Railway modelling or model railroading is a hobby in which rail transport systems are modelled at a reduced scale.
A narrow-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard 1,435 mm. Most narrow-gauge railways are between 600 mm and 1,067 mm.
Large scale or G scale is a track gauge for model railways which, because of its size and durability, is often used outdoors. These garden railways use a fixed track gauge of 45 millimetres (1.75 in) to represent a range of rail transport modelling scales between narrow gauge (~1:13‒1:19‒1:20), metre gauge (1:22.5), Playmobil trains (~1:24), and standard gauge (~1:29–1:32). These scales all use the same track and wheel profiles, allowing different scales of models to be operated together.
N scale is a popular model railway scale. Depending upon the manufacturer, the scale ranges from 1∶148 to 1∶160. In all cases, the gauge is 9 mm or 0.354 in. The term N gauge refers to the track dimensions, but in the United Kingdom in particular British N gauge refers to a 1∶148 scale with 1∶160 track gauge modelling. The terms N scale and N gauge are often inaccurately used interchangeably, as scale is defined as ratio or proportion of the model, and gauge only as a distance between rails. The scale 1∶148 defines the rail-to-rail gauge equal to 9 mm exactly, so when calculating the rail or track use 1∶160 and for engines and car wheel base use 1∶148.
The Midland Railway – Butterley is a heritage railway at Butterley, near Ripley in Derbyshire.
A garden railroad or garden railway is a model railway system set up outdoors in a garden. While G is the most popular scale for garden railroads, 16 mm scale has a dedicated and growing following especially in the UK. Model locomotives in this scale are often live steam scale models of British narrow gauge prototypes. 16 mm scale track, the same gauge as O gauge is probably now more popular in the UK than G scale.
Live steam is steam under pressure, obtained by heating water in a boiler. The steam is used to operate stationary or moving equipment.
Travel Town Museum is a railway museum dedicated on December 14, 1952, and located in the northwest corner of Los Angeles, California's Griffith Park. The history of railroad transportation in the western United States from 1880 to the 1930s is the primary focus of the museum's collection, with an emphasis on railroading in Southern California and the Los Angeles area.
A ridable miniature railway is a large scale, usually ground-level railway that hauls passengers using locomotives that are often models of full-sized railway locomotives.
Minimum-gauge railways have a gauge of most commonly 15 in, 400 mm, 16 in, 18 in, 500 mm or 20 in. The notion of minimum-gauge railways was originally developed by estate railways and the French company of Decauville for industrial railways, mining, and farming applications.
Rail transport modelling uses a variety of scales to ensure scale models look correct when placed next to each other. Model railway scales are standardized worldwide by many organizations and hobbyist groups. Some of the scales are recognized globally, while others are less widespread and, in many cases, virtually unknown outside their circle of origin. Scales may be expressed as a numeric ratio or as letters defined in rail transport modelling standards The majority of commercial model railway equipment manufacturers base their offerings on Normen Europäischer Modellbahnen (NEM) or National Model Railroad Association (NMRA) standards in most popular scales.
Gn15 is a rail modelling scale, using G scale 1:22.5 scale trains running on H0/00 gauge track, representing minimum gauge and miniature railways. Typical models built are between 1:20.3 and 1:24, or up to 1:29.
The San Diego Model Railroad Museum is a model railroad exhibit in San Diego, California. At 27,000 sq. ft., it is the largest such indoor exhibit in North America, and one of the largest in the world. The museum is on the lower level of the Casa de Balboa Building on the Prado in Balboa Park. The museum is open Tuesday through Friday 10 AM - 4 PM, Saturday & Sunday 11 AM - 5 PM and is closed on Mondays.
SE scale is a designation used by a growing number of modellers to describe miniature (model) trains which run on either Gauge 1 track or O gauge track. In SE scale, 7/8ths of an inch equals one foot, which is a ratio of 1:13.7. On 45 mm gauge track this represents real life narrow gauge railways that are 2 ft gauge, while on 32 mm gauge track this represents 18 in railways.
The Coalyard Miniature Railway, opened in 1988, and relaid in 1990 as a 7 1⁄4 in gauge railway, operates in the grounds of the Severn Valley Railway’s Kidderminster Town Station. Its name is derived from a coal merchant business which operated alongside Kidderminster Town Station until 2004.
Thorne Memorial Park Miniature Railway is a 7 1⁄4 in gauge and 5 in gauge miniature railway built in 1998 in Thorne, South Yorkshire, England, operating on two loops within the park.
The Sonoma TrainTown Railroad is a tourist railroad and 10 acre amusement park in Sonoma, California. Its logo is based on the logo for the New York Central Railroad. Its main feature is a 15 in gauge miniature railway, which closely corresponds to a 1:4 scale model of a 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in standard gauge railroad.
The Diamond Valley Railway is a 7 1⁄4 in ridable miniature railway located at Eltham Lower Park, Eltham, Victoria. The railway operates a variety of live steam, battery electric and petrol/diesel powered locomotives. It is run by volunteers and operates on every Sunday of the year, most public holidays and on Wednesdays during school holidays. The fare is AU$3.00 and one complete mainline journey takes about 12 minutes. It is a popular tourist attraction and carries over 150,000 passengers a year.
The Southern California Railway Museum, formerly known as the Orange Empire Railway Museum, is a railroad museum in Perris, California, United States. It was founded in 1956 at the Pinacate Station as the "Orange Empire Trolley Museum", and moved to its current site in Perris in 1958. It was renamed "Orange Empire Railway Museum" in 1975 after merging with a museum then known as the California Southern Railroad Museum, and adopted its current name in 2019. The museum also operates a heritage railroad on the museum grounds.
