What is Large Scale?

When the name "Large Scale" is applied to model trains, it usually describes the trains that are used by garden railroaders and people who set up large commercial display railroads at places like botanical gardens. Almost all of these trains use the same basic track, on which the rails are 1.775" apart. They are about twice the size of O-gauge trains (like the Lionel(r) trains that run on three-rail track) and about three times the size of HO trains (the most common model railroading scale). That said, Large Scale trains are available in several different scales.

1:22.5 and 1:20.3 scales are used for models of real-world trains running on rails that are 36" or one meter apart. A 1:22.5 train is one that is 1/22.5 the size of the real thing (you may blame a metric conversion for the weird ratio if you want). Most Bachmann Large Scale starter sets and Christmas trains use this scale. Bachmann's newer products, however, tend to use 1:20.3, which is more accurate. That said, you can generally get by mixing 1:22.5 and 1:20.3 buildings and accessories on the same railroad, although some folks will notice if you run both 1:22.5 and 1:20.3 cars in the same train.
1:24 scale was very popular a few years ago because so many dollhouse and other modeling accessories were available; however only a few manufacturers support this scale now.
1:29 and 1:32 scales are used to model "mainline" trains that run on rails that are 56.5" apart. Although 1:32 is a more accurate scale (represented by MTH Railking Large Scale trains), AristoCraft and USA Trains claim that their 1:29 trains are a little more impressive, especially outside, where bigger really can be better. That said, if you model mainline trains, you can mix 1:29 and 1:32 buildings and accessories on the same railroad, but most model railroaders would notice if you mixed 1:29 and 1:32 cars in the same train.

The good news is that all of these trains can run on the same track. The best track I've found is made by AristoCraft, but Bachmann trains run just dandy on it (better than they do on Bachmann track). So there is nothing to keep you from starting out with a 1:22.5 train such as an inexpensive starter set and using it just until you get some track down and a feeling of what you really want out of your railroad. If later, you decide you'd rather focus on models of big modern equipment, you can put the starter set back for when kids or grandkids want to run the trains.

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