Plate 54:  View looking southwest at an American-style train upon the elevated roadbed
(This plate added SEP 2003)

In this view, a short American-style train is being tested upon the Hornby elevated track. The train is in international HO scale (1/87 actual size), as opposed to the slightly larger Hornby 00 scale (1/76 actual size). In other words, this train is in a slightly smaller scale than the "Flying Scotsman". Both trains, however, run perfectly upon Hornby track, which represents a scale of 1/87. --more--

Note: actual railroad track in America, Britain, and Western Europe is laid to a distance ("gauge") of 4 feet 8-1/2 inches between the rails. This gauge was settled upon in Britain during the 19th century, and is said to be based upon the wheel-ruts in cart tracks dating back to the Roman conquest of Britain. An informative article on the origins of railway tracks appeared in the March, 2004 issue of The Railway Magazine (see reference in the bibliography). In international HO scale, this real-world track gauge, known as "standard gauge", is represented as 16.5 millimeters. In 00 (Hornby) scale, this gauge is also represented as 16.5 millimeters. However, Hornby trains are slightly larger in scale than the scale implied by the track gauge (this combination is known as "British 00 gauge"). If Hornby track were exactly scaled to Hornby trains, the track gauge would be approximately 19 millimeters instead of 16.5 millimeters. At one time, 19-millimeter track (American 00 gauge) was made in America by the Lionel Corporation. An interesting discussion of American 00 gauge can be found at the following link: Click Here. The HO train in this view consists of a Delaware and Hudson RS-11 diesel locomotive (model by Life-Like Trains, Inc.) and two 40-foot refrigerator cars (models by Tyco Industries). These models were purchased by the layout's builder during the 1970s. Go to top of page