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Originally introduced by German toy manufacturer Märklin around 1900, by the 1930s three-rail alternating current O gauge was the most common model railroad scale in the United States and remained so until the early 1960s. In Europe, its popularity declined before World War II due to the introduction of smaller scales. O gauge had its heyday when model railroads were considered toys, with more emphasis placed on cost, durability, and the ability to be easily handled and operated by pre-adult hands. Detail and realism were secondary concerns, at best. O gauge remains a popular choice for hobbyists who enjoy running trains more than they enjoy other aspects of modeling, and collecting vintage O gauge trains is also popular. In addition, a number of changes in recent years have addressed the concerns of scale model railroaders, making O scale more popular, at least in the United States. HistoryThe original name for O gauge and O scale was 0 gauge or Gauge 0, because it was smaller than Gauge 1 and the other existing standards. At the time, it was believed to be impossible to make a toy train any smaller. It was created in part because manufacturers realized their best-selling trains were the smaller scales. In the United States, manufacturers such as the Ives Manufacturing Company, American Flyer, and Lionel Corporation used O gauge for their budget line, marketing either Gauge 1 or Wide gauge (also known as standard gauge) as their premium trains. The Great Depression wiped out demand for the expensive larger trains, and by 1932, O gauge was the standard, almost by default. Because of the emphasis on play value, the scale of pre-World War II O gauge trains varied. The Märklin specifications called for 1:43 scale. However, many designs were 1:48 scale or 1:64 scale. Entry-level trains, usually made of lithographed tinplate, were not scaled at all, made to whimsical proportions about the same length of an HO scale piece, but about the same width and height of an O scale piece. Yet all of these designs ran on the same track, and, depending on the manufacturer(s) of the cars, could sometimes be coupled together and run as part of the same train. After World War II, manufacturers started paying more attention to scale, and post-war locomotives and rolling stock tend to be larger and more realistic than their earlier counterparts. Since the early 1990s, O scale manufacturers have begun placing more emphasis on realism, and the scale has experienced a resurgence in popularity, although it remains less popular than HO or N scale.
StandardsThe differences in the various O gauge and O scale standards often confuse newcomers.
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