O (for you newcomers, it's "Zero" scale, not "Oh" Scale. It's a number, not a
letter.)Scale had about a 25-year head start over S. I don't just mean
tinplate O Gauge, which goes back to the 19th century -- O Scale in the U. S.
was being commercially made -- albeit on a basement business type of production
-- in the early 1920s. By the time The Modelmaker started publication in 1924,
they were able to advise a couple of O Scale manufacturers, and others were
soon added.
S Scale was not commercially manufactured until the end of World War II.
Gilbert converted to S Gauge at that time after building 64:1 rolling stock for
O Gauge track prior to the war -- as did Lionel for their 027 (and still do,
for all I know). Cleveland Model & Supply had limited S Scale stuff (they
called it "CD Gauge") in the mid-1930s but these were wood kits. The two
locomotives they produced were unpowered, using wooden boilers, etc. To my
knowledge (which could be faulty), they were non-operating models until S Scale
was truly born in 1945. Midgage Models was the biggest early manufacturer with
a fairly extensive selection of kits, track and accessories by 1947. S Scale
had an enthusiastic start, but suffered from the lack of operating locomotives.
Cleveland models eventually turned their wooden-boilered engines into powered
kits; two suppliers came out with an ALCo S2 in 1947; Nord came out with a
2-8-2 and 2-8-0 chassis but was so slow in producing the rest of the locomotive
that I think S Scale lost its early momentum. Meanwhile, O Scale was getting
stronger -- Lobaugh, Icken and Varney were producing beautiful steam kits, the
pre-war O Scale manufacturers resumed full production and improved their lines.
And HO veritably exploded with new merchandise. Probably the fact OO Scale
remained in production and fairly strong in the early post-war years impaired S
Scale, too. OO was the "intermediate" scale in the 1930s, also having got its
foothold in North American in the 1920s. There were still a lot of OO
modellers post-war who might otherwise have looked to S Scale to fill that
niche, and they had still had the support of a couple of significant
manufacturers, which S SCALE never had.
Again, please remember I am speaking scale, not tinplate, which is a whole
other story. Dig up some of Louis Hertz's books if you want that story.
By the way, Zero Scale DID start in Europe, as 7 mm scale. Still is, in
Britain, at least. That's why HO, at 3.5 mm, is "Half-Zero."
regards ... John Picur
I think the early poplarity of Lionel O gauge has
a lot to do with it. Lionel trains far outsold American Flyer in the
early days. Historically speaking, I think O gauge (scale?) was born
(in Europe) before S was hatched.
Cheers...Ed L.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/S-Scale/
<*> Your email settings:
Individual Email | Traditional
<*> To change settings online go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/S-Scale/join
(Yahoo! ID required)
<*> To change settings via email:
mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
