considering building an HOn30 layout. Hope to model a busy and prosperous rail road. I like the space saving of n scale.........but have a ton of HO kits. I thought HOn30 might be a goood compromise. I am thinking of converting Rail Scale hon3 box cars with hon30 trucks.....THoughts??? 0r perhaps a shortline using 44 and 45 ton Diesels only
I don't know what kind of equipment and parts are available for HOn30. I knw On30 has a lot, but in HO, narrow gauge seems to be HOn3 as the most popular.
Are trucks, track, and locomotives available?
-Kevin
Living the dream.
I’m not into HOn30 but it uses standard 9mm N gauge track so Kadee N gauge trucks should work.Dave should chime in shortly and he is the HOn30 guru.Mel My Model Railroad http://melvineperry.blogspot.com/ Bakersfield, California I'm beginning to realize that aging is not for wimps.
HOn30 is not a widely supported scale/gauge combination, so there will likely be a lot of kitbashing and scratchbuilding required for locos and rolling stock. And most folks are modeling Maine Two-Footers and other backwoods-type lines, so it might not match your definition of “a busy and prosperous rail road.”
This site has some good information, but hasn’t been updated for a long while.http://www.hon30.org/
One doesn’t really save that much space overall with HOn30 since structures and scenic features are still HO scale.
Good luck with your layout.
Byron
Layout Design GalleryLayout Design Special Interest Group
cuyamaHOn30 is not a widely supported scale/gauge combination, so there will likely be a lot of kitbashing and scratchbuilding required for locos and rolling stock.
It may appear this way, but there is an increasing number of engines and rolling stock available, if you dare to take a look over the fence. Unfortunately, most HOn30 modellers don´t participate in this forum, they have a different place to hang out.
A word of caution, though! While HOn30 uses 9mm track, it is still HO scale, so all structures require a much larger foortprint than N scale buildings. The space saving is actually minimal.
Happy times!
Ulrich (aka The Tin Man)
"You´re never too old for a happy childhood!"
Welcome to the exciting world of HOn30! There are few members here that are into this gauge so I agree that you might want to check out other forums. I have two HOn30 strips on my current layout (one quarry operation and one sawmill), so I have a bit of experience with it. Here are my thoughts:
-HOn30 is tiny! I don't think many HOn3 cars (I have some of that too!) would look right. Unless you have some HOn3 on-hand to experiment, I would look for HOn30 specific cars or kits (e.g., Railway Recollections and Funaro and Camerlengo). There is some European stuff (HOe) that refers to North American prototypes. Bachmann has some Hon30 Thomas the Train rolling stock that can be adapted. The Japanese are also doing really exciting things. There is also really cool stuff available on Shapeways. A word of caution: old 1970's Minitrain locomotives were not the best runners...
-I agree with you, HOn30 does take less space. Unless you want to model the NYC Grand Station, you should be able to pack in more in less space, mostly because of the tighter curves. On that, I recommend you use "real" HOn30 track, and not N scale track, which does not look right.
-Trucks: N scale does not make the cut... It's best to find some trucks from Minitrains rolling stock or parts, or from another HOn30 or HOe manufacturer. N scale just does not look right. On the other hand, you can adapt N scale locomotives to look like they are in HO scale. Special kits are available for that.
Simon
PS: Pictures of rolling stock I got using Shapeways prints (Porter and Shay)
20190501_214822b on Flickr
20190505_145451 on Flickr
RR_MelDave should chime in shortly and he is the HOn30 guru.
Hi Mel and johnbalich,
I will hardy call myself a 'guru'! My avatar shows a scratchbuilt HOn30 critter because that was one of my first modelling projects, but I haven't done much with it since.
I got into HOn30 because I had originally planned to have a small mining scene on a larger HO scale layout. Unfortunately that layout never got built.
I did build a couple of HOn30 diesel 'critters' from scratch, and I have a number of Graham Farish wagons that are converted into ore cars, but everything is tiny. It certainly would not be representative of a large, prosperous railroad.
A couple of good points have been made by previous posters:
- N scale trucks and wheels are too small to represent HOn30 rolling stock. They worked fine for me because I was modelling tiny short haul ore cars.
- HOn30 buildings are the same scale as HO buildings. They may be smaller depending on what the building represents, but a small rural passenger station will be the same size in either scale.
- You can get tighter curves in HOn30, but you will have to run relatively short rolling stock. The same thing can be done in HO.
Good luck!
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
Well I stand corrected, HOn3 cars can be adapted to HOn30. I looked at some HOn3 kits I had and I can see how they can be easily adapted. They would look a bit funny though with some of the smaller locos (e.g. 2 axle switcher), but my Shay looks fine with a RailLine flatcar behind it... I may just convert one tonight .
snjroyA word of caution: old 1970's Minitrain locomotives were not the best runners...
Quite correct, but the new stuff runs perfect!