Poll. What do you use, Scale or Traditional?

[billbarman]

I use all traditional stuff. My largest loco is my MTH #765 Nickel Plate Road Berk steamer. But I wouldn't mind to have one of those pre-war Lionel 700E scale Hudsons. I run a Polar Express Berk, an #8620 Illinois Central Prairie steamer, a #4000 Burlington Route 4-6-4 Hudson, a lionel scout 4-4-2 steamer, my first lionel, and a Williams Cheseapeake and Ohio Hudson, and a Lionel Wabash Hudson. Whew! Ive gone Hudson crazy!!! 

   Im a hudson manic too. I have the 700e, lionmaster hudson, a williams hudson, and im trying to get that hudson postwar celebration set. 

[darianj]

Both...Mostly traditional but some Scale as well.

[Jumijo]

I use all traditional stuff. My largest loco is my MTH #765 Nickel Plate Road Berk steamer. But I wouldn't mind to have one of those pre-war Lionel 700E scale Hudsons. I run a Polar Express Berk, an #8620 Illinois Central Prairie steamer, a #4000 Burlington Route 4-6-4 Hudson, a lionel scout 4-4-2 steamer, my first lionel, and a Williams Cheseapeake and Ohio Hudson, and a Lionel Wabash Hudson. Whew! Ive gone Hudson crazy!!! 

I love Hudsons too, Berkie. How do you like the Williams Hudson? Are yours the O-27 versions or the scale versions? I've got 2 2056s and a 2055. The K-Line Hudson in the latest catalog sure is a beauty.

Jim

[Berk765]

I use two loops of O-27 style track. The outside loop has O-54 curves while the inside loop has O-42 curves. 

[Berk765]

I use all traditional stuff. My largest loco is my MTH #765 Nickel Plate Road Berk steamer. But I wouldn't mind to have one of those pre-war Lionel 700E scale Hudsons. I run a Polar Express Berk, an #8620 Illinois Central Prairie steamer, a #4000 Burlington Route 4-6-4 Hudson, a lionel scout 4-4-2 steamer, my first lionel, and a Williams Cheseapeake and Ohio Hudson, and a Lionel Wabash Hudson. Whew! Ive gone Hudson crazy!!! 

[Jumijo]

A mix of both. Most of the locos are scale, but I do have a goodly amount of S2 turbine postwar that is non-scale. I try and run scale rolling stock with scale engines. Just looks better

Dep

One for each day of the week! Nice to see you here again, Dep!

Jim

[Deputy]

A mix of both. Most of the locos are scale, but I do have a goodly amount of S2 turbine postwar that is non-scale. I try and run scale rolling stock with scale engines. Just looks better

Dep

[joetrains]

     PW on tubular track.

[BobbyDing]

Both traditional and scale. The more, the merrier!

Bobby

[IronHoarse]

One scale train.  Other three are traditional.

[BDT in Minnesota]

I'm not sure - I think it is all traditional 027 since it works on those curves - is scale the more expensive stuff? What would Atlas Trainman line qualify as being?

Lets see - prewar, postwar, MPC-era, K-Line, Lionel's Thomas, Western Hobbycraft - that's probably scale...

Doug,, I had the same question on the Atlas Trainman line,, so this past weekend I bid on a "puinea pig"  reefer car so I could investigate first hand...The car is A-0589-2 and is a two rail car... The eBay starting bid for AM HOBBIES was 24.95, and I got the car for that price, plus 6.95 shipping.....  The car came today or yesterday.....the box says 40' plug door box car, although the car itself is labeled as a reefer... the body length is 10 1/4 long....so this one is scale size...

the doors are moulded into the body and do not open, but the box stated "sliding doors"

the ladders , brakewheel and roof walks are separately applied..The bottom step or stirrup of the ladder, however, is molded as part of the car body.  The wheels, axels and trucks are medal, and the wheels spin very freely and true.... the springs in the truck are purely cosmetic, as the sindframes of the truck are rigid...

The lettering is crisp and acceptable for the price, but allot of the fine print detail that can be found on Lionel, or K-Line is lacking : inside width, inside length, etc, is lacking...

The car is a good buy for the money: I am tempted to check into the three rail version and see how the Atlas couplers get along with the Postwar Lionel couplers....The bodies are the same size on the two rail and three rail versions from what I understand and have read..

Atlas is also marketing the Industrial Rail products, and these are traditional or "027" sized, as we would call them.. ( yep, have a guinea pig of those, also).....

