A Trap For Beginners To Model Railroading

July 14, 2006

Before getting started in the actual building of a model railroad layout, the most important detail to consider is what scale you are going to model. This is critical because the scale will determine how big your model railroad layout will be. SCALE simply means the ratio of the model compared to the real life object (prototype).

As an example, 1:87 scale means that the model is 1/87 as large as the prototype, or the real life object. Therefore 1 inch on the scale model represents 87 inches on the prototype. Your model railroad layout will look much more realistic if you keep the components on your model in the same scale. Sounds simple enough, but a trap that beginners to the hobby often fall into.