Being of simple mind, I'll use what has become known as Continental N Scale for my examples this uses a scale ratio of 1:160. Models of full sized trains are built to be a scale replica. In other words, a train travelling at a constant speed of 100mph will travel 100 miles in one hour! What is Scale? Measured in either miles per hour (mph) or kilometres per hour (Kmh), it represents the distance travelled by the train in a given time period.
Speed is, in general, the rate at which a train (sorry, I'm concerned mainly with trains here, but the principle equally applies to any other kinds of model machine) either travels from point to point or passes a specific location (for example: the place from where you are watching the train).
I appreciate that devices can now be purchased which display both the model's own speed on the layout and its full scale equivalent speed. So how does this relate to the model situation? I beg your tolerance as I present both a spreadsheet for the common speeds and also the formulae on which it is based so that you can calculate for differing scales and speeds. As no commercial models are yet available of maglev trains, I'll overlook them for this article. Japanese bullet trains on some lines can reach 180mph. Normal trains run at around 100 to 130mph. Normally, this is just based on the judgement of the operator at the time and may be wildly inaccurate, but there may be a more scientific approach. One of the things that irks me, both at Club and Exhibition level is the speed at which the trains are run. JOHN CHANDLER explains how to calculate the correct scale speed for your locomotives.
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