Planning Lionel Pre-war Layout

[Anonymous]

I am planning to build a layout to display and operate my pre-war collection I started 3 yrs ago. I'd like to mix std guage with O guage in a space limited to 7'x8'. I am looking for ideas and advise as to whether this can be done for a reasonable display of operating pre-war trains.
Comments appreciated --- Jeff

[cheapclassics]

Jeff,

You certainly can get a lot of railroading in the space you are talking about. Standard gauge has 21" radius curves and O-27 can have 13-1/2" radius circles (O is slightly larger). One of the best ideas is to put the O on a higher level inside the outer Standard gauge loop. The forced perspective tends to lessen the size differential between the two track sizes. Another option is to run really large O gauge equipment with really small Standard gauge. I believe Lionel made some 700 series passenger trains in O and some 330 series passenger trains in Standard that were not that different in height and length. I think there was a 254 or 256 O engine that was not much smaller than a Standard gauge 8 or 10 as well. I hope this has been of some help.

Yours truly,

Mike