tring to combine scales of trains

[Allegheny2-6-6-6]

 Combining scale effectively is a very difficult thing to pull of. I have seen many great example of combing scale structures and tress etc. to create forced perspective making a scene appear deeper then it really is but the only real good working combination of scale I have ever seen was a modular S scale club layout some group form South Jersey had where they combined HO and S scale very very effectively. It's common for S scaler's to use a lot of HO structures as in their layouts as there S being 1:64 and Ho being 1:87 the difference is subtle enough that you can pull of tricking the eye rather easily at first glance. These guys effectively combined HO trains on an upper level and S scale trains on a lower level where I guess there was just enough separation between the two so you really couldn't compare the size difference between tow moving trains. It was really one of the coolest modular layouts I've ever seen.

[HHPATH56]

My combination is with HO in the foreground and N scale (slightly raised) directly behind the HO. I used a continuous panorama of SceniKing photo sections as the backdrop. This gives a good feeling of "forced perspective". This idea should work with an O and S combination. My N scale is a double track dogbone, that disappears into the backdrop as a dogbone loop at each end, is a continuous running loop, so that it requires no conductor/engineer attention. One N scale train can be stopped behind the backdrop, and another train appear, (if so desired.) I matched the sky blue of the uniform top blue of the paper Sceniking panorama, electronically, at the paint store, and applied the paint, before gluing on the panorama. Bob Hahn

[cbq9911a]

brownboys

hello I am new here and would like to know if thre is a good way to plan or plans to combine ho,o,s gauge trains in one layout. I have a few ideas but need some help with gauging them of if it will work. yhanks for the help.

 

My layout has HO and 3 rail O.  The two scales are on opposite sides of the room, with the "other" scale dropping down under the "featured" scale.  There is one section where both HO and O trains are in view, but the HO trains are in the background.  "Forced perspective" has one drawback; it's hard to reach and to see the smaller scale trains.

The biggest problem I have is with the grades needed to climb from the hidden track to the foreground track. I rebuilt part of the HO layout to reduce the grade.

Many years ago, Model Railroader discussed multiple scales on one layout.  Their view was to have one "main" scale, and keep the other scales simple.

[tomikawaTT]

Art Hill, one of the Forum regulars, has an N-scale mine back toward the rear of his big canyon.  It's a static display, but could have been made operational.

Modelers have also used undersize buildings to flatten out the apparent slope of model hillsides and add depth to the scene.

As long as the smaller scale represents something that's 'just passing through,' and is fairly simple (say a loop with one side visible and a couple of hidden layover tracks behind the scenery) it wouldn't be difficult to arrange.  If, in a fit of madness, I decided to add Shinkansen to my mostly-rural scene, that's how I'd do it - a stretch of heavily-engineered double track across the back of my main station scene with hidden turnback curves where the train could pause until its next pass through the visible world.

One question comes to mind.  Which of the two scales will be your 'go to' choice for visible switching, yard work, etc?  Or do you expect to be roughly equivalent?  Reason I ask is that it's hard enough for a lone wolf to do full justice to intensive operation in a single scale.  Two complex layouts in different scales might be better left to financially secure clubs with diverse memberships.

Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)

[cowman]

It's been done, I have seen a vedio with two scales on the same layout. Guess it kind of depends on what you want to do, on how complicated it will be. The one I saw was Lionel on the outside, American Flyer S on the inside. It was a rather classic toy train looking layout. You could do multi scales, each further into the layout, to do a really interesting one you could have the same locos and cars in each scale, each disappears, then appears in a smaller scale a little further back on the layout (forced perspective). That would be tricky and offer quite a challenge in both operation and design. Have fun,

[brownboys]

hello I am new here and would like to know if thre is a good way to plan or plans to combine ho,o,s gauge trains in one layout. I have a few ideas but need some help with gauging them of if it will work. yhanks for the help.