May I sugest looking in S gauge, Look at these two companies
http://www.americanmodels.com
http://www.showcaseline.com
It is a nice medium between ho and O
but if you are stuck on O check out RMT and Williams
http://www.williamstrains.com
http://www.readymadetoys.com
Hi! I was into HO for over fifty years and am now into O-27. HO is great when it comes to budget and, more importantly, space. There is a lot of different stuff you can get for HO and you do not really have to spend a lot. For me, the look of a detailed and realistic looking "little world" layout was well the time and effort spent building the finished product. Transformers are more compact, track (snap-ridgit or snap-flexible) is easy to work with and wiring, whether to turn-outs, blocks or sidings is realatively easy. Multiple transformer hook-ups for individual cab control is not too complicated. Overall, HO is a wonderful guage.
That being said.........As age, eye sight and less steady hands set in, I broke down the last layout, packed away the 'better' stuff, sold some on E-Bay and donated the rest.
Now I am a dedicated O-27 fan. I am using the same basic sized layout that held my HO trains but am looking at larger trains that I can "play with" as opposed to "operating" trains through little villages. These do require more $ and the power sources are more demanding. I am using the least expensive tubular track and, for me, is fine but you can invest in more expensive realistic looking Gargraves or some of the new Fastrack. O also lets you get into goodies like TrainMaster Command Control, TrainSounds and RailSounds. There is world of fine stuff just waiting. Of course, you get what you "pay for"...But, then again, it is a hobby!
Personally, if I had the space and the resources, I would have chosen the larger guage earlier.
I am sure that you will hear from more knowledgeable people on this forum and I am sure you will heed their advice, as have I many times, and you will make the right decision for you. All the best!
I too did HO modeling for some time. Then for my sons first Christmas I got a Lionel starter set. I soon found myself more interested in the Lionels than my HO layout. The one thing that really stands out when running O gauge is the size and heft of the engines and cars. They're big, heavy and make alot of noise. And speaking of noise, the sound systems now available are outstanding. Just gives you the feeling youare really running something big and powerfull.
fsm1000 wrote:I If you want to go the toy train 3 rail route then you need a basement to get a decent layout, I prefer O scale because of the reason you don't care about. Realism. In O scale it just looks more real because of the level of detail I can put into it.
If you want to go the toy train 3 rail route then you need a basement to get a decent layout,
I prefer O scale because of the reason you don't care about. Realism. In O scale it just looks more real because of the level of detail I can put into it.
Oh?
I agree with some of the comments made about space. You can do as much of a layout with 027 track on a 4'x8' as you can have in the smaller HO scale. Granted, the 027 will be somewhat more toylike, but you can still have some degree of implied realism with your scenery and just adding ties and ballasting the track. Of course, you will not be running some of the more scale proportioned and detailed recent 3-rail products, but you won't be spending the big bucks to get them either.
I don't know about the cost factor though. Depends what you are looking for. There is a great deal more variety made in HO, but when I browse through the Model Railroader magazine, I am always amazed and how much the prices have gone up in HO too. For the nicer cars with better details, or the command controled HO locomotives, you are going to pay top dollar - that seems to be true of BOTH scales. There are now more pre-assembled ready-to-run-kits in HO and these also cost more as they do in the larger scale.
For many years, there seem to be this attitude in 3-rail, especially with Lionel, that EVERYTHING is collectible and worth money and therefore it is entirely WRONG to kitbash and repaint. I"ve been back in the hobby 16 years and learned early on everything is NOT rare and everything is NOT collectible (at least on a monetary consideration). So I took my cue from the HO guys and dived head first into repainting, kitbashing and scratchbuilding.
In the "027" traditionally sized train market, there is a lot that is not available. Not just train types, but current class A modern roadnames have been grossly ignored by Lionel and were also ignored by K-Line. I have lots of stuff in Conrail, Norfolk Southern and others now. And I have some decidely non-scale "shrunk" down items that are completely unique to my layout. I have self made coil cars for example. I have some neat 027 spine cars that look right at home on my small layout. I've mimiced the gondola coal hoppers and I've mimiced othyer modern car types.
