Ordering Bachmann European Engines?

[Steam Freak]

Hmmm......So a 00 scale locomotive on HO scale track would like it look like Narrow Gage?

Thank you also for the History Lesson. I'll try to remember it the best I can when using terms like that.

[Hamish K]

HO track scales at about 4 foot 1 and a half inches in OO scale. Viewed head on locos etc. can look a little narrow gauge. Most in Britain ignore this , although there are some who model with more accurate gauges, which requires conversions and kit or scratch building etc.

As I said previously, the only sure way is to look at what you are interested in, and decide for yourself whether the look is acceptable. Difficult I know if you are reliant on mail order.

Hamish

[Steam Freak]

Good enough for me

Do you know also if its possible to get South West Digital sound shipped to the US? SWD makes Class 37 sound. What I would want to do, is get everything and make it sound like this guy's Class 37: http://youtube.com/watch?v=ZNMN1RtfhTE

[Daylight4449]

Britain and America have different sizes in england ho is larger than oo but in America ho is smaller than oo. my friend uses oo locos from england but her track is american ho track. british oo matches up closely to american ho. the only difference is british locos were always small compared to american locos. lionel tried amerian oo for a short period to compete with american flyer but it was short lived due to joshuas hat for small toy trains as he called them, in america oo is now rare, so is tt.

[Guilford Guy]

Britain and America have different sizes in england ho is larger than oo but in America ho is smaller than oo. my friend uses oo locos from england but her track is american ho track. british oo matches up closely to american ho. the only difference is british locos were always small compared to american locos. lionel tried amerian oo for a short period to compete with american flyer but it was short lived due to joshuas hat for small toy trains as he called them, in america oo is now rare, so is tt.

Huh?
OO is always larger than HO. OO is 1:76, and HO is 1:87 scale, it doesn't change depending on the country. OO and HO both run on the same gauge track. Lionel got as small as OO in the 40's-50's because it was the smallest they could get, still fitting all the electronics in.

[tac]

...and 00 scale only exists because the locomotives over here at the time that really small model railways became popular in the late 1920's were too small in H0 to accept the then pretty bulky electric motors.  So the linear scale was upped to 4mm to the foot and called 00, while staying with the 16.5mm track gauge of H0.

Over here in UK there are purists, who run 00 on handbuilt track of around 18.3mm gauge, called Protofour, but it is an exotic and exceedingly rare venture.

Most over here, having grown up with the so-called 'wrong scale' neither care nor worry about the 'wrongness' of it.  Model railways over here are still a VERY important part of the model culture - any country that has around ten monthly magazines devoted to a single hobby just has to be pretty serious about it.

Our little club layout, about 40 feet by 10, has around a thousand feet of finescale Code 80 track.  I happily run all my US/Can/European stuff on it when nobody is looking too hard. 

tac
www.ovgrs.org

[Steam Freak]

Can anybody help me with the question I had about Southwest Digital?

[Ozzie21]

Steamfreak, this is the web address for SWD http://www.southwestdigital.co.uk/

They use ESU Loksound decoders and they come pre programmed with the appropriate noises.

Or you could order a Bachmann Branchline 20 class diesel that comes factory fitted with sound.
Another supplier of British sounds is oddly enough Digitrax. They list in their soundloader menu the following British sounds; Class 108 DMU, BR Yorkie, Class 37, light prarie tank and BR std class 5. Seems odd but they must have a market  in the UK or they wouldn't have listed them.

Ozzie21

Can anybody help me with the question I had about Southwest Digital?

[Pacific Northern]

Britain and America have different sizes in england ho is larger than oo but in America ho is smaller than oo. my friend uses oo locos from england but her track is american ho track. british oo matches up closely to american ho. the only difference is british locos were always small compared to american locos. lionel tried amerian oo for a short period to compete with american flyer but it was short lived due to joshuas hat for small toy trains as he called them, in america oo is now rare, so is tt.

What are you talking about?

The difference is in the scale 1:76 vs 1:87

[Ozzie21]

I though I  might have had a picture of comparable locos in HO and OO scale to show the difference. In reality the UK loading gauge is a composite to allow most rolling stock to traverse most lines  in the UK. There are some restrictions where rolling stock has to be special  built to suit the the restricted loading gauge in some places. Overall dimensions of rolling stock when compared to US rolling stock is reduced roughly 2ft  in height and width allowing for a US average of 16ft by 11ft.

This picture while showing two HO scale locos shows roughly the difference in size. The C&O Allegheny is 16' 6 and 31/32" high and 11' 1 and 1/2" wide the NSWGR AD 60 class Garrett 14' high and 9"3" wide. The Allegheny weighs in at 600tons approx, the AD60 380Tons similar locos did operate in the UK during the forties and fities. The last NSW Garrett in 1972.

Ozzie21