Scale & Gauge ? ? ?

The Grand Central Railroad Park is an outdoor "Garden" railroad which is most commonly referred to as "G Scale".

The gauge of the track we've used is 1.75 inches (45mm).

"SCALE" is a measurement or ratio of the physical size of the MODEL compared to the PROTOTYPE (the full-sized, or real object which in this case the actual train).

As an example... a scale of 1 to 2 (or abbreviated 1:2) would indicate a scale MODEL which is one half the size of the PROTOTYPE (an actual 40 foot long box car would be a 20 foot long scale model of the box car... which would be quite a large model).

"G SCALE" includes ratios (scales) from roughly 1:20 to 1:32. In other words, some G Scale trains are 1/32nd the size of the real train and others are as large as 1/20th of the size of the real train (and there are many scales in between).

Using a scale of 1:29 as an example, an actual 40 foot long box car would be just about 16.5 inches long as a model of the box car.

Although G SCALE is the most popular scale for garden railroads, other scales may be better suited for indoor use (as they take much less space to model). Z scale is the smallest scale with a ratio of 1:220. Others scales of increasing size include N 1:160, HO 1:87, S 1:64, and O 1:48.

One of the most familiar S gauge trains is American Flyer. The first O gauge train that many people think of is Lionel.

In the example above, all 6 model train engines shown are scale models of the same prototype (diesel engine) but in different scales (ratios).

> WALTHERS website - scale reference <

"GAUGE" is the distance between the rails of the track (between the inside edges of the rails). Sixty per cent (60%) of the world's railways (including North America) use 4 ft 8½ inches (1,435mm) as their "standard gauge".

If you were to "model" North American standard gauge track in a scale of 1:32, the gauge of the model track would be about 1.75 inches wide (45mm).

This is exactly the gauge of track we use on the Grand Central Railroad.