# What scale are these 4 wooden G scale cars?



## Shay Logger (Apr 21, 2015)

My son and I recently finished working on his Ozark flat car kit in 1:20.3. Here is a pic of it below. It has a 4" width. We wanted some wooden cars to match it and found some really nice ones, but the scale seems a bit different. 










He has a LGB box car which is also 1:20.3 pictured here for scale comparison next to 2 of the wooden cars - has about a 4.5" width and a door height of about 3.25".










What scale are these 4 pictured wooden cars?

The Caboose has a width of 3.75" and a door height of 3"



















The Stock Car has a width of 3.25" and a door height of 3"

The Box Car has a width of 4" and a door height of 3"










The Tank Car has a width of 4" and a door height of 3"












Thanks for your help identifying the size of these 4 wooden cars!


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## chuck n (Jan 2, 2008)

Those are really great looking cars. If I had to guess I would say about 1:24.

They are narrower than the LGB car which is normally 1:22.5. My 1:20.3 cabooses are wider than an LGB car and some 1:24 cars are narrower than the LGB car.

Without knowing the prototype for these cars, it is hard to give an exact scale. Stock and box cars on the D&RGW were about 30' long. If your stock and box cars are about 14.5" long then the scale should be about 1:24. 

Chuck


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## East Broad Top (Dec 29, 2007)

Based solely on the height of the doors on the caboose and tank car (3"), I'd put the scale at 1:24. That scales out to 6', which is very common for doors on narrow gauge equipment. The widths (3.25" - 4") scales out to 6.5' to 8', which is also very common for narrow gauge equipment. 

Sizes of narrow gauge equipment varied, so when determining if there's a "likely" scale of a piece of equipment such as this, it's often best to look at those features like doors and windows with which humans would interact most commonly. The stock car and box car would be a bit more "flexible" with regard to scale, because the side doors on box cars generally went floor-to-ceiling, but ceiling heights varied. 

They're definitely cool-looking pieces. I like the natural wood finish on them. 

Later,

K


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## Dave Meashey (Jan 2, 2008)

According to my 1990 Walthers - The World of Large Scale Trains catalog, these cars were offered by Model Power. I suppose that they were built for Model Power by a third party. No scale is specified, so my guess is that they were "G"eneric, and perhaps were laid out with a rubber ruler.

They were pretty high priced for that time. The box car you show listed at $198.25. The caboose was $250.00. The tank car you show was not illustrated in that year, but a pickle car with similar tanks fetched $220.25.

I seem to recall that these cars were only offered for a few years, and I don't suppose that there are very many of them available. Enjoy them for their uniqueness and rather fine crafting of wood and brass. Like Kevin wrote, narrow gauge cars did vary a lot in size over decades of construction.

Best wishes,
David Meashey


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## Shay Logger (Apr 21, 2015)

Thanks for the replies and information. My sons and I were kind of amazed by the craftsmanship of these. We are scratch-building a Combine and can learn a lot from taking a close look at these models.


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## Jerry Barnes (Jan 2, 2008)

Pretty neat cars, had never heard of them. Garden Railways has many plans you can get for different cars. Might check them out. Some show up on ebay also, but GR has quite a few still in stock.


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