Does anyone know where I might buy Bachmann OO guge (UK) track & stock in USA. Preferably California?
OO "Scale" from Bachmann UK will run on any HO "Scale" track as the gauge is identical.
OO "scale" in the UK is 4mm to the foot running 16.5mm track
HO "scale" is 3.5mm to the foot also running on 16.5mm track.
OO "Scale" is an odd ball scale as used in the UK and was devised when electric motors were too large to fit into the small HO scale locomotives used in the UK. Engines like small 0-6-0 tank engines. So the compromise was to enlarge the scale, from 3.5mm to the foot to 4mm to the foot but to retain the 16.5mm gauge.
So go ahead and use HO "scale" track.
Dear Alan,
The only US dealer with whom I'm acquainted can be found here:
http://models11.com/store/
Have fun!
the Bach-man
Just to add a little fuel to this minor conflagration, it is true that UK OO (usually referred to as "double-O") uses 4mm scale for the models, but uses standard HO track, for the reasons stated. However, from the 1930's into the early 1950's domestic OO scale had a significant following. In our case, though, the track gauge matched the scale. Coincidentally, US OO track gauge comes out to 0.75". It occurred to some pioneer narrow gauge modelers that this gauge was also exact for 3 foot gauge in O scale. This is the reason, today, that the On3 wheel and track standards follow the old OO standards. And, except for the track gauge itself, why we in On3 can use most of the Bachmann On30 equipment by just moving the wheels out on the axles.