> I'm having trouble remembering whether it was track gauge or wheel
gauge that was changed when NASG and NMRA standards were merged; I
want to say the wheel gauge was widened, but am not confident I have
it right all, even after all these years. DJE
Dave....History is not my strong suit, but my recollections go like
this: The "old" NMRA standards were what all the olde tymers used
for a long time. Then the "new" NASG standards were created after
many years of attempting to convince the NMRA that their standards
were inappropriate. The NMRA standards were based on code 125 rail
which, when placed side by side, formed the flangeway along the guard
rail. Starting with this dimension, the rest of the NMRA dimensions
were calculated accordingly. As time went on, code 100 rail was
considered "more correct" for S scale. The flangeway between
adjacent code 100 rails was smaller than between the older/larger
code 125 rails. Yes, I know that different brands of rails had
different base widths, but I am talking general concepts here -- not
micrometer measurements. Anyway, The NASG standards, based on code
100, were created and voted into officialdom by the NASG members.
Most all of the S scale products afterwards adhered to the new NASG
standards and the original NMRA standards gradually fell into disuse -
- or is that unuse? Several folks then started nit picking at the
NMRA to revise their standards to match the NASG standards. Some
egos were bruised, but eventually the NMRA accepted the NASG
standards as the NMRA's "finescale" standards and/or the "recommended
practices" (RP) or something like that. More time went by and still
more people continued nit-picking at the NMRA to accept the NASG
numbers as the NMRA standard and not just as an RP. Eventually that
all happened and now all the numbers are essentially identical. I
think I heard once there is one dimension that is not identical and
is off by two thousandths of an inch or something similar. So to
answer your question (finally), the standards were not really
merged. The NASG standards were adopted by the NMRA after decades of
debate and considerable ill will. I believe that both the wheel
gauge and the track gauge were changed in the process. It was not
simply one or the other, but both were revised. The wheel gauge was
widened for sure, but I don't remember exactly what happened with the
track gauge. In either event, the end result of the changes was less
sideslop between the wheels and rails which made for more reliable
coupling. A big improvement since we all were using Kadee #5
couplers back in those days because nothing else was available at the
time. Other olde tymers might have somewhat different recollections
of all this, but the differences will probably be in the details
rather than in the overall picture. Cheers...Ed L.
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