You may also wish to see how I take the detailed photographs on the these pages; see my model RR page 4.
Z-Scale model railroading, at an incredible 220 times smaller than life size, or slightly under half the size of the familiar HO scale, with rails only 6.5mm (~¼") apart, was started in 1972 by Gebrüder Märklin (Maerklin Brothers - der site ist auf Deutsch) in Göppingen, Germany, as "mini-Club". It is now handled in the U. S. by Märklin, Inc., in New Berlin, Wisconsin, and their site has a Z page. The renowned N-Scale manufacturer, Micro-Trains Line Co., in Talent, Oregon [itself a brotherly spinoff from equally-renowned Kadee Quality Products Co. (no website), the coupler manufacturer in Medford, Oregon], now has a large line of Z-scale locomotives and cars.
Z scale is about 2½ times smaller than HO! In Z scale, a scale ¼-mile is exactly (and only) 6 feet; in other words, a mile is only 24 feet!
HO is a mix of metric and English measurements in a scale of 3.5mm to the foot or 0.138" = 1', which is about 1:87.1. HO-gauge rails are 16.5mm or 0.650" (<3/4") apart.
(moved from Sub-Z-Scale Page to this page on 24 Mar 05)
There is a famous 1900 Fabergé Egg that represents the
Trans-Siberian Railway! While the scale is not really known (to
me, at any rate), it is small! The whole thing measures 10¾"
(273mm) high, so the diameter must be about 4" (102mm) in diameter,
leaving perhaps 1¾" (45mm) inside for a maximum track radius.
I can't find a picture of the inside but this is the whole egg:
(photo from 1Earth - all rights reserved)
The egg is engraved in silver with a map of the route of the Trans-Siberian
railway from St. Petersburg to Vladivostock, with the stations marked by
precious gems. Inside is a replica of the Trans-Siberian Express train
in three sections, an engine and tender in platinum and gold and five coaches
in gold. They can be coupled together to run, powered by a tiny clockwork
mechanism in the locomotive. For laughs, let us assume that the train
takes up 1/3 of the track, which we postulated at 1¾" (45mm) radius or
11" (279mm) centerline circumference. 1/3 of that leaves 93mm for a
tiny turn-of-the-(last)-century loco, tender, and five coaches.
Extrapolating from Märklin's catalog for similar equipment, that should run
some 400mm in Z and so might be about 1:950, close enough to 1:900 as to
not really matter, EXCEPT that this loco was powered (even
if it's a wind-up)!
This turns out to be all wrong for the train, itself - there IS no
track at all; the set is merely folded up inside the egg for storage.
Keith Wills, writing on pp. 110-111 in the Apr 2005 Railroad Model
Craftsman "Collector consist...", "Easter eggstravaganza",
says that the set is a replica of the Czar's Imperial train on a gauge
of about ¼" or very nearly Z scale and the whole train measures
1511/16" long.
ZZ scale (1:300) has a standard gauge of only 4.8mm
(~3/16"); it is produced by Bandai in Japan in Japanese prototypes.
(09 May 09)
T scale (1:450) [a.k.a. T Gauge] has a standard
gauge of only 3mm (15/128" or ~1/8")! T scale was
developed in 2006 by
KK Eishindo of Japan, with only one Japanese prototype train, the
103 commuter train, available so far, in several paint schemes (May
2009). It is now the smallest commercial scale in the world.
(09 May 09)
(08 Mar 2009 cellphone photo by and © 2009 S,. Berliner, III - all rights reserved)
Those are HO (1:87.12) and N (1:160) scale trains beyond the T scale.
Track comes in two radii, 120mm and 132.5mm, and tangent track is 60mm
long. It runs on 4.5VDC off three AA batteries (or from an AC
adaptor). The sets come with two inner power cars and two outer
lead/trailer cars; the former have magnetized steel wheels and the
latter directional lighting and microscopic non-functioning etched
stainless steel pantagraphs. Rails are Code 40 (~0.040" high)
and are steel so that the power cars can actually run hanging upside
down from inverted track:
(08 Mar 2009 cellphone photo by and © 2009 S,. Berliner, III - all rights reserved)
Several houses (even with interiors and etched fire-escapes), autos,
boats, a Boeing 777 with support equipment, people, and even bicycles
are offered, as are several styles of non-operating catenary supports,
automated control systems, and other accessories. Unfortunately,
a reliable set of turnouts has not yet been developed [once it is,
I will be unable to resist!]).
