The Past: 1:32 scale (3/8-inch = 1 foot) on Number One gauge is the oldest accurate scale-gauge combination. In 1:32 scale, Number One gauge track measures 4 feet 8 1/2 inches between the rails. That means 1:32 is the only scale where Number One gauge track is correct for standard gauge. The famous German model train manufacturer, Märklin, introduced Number One gauge sometime between 1891 and 1895.

The actual (full size) distance between the rails of Number One gauge track is 45mm. It is the gauge LGB, ARISTO-CRAFT, Bachmann, and all other manufacturers of popular large scale model trains use.

1:32 scale, Number One gauge model trains flourished in Europe and England but never really took hold here in America. Why? Lionel, Ives, and American Flyer had taken control of the tinplate standard gauge market and the popularity of their toys left little room for anything else.

The Present: The large scale model train market is in a state of utter confusion today. LGB, Bachmann, and USA Trains offer products in 1:22.5 scale but, often, they build to inaccurate proportions. In many cases, their products are closer to toys than to scale models. [LGB's Porter is actually 1:20.3 scale and Bachmann's upcoming Shay reportedly will be 1:20.3 scale.-Ed.] Others offer trains in 1:24 or in 1:20.3 scale. ARISTO-CRAFT builds trains in 1:29 scale. Most Model Die Casting products are 1:32 scale.

ARISTO-CRAFT and Model Die Casting models represent standard gauge trains; all others represent narrow gauge trains. Because of the difference in scale, Number One gauge track in ARISTO-CRAFT's larger size actually scales about 4 feet 4 inches between the rails instead of the correct 4 feet 8 1/2 inches as in MDC's 1:32 scale. In other words, ARISTO-CRAFT models are too big for the track.

By far the most common narrow gauge is 3 feet between the rails. In 1:32 scale, that would measure 1 1/8 actual inches. Robert A. M. Stephens' Stillwater Mills products operate on 1 1/8 inch gauge track. My own JMG Hobbies 1:32 scale narrow gauge models also will operate on that gauge. Unfortunately, so far no commercial track is available in that size.

Of the other scales, only 1:20.3 scale on Number One gauge track works out to 3 foot narrow gauge. In 1:24 scale, the same track scales 42 inch gauge; in 1:22.5 scale it represents 1 meter gauge. In none of those scales is standard gauge track commercially available. So, in large scale, we end up watching smaller (1:32 or 1:29) scale standard gauge trains run on the same track as larger (1:24, 1:22.5, or 1:20.3) scale narrow gauge trains and they all appear almost the same size.

On the other hand, if we were to use the same scale for all models and adjust the gauge to fit, we would have two or three separate track gauges, just as real trains do. Narrow gauge trains would look smaller than standard gauge trains. That also would be realistic.

HO and HOn3 (standard and 3 foot narrow gauge respectively), S and Sn3, O and On3 all offer models of the same scale but of different and appropriate gauge. Only large scale trains lack such refinement. And only in our segment of the hobby, because of its almost random proliferation of scales, will you find narrow gauge locomotives larger than standard gauge locomotives running on the same track!

Conclusion: 1:32 scale will solve that problem. It already is perfect for standard gauge on 45mm Gauge One track and accurate (though unofficial) standards exist for narrow gauge on 1 1/8 inch gauge track. The proportions are accurate. The relative sizes are accurate. No such annoying eyesores as oversize wheel flanges and unrealistically tight curves exist. It is a scale of models rather than of toys.

Even if you have no interest in scale, gauge, or accuracy, your eyes should be much happier looking at models and track with the right proportions. Or, to put it another way, the reason Hugh Heffner was so successful with Playboy is because the girls in his photos measured 36-24-36 instead of 24-36-24. Proportions are everything!