In the authentic world a railway that has a narrower than 1,435 mm track is called a narrow gauge railway. Narrow gauge railways provide accommodation for smaller radius curves, and are cheaper to construct. They are often found in mountainous communities and in communities that do not have sufficient traffic to justify the cost of building a standard gauge railway. Narrow gauge railways are now duplicated by toy trains.

The minimum gauge toy train available to toy train collectors is the Z gauge. The Z gauge functions on a track that is only 6.5 mm. The Z gauge was introduced by the Marklin Company in 1972, at the Nuremberg’s Toy Fair.  The Z gauge is so petite that a layout can fit inside a standard briefcase. Some Z gauge engines weigh in at less than 20 grams. It is extremely important that a Z gauge track be kept extremely clean, a tiny spec of dirt can stop the tiny locomotive in its tracks and ruin all the miniature working parts.

The most well-liked size toy train among toy train collectors is the HO scale trains. The train was first introduced to the marketplace in the middle of the 1930′s but it did not benefit from immediate popularity. It was not until the 1950′s that it began to attract the awareness of toy train aficionados. Fans of toy trains soon realized that the HO’s small size allowed them to add even more detail to their layouts.

The popularity of the HO gauge toy train makes it simple for collectors to find models and parts for their little train set. The HO gauge is approximately half the size of the O gauge.  In the United Kingdom, one of the most popular gauge toy trains is the OO gauge. The OO gauge was first introduced in the 1920’s by the Bing Company. It was called the Table Runway. A 16.5 mm gauge is used for the OO toy train.

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