More 1:900 Scale - Tiniest Trains
Slim (Justus Bauschinger) at
Lilliput continues to add Tim and Laura Dillon's newest output
in 1:900; here are representative Tiny Trains samples (they are
not exactly inexpensive):
(photos from Lilliput website - all rights reserved)
7" Summer and 7" Fall
"Huge" 24"-long Layouts with two trains:
7" x 24" Fall Scene (dogbone) and 14" x 24" Bi-Level
Two 7" ovals, the City Express and the Desert Chief
Scenery-intensive - A circus and the ICE Train circling a golf course
Smaller and smaller - 7" Old-Time Steam Passenger loop and 4¼" loop
Ridiculously-small - a train in an eyeglass case
(relax - it only runs back and forth)
How about a layout in a book?
Last but hardly least:
A complex, highly-detailed layout in a pistol case!
(photos from Lilliput website - all rights reserved)
That should keep you busy, drooling, for a while.
See the SCALE and GAUGE and the SCALE CONVERSION TABLE: on the main Z-scale page.
You might also like to look at José Lopez, Jr.'s
The Scale Card, for a most extensive discussion of scales. I have a
write-up and photo of his Z-scale Scale Card and Scale Rule on my
Z-Scale page 2.
(Berlinerwerke)
The BERLINERWERKE SAGA, the story of the
HO Berlinerwerke pike,
is now on its own page with the Horseshoe Curve story.
(Berlinerwerke-Z)
The full BERLINERWERKE-Z SAGA, the Z-scale
pike story
now appears on its own page (and continues onto two more).
Visit these courtesy and official home pages:
Long Island Sunrise - Trail Chapter
(National Railway Historical Society)
Sunrise Trail Division
(Northeastern Region)
(National Model Railroad Association)
Ztrack Magazine
The Newsletter for Z Scale Model Railroading
Long Island Live Steamers
Brooklyn Eastern District Terminal Railroad
Degnon Terminal Railroad
Marion River Carry Railroad
You may also wish to jump to SB,III's RAILROAD Page,
SB,III's MODEL RAILROAD Page, et seq.
A sampling of some of the finer (and tinier) Z accessories can be found at
Microscopic Z Accessories on Z Scale Continuation Page 2; Miller Engineering
material formerly here has been moved there.
(on Z-Scale page 3 as of 01 Jan 2000 - click on heading above to go there directly)
Z-Scale continues on the Z-SCALE CONTINUATION Page 1.
For Z-scale construction articles, see my Z Scale Articles page.
For the story of the Berlinerwerke-Z (my layout), see the
Berlinerwerke-Z Saga page, et. seq.
For tall tales of the BW and its equipment and such, visit the
Berlinerwerke Apocrypha page.
Should you run across a Z-Auction
(I found it on the HotBot search engine), it has nothing to do with Z-Scale; it is an
electronics, computer, and Beanie Baby (really!) auction!
Oh, Hell! Wouldn't you know! Amazon.com now has some feature called
zShops, whatever they might be (I can't find any explanation on
their site).
Best regardZ, S.B.,III
Someone else signs off, "Be Z'ing you!"
THUMBS UP!
THUMBS UP! - Support your local police, fire, and emergency personnel!
S. Berliner, III
To contact S. Berliner, III, please click here.
=
To tour the Z-scale pages in sequence, the arrows take you from the first Z-scale page
to the Z-Scale index, then to this page, continuation pages 1 and up, the Z articles page,
the 6 BW-Z saga pages, and, and finally to the current Ztrack page.
© Copyright S. Berliner, III - 2005,
2009
- All rights reserved.
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