Modelling OO Gauge Roads: A Comprehensive Guide To Road Widths & More

Introduction

If you're a keen model railway enthusiast, you know that creating realistic and visually appealing scenes on your layout is crucial. And one of the most important aspects of any scenic layout is the roads that connect various buildings, stations, and other structures together to form a realistic scene. In this comprehensive guide, we will explore the techniques and considerations for modelling OO gauge roads and tackling one of the most common questions: how wide should a OO gauge road be? So, buckle up and let's dive into the world of modelling OO gauge roads!

Table of Contents

• Understanding OO Gauge and Its Scale
• Importance of Realism in Model Railways
• UK Road Widths
• OO Gauge & N Gauge Road Widths Table
• Choosing the Right Road Material
• Getting Road Gradients Right In OO Gauge
• Modelling Gradients - What Looks Realistic?
• Summary

If you fancy watching an in-depth video, you can check out the podcast on Modelling Roads.

Understanding OO Gauge and Its Scale

Before we delve into the specifics of modelling OO gauge roads, let's first understand what OO gauge is and its scale. OO gauge is a popular model railway scale that originated in the United Kingdom and is widely used in many countries around the world. OO gauge has a scale of 1:76, which means that 1 foot on the model represents 76 feet in real life. Or as is more commonly referenced in the hobby, 1 foot in real life equals 4mm in OO scale. This scale is known for its versatility and widespread availability of model railway accessories, making it a popular choice among hobbyists.

Importance of Realism in Model Railways

When it comes to modelling OO gauge roads, realism is key and whilst on the face of it, they may seem simple, there are actually a lot of aspects to consider. As with any part of our project, the ultimate goal is to create a visually appealing and authentic representation of a real road on your model railway layout. Realism adds depth and interest to your layout, making it more visually appealing and enjoyable for both you and your viewers. Attention to detail, including getting the road width correct, is crucial in achieving this desired realism.

UK Road Widths

A quick Google search brings up a number of pages with details about how wide roads are in the UK and you can soon disappear down a rabbit hole or two! The long and the short of it is that there is no simple answer, which can make things a little complicated for us, the modeller. In fact, the Highways Agency confirmed back in 2011 that there are no regulations as such for road widths. While there are modern standards that town planners and highways agency work to, not all roads were built recently, so modern standards don't apply… particularly on rural roads, Roman roads and the back streets of heavily built-up towns and cities! So where do we start?

From all the data we've looked at we've come to the conclusion that as modellers it's best to just take an average or go with what looks right. But to help you get started, we've compiled this handy table which lists the common standard sizes for each road type in the UK and their typical widths. Alongside that is what we call the “viable range” for each road type in the OO gauge.

OO Gauge & N Gauge Road Widths Table

Note: The lane width and full road width measurements in the table above are converted from metres to millimetres and then divided by 76 to obtain the equivalent measurements in OO gauge or 1:76 scale. As with all aspects of modelling, it's important to remember if it looks right, it is right.

Choosing the Right Road Material

The first step in modelling OO gauge roads is choosing the right road material. There are various options available, including vinyl & foam-based self-adhesive road sections, resin road sections such as those produced by Hornby as part of the Skaledale range, as well as printed card & paper sections. Or you can paint the road surfaces directly onto your baseboard if you prefer. Some modellers even use fine wet & dry sandpaper to great effect. Each material has its pros and cons, and your choice will depend on your preferences, budget, and the level of detail you want to achieve.

Printed Vinyl & Foam Roads: There are a number of printed vinyl roads available on marketplaces like eBay and they're a great way to quickly create roads for your layout. They're usually self-adhesive so you just have to peel the backing off and smooth them into place. The downside of these is that they're often too black in colour. Asphalt, particularly worn asphalt, is usually actually light grey in colour. So they will need lightening considerably to get a realistic finish. Gaugemaster also produces a number of self-adhesive, flexible road sections which again are quick and easy to use. These have a slightly more realistic, lighter appearance and they can be gently eased around bends etc. The downside of these though is that if you don't get them exactly where you want first go, repositioning them can be tricky. There's also a lack of road junctions available, so unless you're modelling simple road networks, they can be quite limiting. 

Resin roads: Resin roads such as the Hornby Skaledale ones have a much high level of detail and realism, but they're thicker than the self-adhesive types so you'll need to raise your buildings and other scenery up to road level to make them work.  With them being thicker though, it's much easier to add realistic features such as potholes & cracks. Further detailing with tyre marks, manholes and drains is also easy to do with resin roads, giving your roads a more authentic look. They can be more expensive than other options and may require additional skills and tools to work with though.

Card & paper roads: Card & paper roads are a cost-effective option for modelling OO gauge roads. They can be easily printed out, cut, and glued onto your layout baseboard, allowing you to create custom road designs with ease. They can also be painted and weathered to achieve the desired look using acrylic paints & weathering powders and it's also relatively easy to add additional detailing such as road markings, manholes & drains. However, they may not offer the same level of durability as other materials, particularly on layouts located in garages, sheds & lofts where dampness can cause problems.

Getting Road Gradients Right In OO Gauge

This is another “how long is a piece of string” topic… There are no hard and fast rules in terms of what gradients look right in OO gauge. The most important thing to remember is that the world isn't flat (well… maybe it is but that's for another discussion!) and hills definitely do exist. Hardly any roads in the UK are perfectly flat, so it's important to add some dynamics to your roads and street scenes with gradients. How steep the gradients should be is another matter.

Roads in the UK vary from perfectly flat, to gentle, long gradients, to roads such as Vale Street in Bristol which has a gradient of 25.6°! That's steep! Vicarage Hill in Mevagissey which we walk on a daily basis is steep enough at 1:4, or 14°

Modelling Gradients - What Looks Realistic?

So how do you model a gradient? There's a series of handy tables on the ArchToolbox which make modelling gradients a little easier. If we use the numbers from the section above and say that no road can be any steeper than Vale Street in Bristol at 25.6°, we can say that anything shallower than that will look fine. But how do you make sure you've got it correct?

Using the tables on ArchToolbox, we can use the gradients expressed in ratios to quickly model a road going up a hill. Let's look at a 5% gradient from the table halfway down their page. 

5% Gradient = 2.86°

There's no need to crack out the protractor or dig out your O Level Geometry books though because their table also tells us that a 5% gradient has a ratio of 1:20. That means over a length of 20 centimetres, our road would rise in height by 1cm. Or 1 inch over a 20-inch length.

So if we mark out a 20 cm length on our baseboard, and make a 1cm tall strip of wood or something, we can sit one end of our road on the baseboard, and the other end of the 1cm tall piece of wood and it'll be spot on! Simple.

If you did want to model Vale Street though, that's not far off a ratio of 1:3… so your road would need to rise by 1cm every 3cm. That's pretty darn steep.

In Summary

Roads are an essential part of a OO gauge model railway layout and unfortunately, there are no hard and fast rules as to how wide a road should be, or how steep a road on a hill should be. The tables above and the resources we've linked to should at least help you get started, but as always, it's important to take a look at real roads. Use google maps aerial view to see how wide cars look in relation to road widths on similar roads to the ones you're modelling. Sometimes it'll be necessary to squeeze things a little to fit them in and that's fine. Just remember… if it looks right, it is right!