Many people new to model railways are often confused by the difference between HO, O and On30 scales. Here’s an explanation: Although popular, HO can be a disappointing scale for the discerning modeller. At 1:87 it is a difficult scale to model well as it has no mathematical proportions unlike the larger O scale 1:48 which represents a 14 inch to the foot. In this scale you can use many found materials like real moss or bonsai trees. A 14 inch stick of balsa suddenly becomes a 1 foot x 1 foot bridge beam The trouble with O scale is that it needs a basement sized layout to work well. However, O scale narrow gauge or On30 representing a gauge of 2’ 6” can use standard HO track. It may be the perfect solution as some of the best On30 layouts we have seen are less than 1 sq metre in size with every millimeter detailed.

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