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Train Set Scale?


Xuzan1

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Hi everyone!

  We are working on our Colonial dollhouse at 1/12 scale and wanted to build a town around it...we want to have a steam locomotive going around the town and was wondering if anyone knows which type/scale train set we should look for??

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2 hours ago, wormwoodz said:

Are you planning on building a 1:12 scale town? Not sure, but I guess that would be around a 5 inch gauge? Here's a vid of one running https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_lhcZEuOas

That seems closest to 1:12 according to what I read here:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rail_transport_modelling_scales

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On ‎1‎/‎8‎/‎2017‎ ‎5‎:‎12‎:‎11‎, Xuzan1 said:

Hi everyone!

  We are working on our Colonial dollhouse at 1/12 scale and wanted to build a town around it...we want to have a steam locomotive going around the town and was wondering if anyone knows which type/scale train set we should look for??

I believe I may have not made myself clear...my dollhouse is of regular size...the miniatures inside are of 1:12 scale and I am looking to build a train around my town that compliments the dollhouse scale...

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1 hour ago, Xuzan1 said:

I believe I may have not made myself clear...my dollhouse is of regular size...the miniatures inside are of 1:12 scale and I am looking to build a train around my town that compliments the dollhouse scale...

 

How big is your town? Is it for outside or inside?  At the scale you are looking for 4 cars would take up approx 13+ feet of space.

You were perfectly clear and unfortunately that size does not exist.  One real life train car can be 14 feet high and 40 feet long. That equates to just over 1 foot high and 3.3 feet long for just one car. They just don't make them that large for interior use. Anything that size weighs too much and is meant for exterior use.  The G scale is the largest interior train and it is closer to 1/2 scale at 1:22. 

 

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Not quite sure what you're aiming for. You say house (singular) but then you say around my town, which to me means more than one house. What is your goal? Is this inside or outside?

Sable's right. Any train close to 1:12 scale to complement your houses would mean selling most of the furniture in the display room and buying a hoist to move the engine and cars. You could set up a Z or N scale layout in the yard of the doll house and pretend that the occupants have a garden railroad. :D 

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14 hours ago, KathieB said:

Not quite sure what you're aiming for. You say house (singular) but then you say around my town, which to me means more than one house. What is your goal? Is this inside or outside?

Sable's right. Any train close to 1:12 scale to complement your houses would mean selling most of the furniture in the display room and buying a hoist to move the engine and cars. You could set up a Z or N scale layout in the yard of the doll house and pretend that the occupants have a garden railroad. :D 

Hi Kathie! We are building a colonial dollhouse set to 1:12 scale...standard size, correct?  We want to use the dollhouse as our "mayors home" and build other, smaller homes, shops, stables etc around it...in our town we would like a railroad...so it is kind of like a railroad town but set to the dollhouse scale....make sense?

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You must have a fantastic amount of room.  The 5" scale trains mentioned are actually garden trains, meant to be ridden on, which is a reason why they are so incredibly heavy.  Or are you planning on the houses being outdoors?

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Hi Holly,

I think I confused some folks with this lol no it is not an outdoor setup just a regular sized dollhouse that would sit on a table that we want to add a small village around and wanted to put a small inside train set going around the town....something that would be set up like a train village but set to the dollhouse scale...for instance...if your miniatures in your dollhouse were at a scale of 1:12...teeny tiny little dollhouse people..what size model train would compliment the landscape around the dollhouse?

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Aha!  You want to make a garden railroad with town that would be in 1:12 scale relative to your 1:12 scale dollhouse?  Easy peasy' the garden houses would be 1:144 scale and a Z-scale model train would fit beautifully; or N-scale, if you want it to resemble the ride-on trains.

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I think the confusion is in the meaning of "a small village around".  

Are the surrounding houses going to be the same size as your Mayor's house? So all the houses would be the same 1:12 scale, but  some would be smaller buildings?

Or are you wanting to have only ONE 1:12 scale house, with the rest of them being a smaller scale, as in the dollhouse-within-a-dollhouse scale, or 1:144?

 

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On ‎1‎/‎11‎/‎2017‎ ‎12‎:‎26‎:‎50‎, Sable said:

Holly, I don't think she means that.  From what I understand, She wants a train that her 6 inch people would fit in not on. But I could be wrong.

 

28 minutes ago, CheckMouse said:

I think the confusion is in the meaning of "a small village around".  

Are the surrounding houses going to be the same size as your Mayor's house? So all the houses would be the same 1:12 scale, but  some would be smaller buildings?

Or are you wanting to have only ONE 1:12 scale house, with the rest of them being a smaller scale, as in the dollhouse-within-a-dollhouse scale, or 1:144?

 

 

On ‎1‎/‎10‎/‎2017‎ ‎10‎:‎07‎:‎17‎, havanaholly said:

Aha!  You want to make a garden railroad with town that would be in 1:12 scale relative to your 1:12 scale dollhouse?  Easy peasy' the garden houses would be 1:144 scale and a Z-scale model train would fit beautifully; or N-scale, if you want it to resemble the ride-on trains.

 

On ‎1‎/‎10‎/‎2017‎ ‎10‎:‎16‎:‎55‎, Xuzan1 said:

THANK YOU Holly!!! This is the answer I have been looking for!!:drool:

 

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On January 10, 2017 at 10:06:21 PM, Xuzan1 said:

Hi Kathie! We are building a colonial dollhouse set to 1:12 scale...standard size, correct?  We want to use the dollhouse as our "mayors home" and build other, smaller homes, shops, stables etc around it...in our town we would like a railroad...so it is kind of like a railroad town but set to the dollhouse scale....make sense?

She wants a railroad town all in 1/12. it will be interesting when the 1/144 train arrives in the mail.

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And here I thought Susan was agreeing that the town around the 1:12 house was going to be 1:144, 1:12 scale relative to the "big" house, like a garden railroad setting.  She must have an absolutely enormous house with enough room not only for an entire 1:12 town, but a train that scale, too!

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  • 1 month later...

1:12 scale trains are 1" scale live steam....Think "Little Engines " they make the castings and parts to build your own but it will burn coal, kerosene or propane.  It is a hobby for machinists and others with access to serious machine tools.

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  • 3 years later...

I came here researching a scale conversion chart lol I understand train people and I understand dollhouse people. (I stink at math) You guys do not think in the same scale, it was a very interesting read, to see you all trying to communicate scale with eachother.  Im not sure if the lady got her 1/12 scale train Town, but at least she can setup a micromini Christmas train village in her dolls house livingroom, in December.

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  • 3 years later...
On 1/10/2017 at 10:35 PM, Xuzan1 said:

Hi Holly,

I think I confused some folks with this lol no it is not an outdoor setup just a regular sized dollhouse that would sit on a table that we want to add a small village around and wanted to put a small inside train set going around the town....something that would be set up like a train village but set to the dollhouse scale...for instance...if your miniatures in your dollhouse were at a scale of 1:12...teeny tiny little dollhouse people..what size model train would compliment the landscape around the dollhouse?

lol. I agree. I think people are way over thinking it.  I stumbled across this because I want to do the same.  How did you make out? I'm thinking I'm just going to compare an n scale train and an h0 scale to the 1:12 dollhouse scale and go from there to determine which fits best, or which model railway scale I should get instead. Go from there. I'd love to know how yours turned out. Thanks.

 

Update: Ok with some research I get it now.  I found a helpful conversion chart if anyone else is interested:
https://oakridgestores.com/models/modeling-in-scale-conversion-charts-sizes-faqs/

Edited by Kelli
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