The Gauge 2 Model Railway at
the Train Collectors Society, Leicester, UK November 2024
This is believed to be the only operating Gauge 2 model railway anywhere in the world.
‘Gauge 2’ is 2” or 50.8 mm Gauge with models built to 7/16” / ft scale. Gauge 2 first emerged in the late 19th century and was used by manufacturers in the US and Europe as well as the UK. In the years before the 1914, Gauge 2 rivalled Gauge 1 in popularity because, as Henry Greenly said, “Gauge 2 is the smallest practicable gauge for live steam operation”. Large amounts of rolling stock, track and accessories were produced including exquisite scale models from Carson, Butcher and others as well as lower cost tinplate models from Bing, almost all designed by Greenly and sold through Bassett-Lowke.
However, as the Edwardian period progressed, prototype locomotives became much larger, allowing later Gauge 1 locos to match the size of early Gauge 2 models. Production standards also improved steadily and by 1914 Gauge 1 live steam was perfectly practicable. Gauge 2 still had a strong following and almost every model produced in Gauge 1 had a Gauge 2 equivalent. However, when the war came the larger size and cost of Gauge 2 counted against it.
In 1917, Bassett-Lowke and others agreed to rationalise the model railway market in the postwar world, and in those stringent times Gauge 2 had to be sacrificed. Most of the extensive outdoor layouts were taken up and the models disappeared into private collections or, in the sad case of many owned by young men who never came home, out of sight in attics or basements, perhaps never to be seen again. The last known Gauge 2 model railway was replaced by a housing estate in the 1980’s and since then, no Gauge 2 model railway has been known to run … until now.
This was the first time we've been able to put together a 'Model Railway', as opposed to a test track, and the result I hope does justice to what G2 once was - a rising star in the model railway firmament. It might be that this was the first time a G2 'Model Railway' has been exhibited in public since before 1914.
In my view, the eventual demise of G2 was due not so much the small difference of size with G1 but actually the collapse in disposable incomes during and after the Great War and of course the loss of so many family estates. Bassett Lowke had little choice but to call time on G2 in 1917 because almost all the equipment had been sourced cheaply in Germany and British made items (which I favour in my collection) had hugely increased in cost during the war.
G2 trains are only slightly larger than G1, but because of the cube law 50% bigger in volume and weight. As you could witness at Leicester, G2 might be considered the smallest scale where you can feel, rather than just see, the trains coming! There's a video here:
Welcome to the Gauge 2 Model Railway!