ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

HO scale

Have you ever played with toy trains and tracks? The size of the train and the tracks can be different depending on the type of toy trains you play with. HO scale is one type of toy train size that is very popular.

Imagine you are playing with toy trains and tracks that are very small, like the size of a tiny ant. This is similar to HO scale trains. The "HO" stands for half of O, which is a larger size of toy train. The small size of HO trains means they can fit on a smaller track and can be played with in smaller spaces.

HO scale trains are usually about 1/87th the size of a real train. That means if a real train was 87 feet long, the HO scale train would be only one foot long. However, the details on HO scale trains can be very realistic, with tiny engines, cars, and even people on board.

People love to collect, build, and play with HO scale trains because they can make very realistic-looking miniature worlds. You can create your own train stations, landscapes, and cities all in miniature form.

So, HO scale is a type of toy train size that is smaller than real trains, but with detailed features that can create exciting miniature worlds.