Scale and Gauge

This is often a bewildering subject for the newcomer, particularly where Narrow Gauge is concerned. Worton Court is modelled under the description 0-16.5. This means the scale of the layout is O scale = 7mm/foot = 1:43.5. This on its own could imply that it is Standard Gauge (4'-8.5") i.e. 'British Railways' type rolling stock, so the actual track gauge (16.5mm) is appended to specify it is narrow gauge. 16.5mm is the gauge of OO and HO model railways, but at 7mm scale, this equates to just over 2ft-4", fortunately in the middle of the range of typical narrow gauge railways. A wide range of proprietary NG stock is available, but it is also possible to scratch build using OO/HO wheels, 'running gear' and even whole chassis' can be used with homemade or proprietary bodies made to 7mm/ft. scale.

On Worton Court, there is a mixture of homemade track, using code 70 flat-bottomed rail soldered to printed circuit board sleepers together with some proprietary 'flexitrack' (code 100 rail), with the plastic sleepers separated and eased along the rails to more typical centres.

Note 1: The new Bachmann range of narrow gauge models is marketed as NG7 and is 7mm/foot = 1:43.5 on 16.5mm gauge track.

Note 2: Other narrow railway gauges can be described in the same way e.g. O-14 (2 foot gauge on 14mm track), O-21 (3 foot gauge on 21mm gauge track) and O-9 (15" gauge on 9mm track). The latter is perfect for pleasure and industrial railways in relatively small spaces using 009 or N gauge track.