Welcome to the Gauge O Guild knowledge base or Wiki. The knowledge base will contain lots of useful information about modelling in 7mm scale O gauge, aimed at Finescale, Scale 7, Coarse Scale and narrow gauge modellers.
Modelling in Gauge O has changed in the recent years dramatically. A wealth of Ready to Run models have reached the market bringing new modellers into the scale. The guild was first created as there was a shortage of parts for the then current models which were largely clockwork. It grew into a mecca for modellers who liked to make their own locomotivesplugin-autotooltip__plain plugin-autotooltip_bigLocomotives
* Ready to Run * Kit Building * Scratch Building
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There are multiple ways of providing the locomotives for your layout, or for many, the display cabinet. Gauge O became popular amongst those who wanted to make their own by scratch building locomotives, as it was a size which was easier to make than the smaller gauges., coachesplugin-autotooltip__plain plugin-autotooltip_bigCoaches
Coaches are still a significant area for scratch building as a coach is generally a smooth faced box with windows. Bogies are readily available as are underframe components.
There are many coach kits available, some in injection moulded plastic and some as etched brass kits. They tend to be relatively expensive and when you need 8 of them, scratch building suddenly becomes quite attractive., wagonsplugin-autotooltip__plain plugin-autotooltip_bigWagons
The wagon enthusiast is well provided for by the model trade in O Gauge.
Early model wagons were generally made of wood with cast whitemetal underframes. As time progressed and photo etching was found to be reasonably inexpensive, a range of and layoutsplugin-autotooltip__plain plugin-autotooltip_bigBaseboard and Trackwork Foundation
Revised Guild Manual part 7.
This part of the Revised Manual covers baseboard and trackwork foundation design (sub part 1), and scenery (sub part 2).
It is intended that this section moves on from the original manual part 7 - Layout Design, and sub parts: – from scratch, and then using kits as more kits became available from the trade. For those building their own models, a range of drawings are available through the guild.plugin-autotooltip__plain plugin-autotooltip_bigThere are over 3000 drawings available most of which can be scanned. Some are available as paper copies, others can be downloaded. Click Drawings to go to drawings page.
The Wiki covers the following areas
There are also members who run live steam in O gauge, which is about the smallest scale that realistic and fully working live steam can be made to run reliably.
The Gazette Archive is also useful. Gradually articles with a construction bias will be brought into this Wiki as time permits. Articles will be linked to their area, but can also be found in the Gazette Archive page.
The Gauge O Guild forum often turns up useful content and discussion which can be enlightening to members. Some Forum posts have been extracted and linked into this wiki at appropriate places. A full list of forum posts is available.
The Guild Wiki includes all the information in the Revised Manual which was written to replace the guild manual which covered all aspects of 7mm modelling. The original manual is now out of date in some areas but is accessible in this wiki through the link above.
There is further information available about Ready to Run models.