Gauge 1 Trains

Making it happen with Gauge 1 Trains

During the earlier era, people have been practicing railroad modeling but it was not as established as it is now. A lot of experimentation and testing were conducted just to find the ideal scales and gauges. Ideally, these model trains differ in sizes as to correspond with their track dimension. Although a lot of variations are available in the market, the smaller ones are usually preferred. However, during the first few years of the last century, the utilization of gauges 2, 3, and gauge 1 trains were only the sizes that was available, the latter being the smallest.

Interestingly, the term gauge was used in the past century, whereas we refer to it today as scales - the size of the train model. Gauge 1 trains were the smallest among the three that was found and was therefore widely used. It features a 1.75 inch rail track, a 39 mm distance between the track and the wheels, and the wheel measurement was set at 7.5 mm. It was set to be the standard measurement during the early 1920’s.

Due to the advancement of technology, people unquestionably looked for models which are smaller but somehow are still precisely detailed. During late 1920’s Gauge1 trains slowly decreased popularity especially around early 1930’s where gauge O, gauge OO and gauge HO emerged respectively. Today, they are popularly known as O scale, OO scale, and HO scale (half-O) which is literally have the size of O scales. By 1940’s Gauge 1 trains are nearly gone due to little or no availability in the market. Only few small scale enterprises still produce gauge 1 trains. Although some enthusiasts were still determined to keep this traditional gauge alive.

During its time, gauge 1 trains are considered a high-class scale that was the favorite of elite collectors. It is unbelievably expensive; the cost of a single gauge 1 train model can hike up to more than a thousand dollars. But due to the emergence of much smaller and enhanced quality gauges which certainly are of lower costs, manufacturers and enthusiasts alike grew fondness with these. The challenge for modelers was to exemplify their skill in precision and craftsmanship which chiefly is some of the collector’s preference.

Although not massively produced like its younger counterparts, Gauge 1 trains still manage to survive today in the recreation modern-day G scale, which is the biggest amongst all of the scale which it 1/8th the size of the actual trains. For more than 8 decades it has stayed alive and is expected to be in years to come.

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