Chromeknight

No it's not the same as LEGO, but so very close. This might be more than you need to know but... People often confuse the use of the word scale. In (model) railroading, the distance between the rails is the Gauge. In the picture above is O gauge track, which has 32mm between the rails. That's pretty much equal to the length of a four stud brick. This means when Lego wheel sets are put on O gauge track, one wheel sitting on the rail, the other wheel will be sitting just outside the other track. If you look closely, you can see the overhang (But wait you say, Lego wheelsets are four studs between wheels! True, but you need to add a little for the thickness of the wheels) Anyway. All the scenery is in O Scale, which is the proportion that something is in the model compared to real life In the UK O Scale is 1:43.5. That works out to be that 7millimetres of model is equal to 1 foot of real life thing. Carl builds his trains in about this scale, so they look the right size compared to the things around them in the picture. Have a look at as an idea of the similarity of scale. For an idea about scale, take a look at , showing what size minifigs would be in real life if they were considered to be various scale models. O scale varies between UK, Europe and the US. In the US it's 1:48, pretty much spot on for minifigs to be about 5'6"

I think this post has been confused by THREE different units of measurement, Studs, Inches and Centimetres. For those that have never done the measuring themselves here is the handy breakdown A 4x2 brick is 4 studs on the long side. It's 1.25" or 3.2cm So a baseplate is 32 studs long, or 10" or 25.6cm A baseplate fits two straight pieces of track (but everyone knows that already) A whole circle of track fits onto a 3x3 square of baseplates. 96x96 studs, 30"x30"(2'6"x2'6") 76.8cm x 76.8cm With the centre of the circle and the baseplates lined up, between the track and the edge of the plates there's 1.25" or 3.2 cm or, yes, 4 studs left over. Which is handy, because it's good to have some space beside the tracks. As has been said before. The plastic tracks and the 9v tracks are identical except for the metal on top. The geometry is unchanged. Hope this has helped.

It's great to see some enthusiasm! But; a gentle suggestion, there are people of many ages here, and if you refer to a set released in 2004 as 'old' or 'classic' you don't leave those who remember 12v or even 4.5v Blue rail trains anywhere to go. This is particularly relevant in the case of the station which, as noted before, bears a passing resemblance to 7822 Now that's old classic train days!

Latest News as of 2/14/2010: Pictures found by Darth Legolas at Figures.com ------------------------- Crusing brickset and I noticed that there will be more HP sets in october including a new Hogwarts express http://www.brickset.com/detail/?Set=4841-1 Now I don't want to start a bunch of speculation, since I know nothing more than indicated by BrickSet. If someone does have solid information (not speculation or vain wishing it uses EN wheels) then let's hear it. Otherwise it's fine of the topic lies quiet for a few months...

Also it includes 4 straights and no curves, a nice way to expand loops without ending up with a sack of curved rails. When Bricklink has curves at half the price (or less) and twice the availability of straights, regardless of which type, that's a signal that a box of 8 curves and 8 straights is just annoying for thinking consumers. On the topic of tracks the 7939 cargo train has 16 curves, 8 straights, 16 flex (equivalent to 4 pieces of track) and left and right points. i.e the same track total as 7898 The box seems to show a simple loop of track though. Can someone with the catalog in front of them confirm a simple loop or have they done something neat with the flex track?

I only have a small area, so my layout is compressed into a 2.5' by 5' space. Happily I have some 12v track and the point geometry is more compact. I'm also more interested in shunting and tootling about rather than running long trains. Using 16stud long cars the lower point sets form a 2,2,4 Inglenook (see http://www.wymann.info/ShuntingPuzzles/sw-inglenook.html ) And the layout as a whole approximates a (rather warped) Timesaver ( http://www.wymann.info/ShuntingPuzzles/Tim...-trackplan.html ) This means I can have a lot of fun in a small space. The next step in the project is to add some loading/unloading functionalities. I'll take photos soon!

There are lots of pictures out there of club massive club layouts, but I haven't seen a lot of home sized layouts by individuals. How much layout could you squeeze into an area six baseplates by four (ie, 5'x3'4")? Would you go for a continuous run or an end to end? Modern motive power and rolling stock or steam driven? European, British or American prototypes? Industrial scenery or some sort of passenger service? How would you break up the "flatness" of the baseplates cheaply? I'm interested to hear some ideas, or better some pictures of people's home layouts.