Size difference between O and standard Gauge

Do the math, Standard Gauge is 1:32, and O-Gauge is 1:48 (at least in the US).  Obviously, they'd have to be the exact same style of car and both scale dimensions for this to be accurate.

I am trying to make sense of your numbers. What exactly is a #217 passenger car and a #336 standard gauge car? I am familiar with 300 series passenger cars I just can't recall a #336.

Scott Smith

i took the number from an older post by F&G RY (on 5/3/14) where he posted a photo of car size comparison between standard passenger cars. This photo compared a very large car (418) to a very small car (338/9) within the offering of standard gauge tinplate cars. the 338/9 was a good 15 to possibly 20 percent smaller than the larger 418 car. So I was wondering what the difference in size was between the o gauge tinplate 700 series passenger cars and the 300 standard gauge series passenger cars.

my idea was to maybe purchase the 300 gauge cars and change out the trucks.

Does anyone have o gauge 700 series passenger cars and a 300 series standard gauge passenger car that they could take a photo side by side and post. Just wounded how close in side they are.

I have seen a lot of photos online and both look comparable. However I would like to see side by side. Thanks

Here are some pics of 300 series standard gauge with 600 series O gauge, these are the same size as 700 series but different trucks.  

Thanks,

From left to right  700- 600- 610- 300 all O gauge.

Lionel played fast and loose with scale in both O and standard gauge.  Look at a 256 and the related cars - runs on O gauge track, but almost as large as a lot of standard gauge pieces.  Look at the size of 200 series cars vs. 500 series - they're both standard gauge.

Tinplate trains are caricatures - worrying about scale will drive a person crazy.

@Mallard4468 posted:

Lionel played fast and loose with scale in both O and standard gauge.

Tinplate trains are caricatures - worrying about scale will drive a person crazy.

The above is absolutely correct. Lionel did definitely play fast and loose with tinplate in both O and Standard Gauge. And there's really little point in fretting about precise scale because there is no precise scale in either line.

The very best references I know of that  exhaustively detail Lionel production in both Std. Gauge and O are the series of books published in recent years by Bruce C. Greenberg. These volumes are costly $100 each, I believe), but there's really nothing that compares with them.