What is the difference between on30 and o gauge ? will on30 run on O gauge track?
thanks
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Originally Posted by tom1108:
What is the difference between on30 and o gauge ?
The "n" indicates Narrow Gauge, while the "30" indicates 30 inch gauge. The more common "Narrow Gauge" would be On3, which would indicate "O" Scale, "n" Narrow Gauge, and the "3" would be 3 foot (36") gauge.
will on30 run on O gauge track?
Probably not, unless it is the Bachman Narrow gauge models that are scaled much large, in order to operate on "standard O Gauge" 2-Rail track. They are pretty big models, and definitely look great operating on O Gauge 2-Rail SCALE track.
thanks
A minor correction, Bachman ON30 is made to run on HO track, not O standard gauge. Bachman made their stuff that way when they started to sell Christmas sets for those cast plaster villages and they figured they had ready made track.
the problem was, the Mogul and passenger cars they did were so nice, real modelers started buying them and building Narrow Gauge layouts with Prototypical scaled track.
On HO track the ties are too small and too close together to represent O narrow gauge. Bachman now has a whole line of stuff built to that gauge.
Many modelers wish they had built the stuff to 3 foot gauge.
For perspective, standard gauge track is 4 ft 8 1/2 inches. Most O scale track in 2 or 3 rail (unless proto-48) is 5 ft gauge or 3 1/2 inches too wide.
HO track gauges scales out 31.29 inches in O scale, or about 1. 1/4 inches wider than 30 and closer to 3 ft gauge.
Jim is correct about the track being HO gauge. To add to this, there is track available with correct 1/48 tie size and spacing.
- the On30 Scale is still O - 1:48; it models small equipment. Try to avoid calling it "Big HO", except in a bar, late at night; the HO guys just get all creeped out.
- 30" = 2 1/2 feet (not an unknown actual gauge; not even uncommon back in the heyday of narrow gauge construction; once a common industrial gauge).
- "..HO...gauges out 31.29 inches in O...closer to 3 ft gauge." Last time i checked, 3 feet = 36 inches, farther from HO in "O World". And, can you see it?
- they used HO gauge for all kinds of obvious manufacturing, marketing and equipment reasons. Not to mention scratch building: think of all the mechanisms and track available for it. True "On3" gauge has track and parts available, but little, and more expensive than
HO items. I would use purpose-built On30 track with proper ties, etc., in more visible areas, with plain HO in middle-ground and back. (Not an original idea on my part, of course.)
- On30 is very appealing; "if I were starting over..." - maybe - but I don't like it on 3RO layouts as a short line or whatever - the 2-rail track just makes that 3RO center rail look that much odder.
