I would’ve said that “O-Scale” in the US refers to both the 1:48 rolling stock and the 1.25" track used with it (but that you could also call the track “O gauge” if you want), while “O-Gauge” in the UK refers to both the 1.43.5 rolling stock and the 32 mm track used with it (which happens to be only 0.25 mm different to the US track).
Now that I’ve looked it up, though, apparently there’s a third European standard involving 1:45 stock on a 32 mm track. And of course, there’s 0-27 gauge (which is almost the same as O and mostly compatible with it but not quite), and apparently several other variants. It’s a real mess.
Happily, I think other scales like G, HO, and N don’t have nearly as much of that sort of problem.
Okay, it’s even more confusing than I realized.
I would’ve said that “O-Scale” in the US refers to both the 1:48 rolling stock and the 1.25" track used with it (but that you could also call the track “O gauge” if you want), while “O-Gauge” in the UK refers to both the 1.43.5 rolling stock and the 32 mm track used with it (which happens to be only 0.25 mm different to the US track).
Now that I’ve looked it up, though, apparently there’s a third European standard involving 1:45 stock on a 32 mm track. And of course, there’s 0-27 gauge (which is almost the same as O and mostly compatible with it but not quite), and apparently several other variants. It’s a real mess.
Happily, I think other scales like G, HO, and N don’t have nearly as much of that sort of problem.Edit: never mind, I just read https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rail_transport_modelling_scales#Scale_standards and it’s a clusterfuck everywhere.
so they keep it authentic to match the incompatible real life standards
Haha, cheers to that, thanks for looking it up, TIL