British N gauge
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| British N gauge | |
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| Unnumbered Peco Jubilee | |
| Scale per foot: | 2.0625mm to 1ft |
| Scale ratio: | 1:148 |
| Gauge: | 9mm |
| Prototype Gauge: | Standard gauge |
British N gauge is a model railway scale and gauge. It is one of several N gauges which share the same 9 mm gauge track.
When N gauge was developed it proved impossible to fit the then available motors into scale models of British prototype locomotives. British railways use a smaller loading gauge than those in Europe and America, resulting in smaller locomotives. A greater body size was required on the models to accommodate the motors, so instead of adopting the correct 1:160 scale, 1:148 was used. This allows larger models, but means that the gauge is not an accurate representation of standard gauge. A similar problem and solution was adopted with OO gauge and British TT gauge in Britain. However, N since it scales to approximately 4'4½" gauge it isn't as bad as OO (4'1½) or TT3 (4'0") at representing the 4'8½" standard gauge and besideswhich the motion of outside cylindered steam locomotives needs to be overscale in order to work.
Graham Farish produces the majority of ready-to-run models of British locomotives. Peco manufactures track and produces a ready-to-run GWR 2251 Class. Dapol produce some diesel and electric locomotives and a ready-to-run LMS Ivatt Class 2 2-6-2T.
Finescale modellers modelling in this size use 2mm finescale, which is not quite the same scale and uses a different gauge.
