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The name for 0 gauge and 0 scale was
created in part because manufacturers realized their best-selling trains were
the smaller scales.
Originally introduced by German toy
manufacturer Märklin by the 1930s three-rail alternating current 0
gauge was the most common model railroad scale in the United States . In Europe,
its popularity declined before World War II due to the introduction of smaller
scales.
In the United States, manufacturers such as the Ives Manufacturing Company,
American Flyer, and Lionel Corporation used 0 gauge for their budget line,but
after The Great Depression 0 gauge was the standard, almost by default.
0 scale refers to models built to 1:43 scale, 7 mm:1 foot (1:43.5), 1:45 scale,
or 1:48 scale.
0 gauge refers to tracks that are 11⁄4 in (32 mm) apart.
However, the two phrases are often also used interchangeably.
027 gauge is a variant whose origins are slightly unclear. Some historians
attribute its creation to A. C. Gilbert Company's American Flyer, but Ives used
027 track in its entry-level sets at least a decade before Gilbert bought Flyer.
While the 027 standard is no longer used today by Lionel and others for new
entry level sets, it remains popular with children and people who have limited
space. 027 sets were usually the most "toy" like versions of 0 gauge trains.
As 0 gauge regained popularity in the 1990s it also started to regain
manufacturers, and as of late 2003, no fewer than six companies market 0 gauge
locomotives and/or cars, all theoretically interoperable with one another.
Lionel equipment retains a large collector following. Equipment from
shorter-lived manufacturers prior to World War II is also highly sought after,
while American Flyer and Marx are less so. Post-War Marx is gaining in
popularity after years of being derided by serious collectors. There is little
collector interest in Sakai today, possibly because of difficulty identifying
the equipment and because the brand is much less widely known than its U.S.
counterparts.
In Britain, O gauge equipment is produced at a scale of 1:43, which is 7 mm to
the foot (using the common British practice of modelling in metric prototypes
originally produced using Imperial measurements). It's often called 7 mm scale
for this reason.
Although toy trains were historically produced to this scale, O gauge's
popularity in Europe and Britain died out after World War II, and the standard
is rarer than in the United States. Modelling in O gauge in fact almost died out
in Britain but enjoyed a resurgence in the 1990s as modellers developed a new
appreciation for the level of accurate detailing possible in this scale.
Electric Train Systems , Paya , Fleischmann,
American
Flyer, Atlas, Brass Imports, K-Line, Lionel, Marx, MTH, Weaver, Williams.
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