Larger Gauge Railway Models
The larger gauge model railways cover gauges 1 through 4 as well as some even larger
gauges. (Essentially, the gauge is the width between the rails.) These larger gauges
were best suited to the outdoors, which limited them to wealthy enthuisiasts who
could both afford their high prices and who had sufficent space available to build
interesting track layouts.
Indeed, these larger gauges were very popular in large gardens, but it was the sheer
space they needed that ultimately led to their demise. Enthuisiasts could simply
achieve much more complexity with smaller indoor gauges such O/OO/HO, which led
to the gradual decline of the larger gauges in favour of the smaller ones.
A 5 inch gauge live steam 0-4-0 saddle tank locomotive, which was offered for auction
in one of our recent specialist sales.
The major producers of gauge 1-4 models were the leading toy manufacturers (with
the notable exception of Hornby) such as:-
- Bing
- Bassett Lowke
- Marklin
- Fleischmann
Many locomotives, carriages and other rolling stock were bespoke built by very serious
model engineers with considerable skill, making them very valuable and highly collectable
today.
Most locomotives built in these gauges were driven by steam or compressed air and
not by clockwork or electricity as their smaller cousins.
Specialists
 | Brian Goodison-Blanks
Joint Department Head
|  | Martin McIlroy
Joint Department Head
|