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but the LEGO track is obviously ment for standard gauge :wink: I once tried building a klein-lindner locomotive for LEGO gauge in the sence of making a large scale NG railway. it looked awefull!

I don't think LEGO was orginally designed with scale modeling in mind. Some times it works better to get it look about right versus perfectly to scale. It can be less hair loss that way. :classic:

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Track is scaleable in much the same way as the trains themselves. The rails don't have to be 6 studs apart and could be any gauge you like, whether larger or smaller, to suit the size of trains you want to model.

20091830411_e1077ea469_z.jpg

...a bit like this. Some 4-wide track for staging my 4-wide models.

But admittedly you won't have many curves or points/switches. Ha ha!!

I subscribe to the Railbricks view stated by Engineermax above. Pick a scale/size/gauge that suits you, whether as an individual or group of modellers, and, as long as it looks right, it doesn't really matter how wide it is.

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I don't think LEGO was orginally designed with scale modeling in mind. Some times it works better to get it look about right versus perfectly to scale. It can be less hair loss that way. :classic:

This is the philosophy I plan on using. I'm currently designing a steam locomotive, but in order to make it look right it needs to be very wide, which might look conflicting next to other locos (especially compared to my last creation.) I think everyone should just use the wheels as a size reference for the whole thing and run with it from there. We've only got 3 wheel sizes to pick from (unless you go with custom parts) so you might as well make the best of it.

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I think everyone should just use the wheels as a size reference for the whole thing and run with it from there.

The problem with that is when you display a layout with a lot of rolling stock, it is all in different scales. The track gauge is probably a good starting point if consistency is a priority. The are a bunch more wheel sizes (and colours) available from Big Ben Bricks.

It is almost impossible to pick a scale, so no one scale is right, but the larger it is the more detail you can model. 7 and 8 wide are compromises which allow more detail without making running the trains very difficult.

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As far as MOCs go, there is no reason they should be limited to any size, so long as the trains function with the track as intended.

There is a reason if you intend to use minifigs. Sure, they are terribly proportioned, but imagine a 10-wide train with the correct height. Place a minifig next to it and I think it's plausible (I haven't built that large) the minifig is dwarfed by it.

My 80 stud long cars can handle curves and switches without any issues.

I'm curious how that will look. Longer cars often look terrible in corners already sharp for the standard 28 stud long cars.

What size a group decides to build in is completely up to that group, though to ultimately say that one scale is better or worse than another based on what a group decides is flawed logic.

I agree with you on this one.

As for me, I'm not sure yet what size to build, but it will be either 6 or 7 studs wide. A compromise, sure. But I want to use minifigs, and coaches who look reasonable in standard curves (I don't have the room to use the wide ME curves). That last point limits the length of a coach for me to around 46 studs. For the least worst dimensions with that length best would be to build in 6w. And even then I might not have the space to add a straight track long enough to park a three-car EMU or DMU at a station.

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