Hi All,
If modelling the 2 feet or 600 mm gauge trains than the big discussion will beginning that you maybe would have used the wrong Narrow Gauge onto your Layout.

On 4 mm Scale it is easy that 610 mm Gauge prototypes will be modelled in 00-9 Narrow Gauge…but in 3,5 mm Scale the 600 mm and 610 mm prototype gauges will be H0f on gauge of 6,5 mm like Z gauge, too.
The H0e narrow gauge is valid from 750 mm and up to 900 mm prototype gauges.

Well it is big problem sometimes for me. What will work best?

Best working are H0e in 3,5 mm Scale or 00-9 in 4 mm scale locomotives, railcars or wagons.

The more narrower H0f gauge in 3,5 mm hasgot not well running locomotives and the available rolling stock is much more rarely to get than H0e rolling stock.

A well working compromise will be to model in H0e but using 00-9 wagons to get back the effext of the narrower gauge to the bigger wagons.

It gave two different kinds of prototype profils of wagon dimensions:
1.) The field railway or trench railway profils.
2.) The bigger narrow gauge profil for wagons of more heavy load and more powerful engines.

At the former german South-West African colony in their northern Area of the colony between Swakopmund and Windhuk (Windhoek) they had beeb built the State Railway DSWAE by using the 600 mm Military Narrow Gauge. In a length of 237 Km through the Namib Desert and Khan Mountains they built this Railway, but the powerless locomotives needed to run in twin packs allways. It looks like the Fairly Class but it were two coupled locomotives. The stepest grade was over 4,5 % and in max. Two wagons needed to be shunted uphill or down hill. What took lot of time. Their max. load was 5 metric tons the granite cars allowed max. 8 tons of load.

The later private built OMEG Railway connected Swakopmund Landing with the Tsuneb Iron Foundry. Their track length was 589 Km. Some additional later built branchlines made a completely track length of more than 698 Km. More powerful Locos could run onto the much heavier tracks. The steepest Grade was below 1,5 %. The max. Carload tonnage was by 15 metric tons.

The former german South-West colony had been lost on August 1rst to british and south african coalition troops. The South African Republic anncted the former german colony. In 1992 had been eastblished the new Nation of Namibia.
The South African Railways used the german Railway equipment and finished the gauging into Kapland Gauge of 1067 mm of what the germans started before August 1915.

For my colonial project it is important to have safely running and of course cheap in price engines and wagons.
I decided for myself to model in H0e Narrow Gauge.for using the smaller profile wagons I can use the 3,5 mm scale equipment and for the bigger narrow gauge profil I can use the 4 mm scale equipment.

What do you think about this decission?

Hi Ingo,

Welcome.

Using 4mm scale wagons seems reasonable in 600mm (610mm) but the underbody details will be over scale. photographs show freight cars were significantly wider than the locomotives. The larger meter gauge wagons were not. I think a better approach would be scratch building wider wagon bodies using HOe wheelsets. Some of the equipment available through Shapeways may be of interest.

Nigel