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[quote]QUOTE: Originally posted by Big_Boy_4005 Thanks Walt, the 3" sounds comfy for someone my size. Actually the 1-1/2" isn't too bad, but getting down to the 1" is tricky. It's unfortunate too, because the club I mentioned has perhaps one of the most beautiful 1" lines in the country. It basicly wraps itself around this pine covered hill 3 times as it works it's way to the top. People with 1" trains from all over the country join the club just to run on the layout. The 1-1/2" line is no slouch either, at just over a mile. The plan is a lot simpler though. It's basicly a folded figure 8, so that it goes twice around over and under. To me, part of the fun of owning the large scale stuff would be traveling to other clubs, which is what a lot of those guys do. [/quote] I think you need to be more concerned with the guage of the rail than the scale of the train. Few of the amusement park trains I have looked at even remotely try to fit any "scale" at all. The smallest "ride on" trains I could consider are on 7 (1/2 or 1/4 depending on what part of the US you live) inch guage track. Some people try to ride on 3 3/4 inch guage track but I consider that right up there with trying to ride one of those mini-bikes. Not too bad when you were a kid but kinda funky at my age. The british seem to have some interest in 10 1/4 gauge track based railroads. Get into the 15,18,24 inch guage tracks and you are looking at amusement park railroads or light industrial. I have read that you can buy trains and track out of old mines. Something like that would definately be commercially available. Turning radius becomes an issue as you get to larger guages. A small train on a "size 7" track as I call it is very tight on a 15 foot radius curve with long cars having clearance and binding issues. 30-40 ft radius curves are more confortable making even the smallest layout too big for many back yards. Trains that run on 7 1/4, 7 1/2, 10 1/4 or 15 inch guage track are still possible to load onto a trailer and haul around behind your truck. Some of the more enterprising railroaders run dual guage track supporting one of the 7's as well as something bigger. You might check out http://www.7plusrailroader.com/ if you think one of the 7 inch guages might do you or http://www.grandscales.com/ if you think you want something even bigger and http://www.oneinchrr.com/ if you want to play around with the tiny squatable stuff. Good luck to you. I looked into this a couple of years ago. It is then that I realized that the guage of the rail is the prime concern when planing your rail. I did find a few folk who tried to make "scale" models on narrow guage rails but they were the exception rather than the rule. Most were just like me and wanted a train to ride around their back yard and didn't care much about scale.
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