True proportion G scale ?

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d333gs

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Hi, I am new to the forum, hello to all! I have a question about proportions; I recently was given some old g scale train cars , some sort of fairy land looking with the wagons looking too wide for the wheel spacing and then one very realistic box car with 'POLA MAX' written on it. It is these G Scale trains that I am interested in. QUESTION: Is there a specific name for this type of G Scale?
Thanks to all, John
 
We are talking about the LGB rubber ruler again....
 
OK LOOKS LIKE i LIKE 1:20.3.........Thanks guys........Off to EBAY...............

P.S.: Any other suggestions besides EBAY?
 
Welcome to the forum! One of the things you will notice as you read stuff on here, look at posted pictures and videos etc, is that very few people here are obsessive about exact scales - or, indeed, anything else! Most of us are firm believers in "Rule Eight", which basically says it's your railway, and you can do what you like with it - of course if what you like IS exact scale realism, then that's fine, but most people interpret it as meaning that you can run virtually anything as long as it "looks about right" to you. ;)

In general, Garden Railway enthusiasts are much less concerned with scale and precision than most indoor-scale modellers, and more interested in building an attractive line that works with the natural elements of the garden.

Above all: whatever you do, remember to enjoy it! :D

Jon.
 
I'd agree with Jon to enjoy, and use what looks right to you.

However.....

If scale does matter to you, and why not, then remember that there is no such thing as G scale. It's a collective term that surrounds a heap of scales and gauges loosely combined to encompass large (Grosse) or Garden railways.
 
Zerogee said:
Welcome to the forum! One of the things you will notice as you read stuff on here, look at posted pictures and videos etc, is that very few people here are obsessive about exact scales - or, indeed, anything else! Most of us are firm believers in "Rule Eight", which basically says it's your railway, and you can do what you like with it - of course if what you like IS exact scale realism, then that's fine, but most people interpret it as meaning that you can run virtually anything as long as it "looks about right" to you. ;)

In general, Garden Railway enthusiasts are much less concerned with scale and precision than most indoor-scale modellers, and more interested in building an attractive line that works with the natural elements of the garden.

Above all: whatever you do, remember to enjoy it! :D

Jon.
Click to expand...

I'd say this is pretty much the perfect statement around "scale" in G. If you really really care about scale, it might not be the right thing. Afterall once you brave the garden, lots of things aren't scale.
 
What you have to remember is that any model railway will be a compromise.

For example, to model my local station and its goods yard in 00 (4mm/ft) would need a length of around 25 feet!

Although I have a sizeable garden, I would struggle to model it in G gauge. The cost would certainly be prohibitive?

What I have done is compromised on the layout and the trains that I run; all loops and sidings are no longer than train consists of a medium size 2-6-2 tank or bo-bo diesel with 6 two axle wagons or 4 bogie vehicles....
 
USA Trains locos and ultimate series rolling stock are to a reasonably accurate and consistent 1:29 scale. The length appears to be to scale. Their American series is not to scale. I think that the Bachmann Spectrum series are also reasonably to scale at 1:20. The non Spectrum items are supposed to be 1:22 but I am not sure they are that accurate.

The German manufacturers do not seem to even quote a scale on anything which says it all. I would call them more caricatures than scale models and they are nearly always too short for their height and width. As has been said earlier this shouldn't matter too much in the garden as the plants etc are not to scale either.

I like the USA Trains locos because they are to scale but then I run Bachmann 1:22 wagons behind them because they look good together. Thats really what garden railways are about for most of us - if it looks good to you then it is good.
 
Good comments and info on relative scales have already been given here.

But there is also the 'This is near...this is far away' rule.

This is when using items, (like figures, buildings and vehicles etc or even rolling stock and locos on different tracks), set at different distances from the viewer.
The 1:29 scale items may look a bit small when viewed directly beside a 1:20.3 or 1:22.5 loco/rolling stock, but if they are set back a small distance behind, then the natural laws of perspective and their effect on what we perceive seem to kick in.
The smaller scale stuff gives more depth to the layout and makes it seem to be bigger than it is.

So mixing the 'G' scales, in my mind, can really pay dividends.
 
And of course, "G Scale" track is exactly the same scale as Gauge One. 1/29 = G1.

But in the garden, G scale track can represent the 3ft gauge, the standard gauge, 2'6" or metre gauge.

So 1/20 = 15mm to 1ft and so on. I have large amounts of Bachman 1.22.5 and I run mixed stock (manufacturers) al of different scale - generally only the width gives it away!
 
1:20.3 models tend to be of American (North, Central or possibly even Southern) prototypes.

The size of these vehicles tended to vary quite a lot even without loading gauge limitations.

The Newfoundland Railways were 3'6" gauge and ended up as part of Canadian National. When replacement boxcars were needed CN placed 3'6" trucks under standard gauge bodies that were considerably larger than the narrow gauge versions they replaced. Both types ran indiscriminately mixed in the same train. Using 1:29 and 1:20.3 models together would look very similar in my opinion.
 
The normal G scale track - LGB, Piko etc have rail which is way too big for any of these scales but for most of us it is an accepted compromise providing important strength out in the garden.

This shows a 1:29 loco pulling 1:22 wagons. For me this looks fine but the flowers are well out of scale and the rail height looks so wrong when compared to the real thing.
fl03.jpg

On this one the locos are 1:29 while the log wagons and coal wagons are 1:22. The church is probably around 1:25. The wagons on the far right are steel coil carriers made by me and built to a size that was about the right proportions for 1:29. Despite all this mixing of scales I think everything fits together reasonably well - good enough for me anyway.
fr10.jpg

There are early thoughts about building a new exhibition layout at Warley club. It will only have two or three buildings. One suggestion is to build two sets of buildings with the same footprint - one set to 1:29 and one to 1:22. We`ll see how that progresses.
 
:o. G scale= fun.fun.fun
 
Bloody Begonias! Never get the scale right!
In truth, if you run your garden railway on the ground, through the garden, its an illusion just like art deco. Its not what you have, but what you see that matters! As has been said before, if it looks right, it is right.
This may be contentious but rule 8 was invented by the guy who just does get everything so brilliantly right!
 
As has been mentioned - a can of worms. G1 is 1:32 true scale, also 1:30 because years ago they could not make mechanisms that small and 1:29 because Aristocraft wanted them to look reasonably OK with their N/G box vans! 1:20.3 represents 3ft gauge prototypes while 1:22.5 was originally to represent Continental metre gauge. 1:19 scale is often known as 16mm/ft and originally represented narrow gauge running on around 2ft gauge using 32mm gauge track. Many people also run 1:19 scale live steam narrow gauge locomotives on 45mm track. For instance the Accucraft Countess can run on either 32 or 45mm track but is correct on neither because the original runs on 2ft 6in gauge :-).

If one is doing American trains, then personally, I would go for 1:20.3. This is certainly the scale that is growing very quickly in the US and of course is also used for Isle of Man and Irish prototypes. In the last analysis, we are grown men playing with toy trains in the garden as a break from all the nausea and hassle of surviving in the 12in/ft world – therefore it is important to do things the way one likes doing them and I provide the above merely as a framework for choice.
 
If you sit in the garden on a warm Summer evening with a bottle of Bordeaux, watching the trains go round, you will soon stop worrying about differences in scale. Mind the pond as you go back to the house!
 
I am not sure what scale the trees are – they could not tell me at the garden centre ;)
 

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