited.
Robin.

Hello, Robin.

When I was in the Air Force (US) and stationed in Peshawar, Pakistan, I made friends with the shed foreman on the Pakistan Western Railway, (back when Bangladesh was still East Pakistan) in Peshawar. He used to let me ride the trains. I used to ride the locomotives on the run from Peshawar to Landikotal, on the Afghan border. They made me an honorary fireman. The locos were oil fired with only slightly better than crude oil. It wouldn't burn unless you preheated and vaporized it with live steam. In other words, you had to have steam to make steam. They had a boiler in the loco shed to be able to build a head of steam in a loco before the run. It took an average of two hours to build a head of steam. On the trip, my duty, as fireman, was to adjust the mix of steam and oil going into the firebox. This was done by hanging out of the cab and observing the stack. If the stack was emitting black smoke, you had too much oil and were in danger of smothering the fire. If the smoke was white, you had too much steam and were liable to put the fire out that way. The only thing that should be coming out of the stack was HEAT.

Then they would run up through the Kyber Pass with a lead loco, four to six cars, and another loco on the back. There are fifteen tunnels on the run, and there is a lot of water seepage in the tunnels onto the tracks. The lead loco pulls the train into the tunnel, and when it begins to lose traction on the wet track, the following loco pushes it through the tunnel. When the lead loco gets through the tunnel and the following loco begins to lose traction in the tunnel, the lead loco pulss it through.

The grade is very steep, and where there is no room for a tight curve, the train goes through switches, reverses direction, and literally zig zags up the pass. This happens twice on the way up.

It was quite an adventure, and a one I'll never forget.

Chas III

Charles, that was a really interesting little known fact, it was an art to fire a loco not a science. I wish I had the opportunity that you had, that's wonderful.

Below are some pictures of my BLR (Bloody Lousy Railroad) as, the loco doesn't run. It was a Graham Farish chassie. All the models are scratch built, the local people are of Preiser and Atlas figures dressed in toilet paper, and painted.









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I'll have to see what I've got for pictures of the Landikotal run. I think all I may have are slides. I'll have to see if I can get them printed so I can scan them and post them. It may take a while, even just to find them, but I'll give it the old school try.

Chas III