  n scale is a popular model railway scale. depending upon the manufacturer (or country), the scale ranges from 1:148 to 1:160. in all cases, the gauge (the distance between the rails) is . the term n gauge refers to the track dimensions, but in the uk in particular n gauge refers to a 1:148 scale with 1:160 () track gauge modelling. the terms n scale and n gauge are often inaccurately used interchangeably, as scale is defined as ratio or proportion of the model, and gauge only as a distance between rails. to keep materiel exchange simple, the scale 1:148 defines the rail to rail gauge equal to  exactly (at the cost of scale exactness). so when calculating the rail and/or track use 1:148 and for engines and car wheel base use 1:160. all rails are spaced 9 mm apart but the height can differ. rail height (in thousandths of an inch) is expressed as a "code": thus, code 55 rails are 0.055 ins high (and the ties are brown) while code 80 rails have a height of 0.080 ins (and the ties are black). real railroad rails are at least 6 ins tall and can be taller on some roads. so at true scale the rails would be about 0.040 ins high. older n scale cars and locos will not work on code 55 track because the flanges on the wheels are too big. an advantage of n scale is that it allows hobbyists to build layouts that take up less space than ho scale, or put longer track runs into the same amount of space, because the models are smaller (by nearly a half) than they are in ho scale (1:87). while n scale is quite small, it is not the smallest commercially available scale, as z scale is smaller yet at 1:220 and t scale is 1:450 or 1:480. n scale is considered generally compatible with 1:144 scale for miniature wargaming. == history ==  thumb|sw-8 switcher. although trains and accessories of similar gauge and/or scale existed as early as 1927, modern commercially produced n scale models were first launched by the arnold company of nuremberg in 1962. unlike other scales and gauges, which were de facto standards at best, within two years n scale manufac
Miniatures_games Model_railroad_scales Scale_model_scales