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HO And OO On The Same Gauge Track?
Michael has a question on HO compared to OO and asks:
“I would like to own one of the American Locos but all of the ones I like seem to be HO scale. My question is are HO scale locos compatible to run on a OO DCC track?”
Robert comments – HO (USA) and OO (British) are not the same scale (the difference between HO and OO is 12.5%). Most people would find it hard to spot the difference at first glance.
HO has a ratio of 1:87 and is 3.5 mm to the foot with a standard track gauge of 16.5mm or 5/8″.
OO has a ratio of 1:76 and is 4mm to the foot with a scale track gauge of 18.83 mm.
Most model train manufacturers have made their wheels fine enough to work on HO track.
Perhaps some of our readers could comment on their experience with running OO and HO together and perhaps their thoughts on mixing OO and HO buildings etc.
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Whilst true scale oo guage is 18.83mm most ready to run is actually 16.5 mm, the same as normal HO.
I have run many HO locos on my UK oo track without and real issues. Most of my track is code 100 and the HO wheels seem to be ahppy with this as I would expect.