Model Railway Express Issue One December 2016

The 5.5mm Association The Ideal Narrow Gauge Scale

By Peter Blackham 5.5mm = 1ft scale is halfway between 00 and 0 gauges or, if you are American, halfway between S and 0 scales. It could be said that it is the original narrow gauge scale. Some of John Ahern's Madder Valley narrow gauge stock was built to 5.5mm scale to match his standard gauge vehicles on the same layout.

5.5mm to the foot was developed by GEM Model Railways when, in 1963, they introduced a range of white metal kits to run on the then smallest commercially available gauge of 12mm.

The GEM range comprised kits for the Festiniog Railway's double Fairlie 'Earl of Merioneth' as well as for 'Prince', 'Linda' and the Talyllyn Railway's 'Dolgoch'. To go with the locomotives, there were Festiniog & Talyllyn coaches, wagons and figures.

5.5mm scale is an ideal size for narrow gauge modelling. At its narrowest, 9mm (009 or N) gauge is used for models of miniature railways and mine tramways of about 18in gauge.

12mm (TT) gauge covers 2ft to 2ft 6in railways, whilst 16.5mm (H0/00) is exactly correct for 3ft gauge. Several people have gone wider than 16.5mm. We know of one who is using P4 for a metre gauge layout, another using American 0n3 for Cape Gauge (3ft 6in) and someone else built standard gauge trams in 5.5mm scale.

As a general guide, modern Festiniog coaches in 5.5mm = 1ft scale are about the same size as 00 standard gauge coaches.

The development of 009 in the late 1960s led many narrow gauge modellers to abandon 5.5mm scale and so GEM withdrew the range of kits in the early 1970s. A few dedicated modellers continued working on their own, scratchbuilding or 'model bashing' to augment the range of GEM kits.

The October 1984 issue of Railway Modeller featured Malcolm Savage's 'Gwynant Valley Railway' as the railway of the month and this was followed by a series on Malcolm's locos and stock. As a result of the interest generated by these articles, Malcolm inaugurated the 5.5mm Association, bringing together established 5.5mm modellers and those new to the scale.

The 5.5mm Association usually holds but one formal meeting a year, the AGM. However, many of us meet at exhibitions. On a recent weekend, three 5.5mm scale layouts were on