>I do not get it. Do you know the difference between 5 scale feet vs. 4ft 8.5inch? Just shy of 1/16". Do you really think you can notice the difference? Obsessive compulsive disorder comes to mind.
Rob,
I admit that there "might" be a bit of OCD involved, but in my estimation it's not the 1/16" gauge difference that drove the process. It was more born out of addressing the highly inaccurate, old .172 wheel treads (the NMRA has since changed the O standard to a more visually pleasing .145). If a guy was going to model in exactly 1:48 (in all other areas of the model he was building) then why not take it to the limit and adopt the actual AAR wheel and axle profiles, which yields an accurately tapered and tonnage-rated axle, and a wheel that's an accurate (scale) .115 wide?
Once you've made that leap, then you start thinking, "well, now that I've made the axles and wheel profiles a true 1:48, why not correct the track gauge while I am at it?" At least that was my thought process.
>Maximizing detail is a perspective I had not considered but I thought that was universal in the 2 rail scale world and not unique to the Proto 48 realm.
Not really...there are no absolutes here, and there are certainly some models and modelers in Standard O Scale that really take it to the limit, but (generally) not like those in P48. Most folks think that P48 is all about wheel and track standards, and that's certainly a part of it. Moreover it's an entire modeling philosophy, that encompasses every aspect of the art.
Matt Forsyth
Forsyth Rail Services
