subject: The Attraction Of The O Gauge Trains And What That Means [print this page] Marklin designed and built the first O gauge Trains, then Lionel, Ives and American Flyer. The gauge of any model train is based on the ratio of the track size to an actual track size. The actual being 4' 8.5". Having said that, understand that there are different standards and all can vary a little bit! The primary standard is that the O gauge trains run on a two-rail track that is about 1.25" apart. The rolling stock is all designed to be as natural looking as possible with the livery applied to mimic several of the major train companies that carry freight all over the nation / world.
Laying out the train set 'board' can be a fairly daunting job as there needs to be quite a bit of space to ensure the train can make several turns. As you put up other elements of a good scene; trees, rivers, buildings, traffic control elements, etc., your set can take up a lot of space. The controllers and other command pieces need to be stored and deployed somewhere, so you might have a lot of area involved in the larger O gauge trains. So, before you opt for a big scale, just be aware of this and carefully measure your available space first.
Working with a large-scale can also be considered to be a benefit. When you have a larger car to work with, you can 'adjust' things such as the paint scheme on the side. Many collectors and hobbyists use the correct colors for trains in their neighborhood or on trains that they see in movies. The train that was seen in the Harry Potter movies was built to O gauge criteria. This could easily be captured with the right engine, caboose, and other rolling stock. The other adaptations that can be made to other engines or cabooses can be equally as amazing.
Many of the very critical hobbyists include the rust that appears along the various sides and bottoms of the cars to add that very realistic look that almost all trains have somewhere on their body. That extra realism may be easier to achieve on the larger pieces that are in the O gauge lines. The larger items that are featured around the track, such as trees, buildings and other scenery are also easier to acquire and much easier to place when you have them to work with.
The O gauge has been a very good standard that started the whole train set journey back in the 1850s with a company that no longer exists; however, there is still a lot of people who like the size and the looks of the good old-fashioned O Gauge Trains.
