I am just getting back into my long time dream of building my own model train layout. I am reading a book by Richard Bardsley about N Gauge and was wondering what the difference between US and British Gauge is. In his book he states the gauge is 1:148 and as I understand it, the US gauge is 1:160. Why the difference and is there a problem with mixing gauges as I plan on using Peco for most of my layout and will be using US made rolling stock? Any help and information is greatly appreciated.
The gauge is the same , 9 mm. Its the scale that is different. British rolling stock is "larger" effectively if placed alongside US stock. The usual reason given for the difference is that the smaller UK prototypes were difficult to fit motors into so they were made a bit bigger. Not sure if thats the whole story but the same thing happens in 00/H0 too.
Peter British trains are a good bit smaller than USA trains in 'real life' - to the extent that the American 1:160 models are generally larger than any British outline 1:148 models. Worth bearing that in mind if you are thinking of running both types on your layout. When I first ran an American loco through my British tunnel, it got about half way through before getting stuck... The scale difference is a pain, given that all the other European models are also produced at 1:160. Donald
I'm working on a layout that will be doing double duty as a Great Western branch and upstate New York. The scenery (tunnel, trees, etc) are US 1:160 scale, while the buildings will be UK 1:148. Trains fit the layout no problem.
The visual difference will be less than you expect. As Donald pointed out, the American "clearance envelope" is larger than the British "loading gauge" and this largely offsets the difference in scales. I run both and don't really notice a big difference. Rich K.
This sounds something like the difference between American N scale and Japanese N scale. American N is 1:160, while Japanese N is 1:150. Japan prototype trains runs on narrow gauge while the US is standard gauge. I don't know much about British prototype trains but there are some very cool trains there!
