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Confused about size variances in O gauge? Then look here!

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155K views 186 replies 72 participants last post by  MichaelE  
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
Anyone who has looked into the world of O gauge has discovered that there are many sizes. Below are some photographs that I hope will help outline what will size-up with what.

  1. For reference, the MTH Premier Line is 1:48 scale, which is the definition of O scale. All products in the Atlas Big O, Atlas Master, Atlas Trainman, K-Line O Scale, Lionel Standard O, and Weaver lines are also 1:48 scale and match the size of the MTH Premier Line car shown below.
  2. It appears that the Atlas Industrial Rail, K-Line O-27, Lionel Traditional, and MTH Rugged Rails product lines are equal in size and would be classified as being O-27 gauge.
  3. As the pictures show, the MTH Railking Line falls between O scale and O-27 gauge. In fact, there are even three categories within this product line - Railking, Railking Imperial, and Railking Scale. More about this can be read here.
Credit for the images below belongs to a gentleman named Sean from another forum. He did a great job showing the differences đź‘Ť



Image

MTH Premier v. MTH Railking

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MTH Premier v. Lionel Traditional

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MTH Railking v. Lionel Traditional

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MTH Railking v. MTH Rugged Rails

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Lionel Traditional v. Atlas Industrial Rail

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Lionel Traditional v. K-Line O-27

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Lionel Traditional v. MTH Rugged Rails

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MTH Premier v. Lionel Prewar :)

Mod edit: embedded missing graphics
​
 
#3 ·
And the model house in the back ground looks like a real house too.:thumbsup:
 
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#9 ·
Thanks for the help with the scale, now lets talk about the wheels, are the prewar lionel wheels deeper than the post war? or is that the diffence between true O and O-27.
My pre war trains run fine on the fast track until they come up to a switch or accessory track, the rails are not deep enough for the wheels.
thanks
joe
 
#10 ·
The flanges on the prewar wheels are larger than the flanges on the post war wheels. The prewar crossings don't work well with postwar cars, and vice-versa. The crossing carry the same part number, so you have to test them. I haven't tried 022 switches.
 
#11 ·
The shadows of a nearby tree on the house move/change from photo to photo - this a piece of FasTrack set on a a piece of Trex which likely is the cap piece for a deck, with the neighbor's house in the background. We could probably tell in which order these photos were taken, if we really cared.

Great comparison, though. Definitely some food for thought.
 
#12 ·
I don't think that Lionel has a standard O/27 gauge.
As there O gauge is all over the place. Some boxcars are just longer and not as tall some are shorter and a little taller.

As far as I'm concerned only there track is consistent.
O gauge is a confusing mess. I should have just gone with G.
 
#13 · (Edited)
:laugh:

Once you learn about the differences of O and O/27 it is not that confusing.

O track is a bit taller then O/27, but most of the O will run on O/27. It is the curves and switches that will give true O trains a problem.
I would say that all O/27 will run on O.

I run on O/27 track and mix O sized box cars with O/27 box cars.
I don't care.:D O are just a bit bigger.

If your new to O and O/27 check out this site to learn, when done click down the bottom of the page to view a lot more info. There is a ton of usefull info on Thors site.

But by all means ask here too ,you need to.

edit,
http://www.thortrains.net/otrix1.htm
 
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#68 ·
RMT acquired several but not all of the old K-line molds and tooling. There are also some signs of Kusan in their line. I would say that RMT probably is comparable to K-line in size.
 
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#17 ·
for out of scale O, check the Lionel Crossing gate and signal from the 80's and the gateman is also larger than it should be. When you compare the railking buildings Doors and figures and then place the old Lionel gateman beside. Gateman looks like a giant!

I also noticed the differences in the K-line box cars and the MTH and newer lionel ones. kind of crazy.

Chris
 
3
#22 ·
Making it match

I have a Williams ABA set in Illinois Central . I bought 8 Lionel passenger cars to go with them. The Williams were all larger . Having seen this mistake I like The Williams cars better but can't seem to find the passenger cars to go with it. Anybody know a seller of these kinds of cars.
 
#24 ·
3 guage said:
I have a Williams ABA set in Illinois Central . I bought 8 Lionel passenger cars to go with them. The Williams were all larger . Having seen this mistake I like The Williams cars better but can't seem to find the passenger cars to go with it. Anybody know a seller of these kinds of cars.
Click to expand...

What passenger cars did you get?
I would think some Lionel heavyweights would go with them.

They sell Williams/Bachmann O scale, I never looked at any close up.
Dimensions,
navigates 0-42 curves​
single-car length 17.75", height 3.625

Take a look,
​
http://www.wholesaletrains.com/OProducts2.asp?Scale=O&Item=WLMSHVYWTS


I would have to pull them out and look, but I think my Lionel heavyweights are just as big if not bigger.
 
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#26 ·
Thee isn't a single "brand" that is "true" O-scale. Each maker, Lionel, MTH, Williams, Atlas, etc. has some true 1:48 "scale" items and some "semi-scale", typically a bit smaller. You have to zero in on the actual item within a brand to know if it's really O-scale.

Note that I'm not talking about Europe here, where 1:43 is considered "true" O-scale. ;)
 
H
#27 ·
If I remember correctly The cross ties on the O-27 were brown and on the traditional o gauge they are black. The 27 stood for the radius of the turns. The O-27 were designed to use a smaller layout a full circle is just a bit over 2 feet. My layout uses traditional 0-72 (a full circle would be 6 feet) just so I can run any engine on it. The rails were a little taller on the O-27 to make it a little harder to derail.
Herman
 
#28 ·
The color of the ties is not universal. I've seen brown, black, and silver O27, and I have in my possession black and silver tie O31 track. I'm pretty sure I had some O31 that had brown ties as well.

The ties are a different shape on O31 track, they have "ears" where the O27 track ties are normally formed square.

The taller rails on O31 have no effect on the propensity to derail AFAIK.
 
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