'Gauge 2' or 2" Gauge is unique amongst mod
el railway gauges in being
deliberately 'snuffed out' by the model railway industry. It
survived at most 17 years - from 1900 to 1917 - and yet in its
time it was a serious rival to other gauges for the loyalty of
railway modellers. It is a lasting tribute to the manufacturers
and amateur builders of the day that so much of their output
still exists, more than 100 years later.
Writing as someone also engaged in Gauge 1 models, I can say that Gauge 2 models are impressive! Much bulkier that Gauge 1, they were often built oversize in addition because of the poor steaming of early boilers. But Gauge 2 never quite crosses the line into Gauge 3, which is really a model engineering scale. The Gauge 2 models were built with minimum external detail and today, to our eyes, have a simplicity of form that is evocative of the 'Golden Age', before the world went mad in the horrors of the First World War.
These pages describe an effort to bring back into operation a representative part of the Gauge 2 model railway in such a way that these superb and often unique treasures of a bygone age can be seen running, not just living out their retirement in glass cases. This project has involved not just restoring ancient mechanisms to life, but also building suitable track and in some cases replacing long-lost components. The result is impressive in several ways - not just in terms of the quality of work being done in Edwardian times, but also in the scale of the models - the smallest gauge in which you can feel, not just see and hear, the trains coming!
Today, there are no known Gauge 2 model railways, with the possible exception of my own 20' x 40' test track. Back in the day, there were some astounding set-ups, of which Messrs Krabbe and Brabazon's garden layout at Theale, Berkshire (pictured) must have been the grandest.
Gauge 2 Indexel railway gauges in being
deliberately 'snuffed out' by the model railway industry. It
survived at most 17 years - from 1900 to 1917 - and yet in its
time it was a serious rival to other gauges for the loyalty of
railway modellers. It is a lasting tribute to the manufacturers
and amateur builders of the day that so much of their output
still exists, more than 100 years later.Writing as someone also engaged in Gauge 1 models, I can say that Gauge 2 models are impressive! Much bulkier that Gauge 1, they were often built oversize in addition because of the poor steaming of early boilers. But Gauge 2 never quite crosses the line into Gauge 3, which is really a model engineering scale. The Gauge 2 models were built with minimum external detail and today, to our eyes, have a simplicity of form that is evocative of the 'Golden Age', before the world went mad in the horrors of the First World War.
These pages describe an effort to bring back into operation a representative part of the Gauge 2 model railway in such a way that these superb and often unique treasures of a bygone age can be seen running, not just living out their retirement in glass cases. This project has involved not just restoring ancient mechanisms to life, but also building suitable track and in some cases replacing long-lost components. The result is impressive in several ways - not just in terms of the quality of work being done in Edwardian times, but also in the scale of the models - the smallest gauge in which you can feel, not just see and hear, the trains coming!
Today, there are no known Gauge 2 model railways, with the possible exception of my own 20' x 40' test track. Back in the day, there were some astounding set-ups, of which Messrs Krabbe and Brabazon's garden layout at Theale, Berkshire (pictured) must have been the grandest.