Over the years, I've been surprised at some of the enthusiasm shown for my layout by none other that HO guys. They tell me they can ignore the obvious toy like angle of what I'm doing, but say it is so refreshing to see a Lionel guy doing what they have been doing for decades in the repainting, kitbashing and scratchbuilding departments.
My layout is small by anyone's standards. Yet there is still plenty of action with sidings, switching and operation. So it's all what you want to make of it. And in reality, an RMT BEEP looks just as toylike going around 027 curves as one of the newer nice scale DASH-8 diesels going around 31 inch or 42 inch curves.
And now if I may get philosophical, nothing in this life is perfect. A quick glance at the news will confirm that. Look at all the failed celebrity marriages... I often ask what are these people looking for? Perfection? It doesn't exist, not in this fallen world. The media would have you believe it does exist, which keeps people in a state of unhappiness and longing. And chances are they are spending money in order to foolishly attempt to fill some of the empty holes in their lives.
Such as it is with the train hobby. For many, enough is never enough and the last standard level of detail or technological enhancement level won't be good enough when the next advancement is introduced.
At one time, trains were toys and in our admiring eyes, we saw the details on our imperfect models that weren't really there. That's the level of the hobby that works best for me. And if that's the approach you take with the larger Lionel types of 027 trains, I can assure you the hobby is not only affordable but do able in a small space too.
brianel, Agent 027
"Praise the Lord. I may not have everything I desire, but the Lord has come through for what I need."
Kooljock1 wrote:. And yes, there's just something about the buzz, the snap, and the crash of operating accessories all loading and unloading your trains at the touch of a button! The 12' man waving his lantern! The logs sawed into planks and the milk cans unloading onto the platform. But that's just me. Jon
Why are accessories so noisey anyway, my K-line operating tower buzzes so dang loud what is up with that?
It is one of my want to dos to make a low noise accessorie noise meaning the buzzing solinoids.
I do mostly O gauge but I do have a small HO set-up and collect HO as well as O gauge. What I find with HO is it is futzy and finicky compared to O gauge. O gauge is practically trouble free compared to HO. Working on O gauge engines is easier than HO. Premium HO diesels with command control and sounds cost nearly as much as O gauge diesels with command control and sounds. Premium HO cars cost half what premium O gauge cars cost.
As others have noted, it's definitely your call; all you'll get on the forum are personal preferences anyway. That said, I started in N scale, built a wonderous (to my eyes) British outline layout using Tomix engines I imported from Japan, but found it challenging to share with my young children. I got into O by inheriting my dad's pre-war trains - then got 'my own' train set and I was hooked. I liked the externals: the heft of the engines and rolling stock, sounds, lights, smoke, smell of ozone, etc. I wasn't really interested in a particular prototype. I know a few, ahem, older guys who still work in N.
Doug Murphy 'We few, we happy few, we band of brothers...' Henry V.
Just got the new Walthers catalog, prices for locomotives for either H.O. or O gauge are almost the same with DCC or DCS or TMCC. Prices for H.O. freight cars are a lot better, prices on H.O. passenger cars were somewhat higher than O gauge. Prices for H.O. buildings were quite high in my opion, sometimes more than O gauge.
Track radius is almost equal with O gauge or H.O. The only benefit with H.O. is being able to put more buildings inside a layout compared to O gauge.
In O gauge RMT(Ready Made Trains) and Williams are helping to keep low end prices down.
To me On30 looks like an attemp at S gauge on H.O. track, it does not have the regular size of O gauge.
Lee F.
phillyreading wrote: To me On30 looks like an attemp at S gauge on H.O. track, it does not have the regular size of O gauge. Lee F.
Nevertheless, the equipment is 1/48 scale. Narrow gauge equipment IS much smaller than standard gauge.
palallin wrote: phillyreading wrote: To me On30 looks like an attemp at S gauge on H.O. track, it does not have the regular size of O gauge. Lee F. Nevertheless, the equipment is 1/48 scale. Narrow gauge equipment IS much smaller than standard gauge.
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