Garden Railway Forum

Hi all,

As a beginner in steam garden railroading, I would like some advice on track choice for a narrow gauge line.
Should it be 32 mm or 45 mm?

I should add that I don't care too much about exact scale looks or the locos and rolling stock being exactly like the prototypes. They should just be nice to look at.

So far I tend to go with 45 mm, since there seems to be a larger choice, not only Mamod locos and their different other incarnations, Roundhouse, but also German stuff from Regner and others.

What do you use and which were your arguments in deciding for either gauge?

It depends to a great extent on where you are and what people around you run on. In north America, most lines tend to be 45mm gauge - here in the UK 32mm is in the ascendent. If you're going to have visitors (or visit other lines) you really ought to be compatible with them (or at least have a gauge-adjustable loco or two) so it will pay you to join the 16mm Association and see what the local members run on.

The 45mm track is very popular on the other side of the British Channel (LGB, PIKO...). I built all my layout with the Piko track without any problem.

I'm in Romania, I guess I forgot to put it in my profile.
I don't know anybody with a garden railway around here (most modellers seem to be involved in smaller scales for indoors).

Well in that case, you can safely plough your own furrow. I suppose the next question has to be: What is your prototype? If you're intending to model your own country (or for that matter, almost anywhere on your side of the Channel) then I would suggest 45mm would be nearer to the original metre gauge. If you intend to model UK two foot gauge lines, then go for 32mm.

On balance Peco SM45

Personally I would use 32mm track as it gives the railway a character and makes it feel more unique. I have nothing against 45mm track though!

I think you need to check out what equipment is more easily available in Romania. I'm guessing but I imagine equipment from manufacturers based in mainland Europe would be the best option for you and that is more likely to be 45mm gauge.

Good luck

That was my thought, Andy = plus the fact that Continental NG tens to be metre gauge...........................

I model a 2ft 9 and 3/4 inch gauge railway in 16mm scale so it would have been silly for me to use anything other than 45mm gauge track...

The real reason is because before I started 16mm scale I had quite a bit of gauge 1 track so my first 16mm scale stock and locos were 45mm gauge...

Oh, I thought your railway was 32mm gauge Zach...

What made you think that?

Sorry, I didn't read your website properly, I thought 16mm modelling meant you also had 32mm track. I'm still,learning...sorry

Its a fairly common misconception that 45mm gauge is the domain of solely G scale or Gauge 1 (or 7/8ths) but you can model in whatever scale on what ever gauge you like!

Well you learn something new everyday...
Thanks Zach

Of course Romania also has some metric equivalent of 2 foot 6 inch gauge lines (where the Welshpool and Llanfair got the unreliable Reisita from) so 45mm does sound to me like the best bet for modelling Romanian stuff, and I would guess that it is more readily available.

760mm to be precise, probably thanks to Austrian influence. IIRC Hungary and Bulgaria also tend to be 760mm. The old Bosnia lines were also 760mm. I would lean towards 45mm gauge for 76cm gauge as 4 inches over looks better than 6" under!

Peter in AZ

Thanks for all the answers. 760 mm is indeed used over here on narrow gauge forestry and mining lines that survived.

I guess I'll go with 45 mm.

We started with LGB track after building a simple G-Gauge track while working as volunteers for a local preservation society, mainly as an attraction for the visiting youngsters who operated the trains. Then Jan bought some US LGB stock and the odd Stainz loco of her own to run on it. Then it was decided to build a more convenient layout at home using LGB/Piko (not Peco) track. This was purely for testing locos in the beginning, but soon grew like Topsy. Then I became interested in building quarry stock so a 32mm test track was set up in the garden using Tenmille track. As I have just purchased a couple more boxes of the 32mm track it looks like another expansion project is soon to be started, so it looks like we run both gauges here now.