Hornby and Bachmann scale difference

[Michigan Railfan]

I recently watched a video and it obviously had both Hornby and Bachmann frieght cars. I seen that OO gauge is 1:76 or something like that and HO is 1:87. In the video, I noticed that there was practically no difference in size. I was just wondering, because if I find a Hornby retailer in the USA I might buy some stuff from there.

[the Bach-man]

Dear Indy,
OO Scale is 1:72, and, since many Thomas items are based on British Outline equipment in our line, they are similar in size to Hornby.  Hornby's characters seem to be scale locos with faces; ours are characters created from drawings, hence there will be differences in size among them.
Have fun!
the Bach-man

[Cheeky_ULP]

Made from drawings? Well that actually explains a lot about the scales now.

[StanierJack]

To the original poster, Hornby do not sell their Thomas products in the USA due to liscence issues. Both ranges are to the same scale, but as The Bach-Man has said, Hornby used existing toolings for their range, bar Percy and Edward.

You will probably be able to get normal Hornby items though...

[DreamFiend_633]

I'd take Bachmann's models to Hornby's any day. The only problem is that Bachmann needs to design their engines with open cabs. The motor and wiring takes up too much room. That, and they need to make more!

[Michigan Railfan]

To the original poster, Hornby do not sell their Thomas products in the USA due to liscence issues. Both ranges are to the same scale, but as The Bach-Man has said, Hornby used existing toolings for their range, bar Percy and Edward.

You will probably be able to get normal Hornby items though...

Yeah, I know I can get normal Hornby items over here in the U.S.. I went to Bachmann's find a retailer, and found a retailer in Washington state. Maybe one day if I go there, I can buy some items and build some models of my own.

[buzz]

The Bachmann is correct.
Hornby Thomas is scale models this is possable as the original Thomas trains are based on very real locomotives that Hornby already manufacture.
So for Hornby its easy make a face to fit the smoke box change the markings and there is another in the Thomas series on the market.
Bachmann had little choice but to start from scratch and chose I believe to work from the Thomas art work, they could not use any of there existing scale models because Hornby and Bachmann make compatible ranges of UK scale models but for rather obvious reasons not the same ones.
However the differences in Thomas size are not that great as to be
a problem there are you will find variations in size in the real railway world as well.
regards John

[jlschai]

i bought a hornby gordon a few months ago and he fits perfectly on my ho track.

[ZeldaTheSwordsman]

That's because 00 and H0 use the SAME TRACK GAUGE.

The Bachmann Thomas products are 00 scale items sold as H0. Much of the rolling stock is recycled Branchline toolings.

[thomasforever1]

Bachmann Thomas models have moving eyes and horby Thomas models don't have moving eyes

[ZeldaTheSwordsman]

That has nothing to do with the scale. 

[PerfectPercy]

Bachmann Thomas models have moving eyes and horby Thomas models don't have moving eyes

Zelda beat me to it. Once more that is another unconstructive comment. We don't need that here.

Sometimes it is also good to not have moving eyes, well sorry, what I mean is that some Hornby Thomas faces are almost... more TV series like. I'm happy with Bachmann's faces. I have no complaints, but even if you do have a complaint that doesn't mean you should say it in a thread that relates nothing to the faces!

There is also the fact that this is an ancient thread, but that wouldn't be a problem if something relating to the topic was actually posted! Grr...

[Cheeky_ULP]

Constructive Criticism is nice, but come on guys, it's not a necessity here. We're being way too uptight.