what scale is o gauge

O gauge is a scale commonly used for toy trains and rail transport modeling. It was introduced by German toy manufacturer Märklin around 1900 and by the 1930s, three-rail alternating current O gauge was the most common model railroad scale in the United States and remained so until the early 1960s. In the United States, O gauge is defined as 1:48 (0.25 inches to the foot, "quarter inch scale" - 1/4 inch equals one foot) . However, there is some confusion between the terms "O gauge" and "O scale." O scale refers to trains that run on 2 rail O track and is used to designate a commitment to scale size reproduction of real trains. On the other hand, O gauge refers to the track gauge of 1 1/4" or 32mm. In summary, O gauge refers to the track gauge, while O scale refers to the size of the trains in relation to the real trains.