Nathan Polk designed his AristoCraft ‘G-Gauge’ trains specifically to run on the large number of 45mm gauge Lehmann Grosse Bahn layouts across the back-yards of the USA. He faced two challenges; the shop-window appeal of LGB’s chunky narrow gauge trains, and the sheer bulk of LGB-compatible wheels.

He killed both birds with one stone by choosing the early ‘Lionel Standard’ scale. It has the nostalgic heft to compete for eyeballs, plus the volume to swallow steam-roller tyres and pizza-wheel flanges.

In 1:29 Scale, 45mm track represents 1,305mm, which is 10% below the 1,435mm of International Standard Gauge. In volume terms, the train is an eye-watering 33% too big for its own track, yet to those who cried ‘Over-Scale!’, Polk retorted, ‘Not as much as 00 Gauge!’ Like 00 Gauge, 1:29 only looks monstrous when standing beside the alternatives, because non-enthusiasts are rarely aware of the inside faces of rails. They see the outside of the train; mostly sideways-on, where gauge isn’t as noticeable as the faces of wheels.

• Most locomotive wheelsets are 1,640mm over their outer faces, i.e. 56.5mm in 1:29 Scale. AristoCraft wheelsets are 55mm across faces, therefore G-Gauge wheels are under 1mm from their true position. So a big American engine, seen from a tiny passenger’s perspective, looks awesome.

Naturally, there’s no free lunch. G-Gauge needs bulky wheels to cope with Große-Bahn turnouts, and cannot avoid looking somewhat 'bear-on-a-bike' from head-on - though admittedly not as much as 00 Gauge.

While this has largely been an American saga, there are two British footnotes:

• AristoCraft did produce one locomotive that saw service in Britain and across Europe, namely the EMD 66, built in Canada for the tight British loading gauge. While bizarrely they produced only one wagon to go with it, Steve Golding still hand-makes matching 1:29 scale modern British goods wagons for sale.
• Following the almost total demise of Gauge 2, manufacturers, retailers and hobbyists alike pushed the wheels of large numbers of vehicles in to run on Gauge 1 track, thereby creating a Tinplate era precursor to G-Gauge. They look fine with any slightly over-scale tinplate or model-engineer locomotive, and there's more of this stock still running than one might think.

So, while not a 'Finescale' offering, nor for that matter a 'builder's scale', 1:29 remains the popular practical choice for people who like to run commercial American standard gauge on the same layout as commercial narrow gauge trains. Just be watchful when buying, because American 1:32 is also available.