British scales tend to be a little different from European and American scales. Generally they have the same track gauge but the models themselves are manufactured to a slightly larger scale.
There are historic reasons for this, chief of which is that our Victorian Railway System has left a legacy of low, narrow tunnels which has meant that British Main Line Locomotives and rolling stock have had to be built to a very restricted track gauge. (In fact, although we have a standard permanent way gauge, the track gauge varies throughout the United Kingdom, related to the old BR Regions).
This meant that true scale models of British rolling stock tend to appear too small for the track.
N Scale is the smallest common railway model scale, although there are
3 scales (Z, HZ and WZ Scale) which are smaller. However, these are such
small scale (WZ is scaled at 1:900 and runs on a tiny 1.6mm gauge track
and are driven by a toothed belt in the track) that they are quite rare.
We should really talk about "British 'N'
Scale", since it is a little different from 'N' Scale in
Europe and the States.
British 'N' Scale runs on 9mm track as do all 'N' Scale Railway models. That is at a scale of 1:160. However, the models themselves are manufactured at a scale of 1:148, whereas in Europe and the USA the models are also scaled at 1:160.
The small size of this scale makes it ideal for layouts where space is at a premium, and has increased in popularity with more people living in small houses and flats.
Fuller Scale Specifications of N scale can be found at: http://www.grahamfarish.co.uk/scale.php4
HOe scale runs on N Scale 9mm track, but the models are scaled at 1:87. This gives an appearance similar to a Narrow Gauge Railway.
The most common scale to be found in the UK, 00 Scale runs on a 16.5mm gauge track (1:87), but the models are scaled at 1:76
Also run on 16.5mm track but the vehicles are also scaled at 1:87
These are 'O' scale models (1:45) that run on standard HO (16.5mm) track . The name comes from the fact that at full size the track gauge would be 30 inches.
This is that largest scale generally found for indoor layouts, and runs on a 32mm gauge track. The vehicles are scaled at 1:45
A somewhat specialised scale with single locos costing in the region of £3000! Gauge 1 is scaled at 1:32 and runs on a 45mm track. This is the smallest gauge that it is practical to manufacture 'live steam' (as opposed to electrically driven) locos and is often radio controlled
The 'G' stands for 'Garden', and is actually a track gauge of 45mm with a variety of scales from 1:32, through 1:29, 1:24, 1:22.5, 1:20.3 all running on 45mm track. The most popular scale for Garden Railways is 1:32.
There are even larger scales that run on 64mm or 90mm track at 1:16 scale, but these are getting into the realms of Light Railways rather than model railways!
For a table of all the available gauges, see http://steam.to/scale.php3
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