Folks may wonder why I buy a puinea pig rather than simply go to a hobby shop and look at them....Well, the closest hobby shop where I would have a snowballs chance of finding these cars is 225 miles away in Duluth, MN... Granted, I am often in Duluth three to five times a week, but I often don't have the time to spare in between dumping off  one load, loading a backhaul and pounding some more pavement to keep my customers happy and my deliveries on time... But, there has been more than once that my Pete  has been parked, and I have hoofed it downtown to Carr's Hobby.  I have actually loaded my second trailer in one state  or the other so I could have the time to do this...whatever it takes.....But as far as driving  a car even 90 miles to Moorhead (no Atlas O gauge there however) well, by the time I figure the gas and a good meal while I am there,,, I have exceeded the cost of simply ordering a guinea pig which is mine to keep,, and besides,,, I can spend all that driving time on the TRAINS forums...can't beat that....

 

[dsmith]

Lionel Postwar 027 running on tubular track.

[BDT in Minnesota]

When I was younger (many moons ago) the railroads began to update there freight hauling fleets with larger box cars, both in length and height. Double door box cars for the automobile industry next to old 40 footers were a very common sight. If anybody fusses, just tell them you are modeling the 1950-1960's era.

Mel Hazen; Jax, FL

This past spring I was watching  a GP38 in Hastings Minnestoa... Behind the loco was the hughest boxcar I have ever seen; that bugger looked big enough to hold the Gp38... Behind the the huge boxcar was a normal sized boxcar...I couldn't help but chuckle;;;don't those 1:1 scale guys know any better than that...Shame on me for not having a camera handy!!

[billbarman]

Noth, I have more traditional though. But hwen I got my 1st scale train, The Santa Fe F3 a-b-a set, I was really impressed and bought a few other cars and engines. But honestly, I but both depending on the type and roadname. I also like postwar.

[RRCharlie]

When I was younger (many moons ago) the railroads began to update there freight hauling fleets with larger box cars, both in length and height. Double door box cars for the automobile industry next to old 40 footers were a very common sight. If anybody fusses, just tell them you are modeling the 1950-1960's era.

Mel Hazen; Jax, FL

[Santa Fe Kent]

Traditional and postwar, 027 in conventional mode.

If I wanted to be scale, I would switch to 2 rail!

(yes, there are people in 2-rail O Scale)

[4kitties]

I collect and display traditional.  My layout is hi-rail so I run scale.

Joel

[Andrew Falconer]

I try to operate O scale.

If the O scale cars are not available or too expensive, then I substitute the traditional size cars, like the TrainMan C&O Caboose and the Lionel Waffle-Sided Boxcars.

It is usually best to run a train of only traditional size on one track and only scale on the other track of the two track mainline.

Andrew

[Geno]

baberuth,

There is definitely a big difference between scale and traditional- 2-rail (and even some 3-rail)scale looks real, and traditional looks toylike. As a kid I could tell that some of my trains looked out of proportion compared to what I saw in books, movies, and TV. The scale-sized model trains available now are pretty good representations of the real thing, exlcuding the compromises for the 3-rail versions of course.

Geno

[aurora351]

Post War...Traditional. Is there anything else?

[baberuth73]

Maybe scale is only scale in the eye of the beholder. Heck, I'm happy with most anything that runs on rails.

[cnw1995]

I'm not sure - I think it is all traditional 027 since it works on those curves - is scale the more expensive stuff? What would Atlas Trainman line qualify as being?

Lets see - prewar, postwar, MPC-era, K-Line, Lionel's Thomas, Western Hobbycraft - that's probably scale...

[baberuth73]

Traditional in conventional mode. Can't accuse me of being a rivet counter or a big spender. Maybe if I had the expendable income to spare I'd expend some on modern stuff and digital gizmos. But traditional seems to suit me just fine. I guess some folks wonder how I have so much fun with that toy-like junk. Oh well, to each his own. Ya'll have a nice Christmas. If you ever want to get rid of your traditional stuff, give me a call.

[jd-train]

Mostly scale.  Also run some traditional.

Scale doesn't have to mean large.  There are lots of smaller real nice scale items. 

Jim

 

[Prairietype]

Post-war traditional.

[laz 57]

Both for me what ever looks great.

laz57

[Bob Keller]

Mostly modern scale-sized cars, though 6464-size postwar boxcars can easily be found in my trains since they were close to scale.

[Wes Whitmore]

I guess most of my MTH stuff is scale or closer to scale, because it's much bigger than most of my lionel cars.  The Lionel caboose is just silly small compared to the MTH.  All of it runs on 0-31 though, but I try to put in as big of curves as possible.  All are "sets'.  I have yet to buy a loco that didn't come with track and a transformer.

Wes

[Jumijo]

I love post-war, so I run all traditional.

I guess this is a dumb question.  But one fellow referred 2-rail O gauge, and about converting from 3-rail to 2-rail.  I never heard of 2-rail O gauge.  Is this common among O gauge guys?

Pops,

2 rail O gauge is mainly scale equipment run prototypically in a realistic setting, ala HO, N... Lots of brass locos. MTH makes locos that will run on 2 or 3 rails.  

Jim