When we were kids we knew them as 9mm, 12mm or 16mm, the distance between tracks (in Romanian the distance between rails is spelled 'ecartament', the automated translation gives the English words 'gauge'). I don't know if those 9/12/16 millimeters were in metric system or if the values were the closest (rounded) imperial->mm conversion.
We never refer to the size by HO, or by scale 1:nnn (like in maps).
I'm not sure if the model trains correctly preserve the track gauge.
For example, when trains were traveling between Europe and Russia, the wagons were lifted with a crane (without wheels), and placed on a parallel track with another set of wheels. This was because there is a gauge difference between the European and Russian railways, and it was faster to change the wheels than to disembark everybody, or to unload and reload the transported goods.
Are there any Russian train models, too, and if they are, do they have a different gauge between tracks?
