Outside o scale

[the old train man]

Has anyone out there tried o scale outside, if so, would you share your info?

[tinplatacis]

That's old school, kamerade. Prewar kinda old school.

[cnw1995]

Years ago, a forumite developed a fairly sophisticated outside layout on his backyard deck in O gauge. A local garden railway club also experimented with a fairly large dog-bone --- but weather plus electricity-through-the-rails (versus what they could do in the larger unit-powered gauge) made it too difficult.

[dougdagrump]

I hadn't even thought about "outdoor O" until I had already invested in "G", unfortunately.

Here is a link with some good info:  http://www.familygardentrains.com/primer/o_gauge_outside/o_gauge_outside.htm .

Hope this helps.

 

[the old train man]

Thanks for the replys, by the way there would not be a new school if it were not for old schools.

[lionelsoni]

The fellow that Doug referred to may be Dave Vergun, an interesting fellow who posted as "FJ and G".  His last post seems to be 2 years ago.  You might be able to find his old posts about running radio-controlled battery-powered O-gauge outdoors.

Dave came to see my layout when he visited Austin about 10 years ago.  He posted a lengthy and entertaining "blogg" about his adventures (but nothing in it about the outdoor operation):  http://cs.trains.com/ctt/f/95/t/60920.aspx?page=1

[tinplatacis]

I haven't seen any outside 3rd rail of any sort since some photos taken before the war of an OOldtimer's layout.

[emdmike]

It can be done, Atlas O track has UV stabilized ties much like LGB track. Gargraves can also be used if you get the stainless rails, however you will have to retreat the wood ties every so often to keep them weather proof. A normal track cleaning with a large cleaning block, also required with G track powered trains, is all thats really need.  The trains themselves are not UV proof, so they cannot be left outside unlike many of the G scale brands. Mike