HO Model Trains – World’s Most Popular Scale
HO model trains got their name because their size is about Half of O scale trains, an attribute that has made them very popular with model railroaders.
HO History
O scale model trains have been around since the beginning of the 1900s. There came a time after World War I when manufacturers were looking to design toy trains that were about half this size because they felt these would be better suited for home railroad layouts plus they would also be cheaper to make.
To meet these demands the HO scale was created. This brand new model used a scale of 1:87, meaning it was 87 times smaller than a real-life train. By comparison an O scale model is 1:48, so HO is actually slightly larger than half the size of an O scale train. Since the HO scale was set at 1:87 so was the track gauge. HO gauge track is 16.5 mm which is 1/87 the size of standard gauge railroad track.
The first HO model trains were made by the German company Bing and appeared in the early 1920s. Initially these were clockwork versions which were marketed as tabletop trains but within a few years they were electrically powered. As they grew in popularity other companies began producing accessories, such as buildings, for the scale.
HO faced stiff competition when it entered the U.K. market and was unable to gain much ground on the very popular OO gauge. That was not the case in the U.S. where the scale became very popular in the late 1950s. Even though O scale had long reigned supreme, interest in toy trains began to abate at this time and more attention was now being focused on realism.
During the 1960s HO model trains were being made with more detail than their O scale counterparts. This, combined with their smaller size, would eventually make HO the most popular scale in the U.S. and most of Europe.
HO Advantages
HO trains represent a nice balance between too big or too small. They are big enough that they can easily display a good deal of fine detail, especially when compared to smaller N scale and Z scale trains, but they are not so small that you have to worry about small children choking on tiny parts.
Their size also makes them popular because you can create larger complex layouts within a smaller amount of space than you can with the O or S scales and yet they are big enough that children can handle them easily. Check out the video below of a well designed layout.
Another benefit is that HO usually costs less than smaller scales as the manufacturing process for the Z and N models is more demanding, and the O and S scales cost more because they use more material. In addition, the popularity of the scale results in greater competition and lower production costs which also drive prices down.
The bottom line is that HO model trains provide a happy median by providing greater detail than smaller scales while taking up less space than the larger scales.