Does anybody know where I could find HOn2 (NOT HOn2 1/2 or HOn3) premade sectional or flextrack. I'd really like to model some of the Maine Two - Footers but handlaying track isn't my forte.
Z gauge track scales to approximately 21.7 inches in HO scale. This is probably as close as you can get from a commercial product.
Busch makes HO scale narrow gauge trains that run on Z gauge track. The line includes sectional track and turnouts. http://www.anticsonline.co.uk/2451_1_105217971.html
Reynaulds sells them in the USA http://www.reynaulds.com/catalog/dept_1508.aspx
Since the track represents very light industrial track, it is probably not suitable for the Maine 2 footers. Their track was built to a much higher standard. I would go with "standard gauge" Z scale track.
I tried to sell my two cents worth, but no one would give me a plug nickel for it.
I don't have a leg to stand on.
HOn2 has a tiny following. All track is strictly handlaid.
But lots of folks model Maine "standard gauge" by using HOn30 track and components. Many, many HOn30 kits are of Maine prototypes. If you can work around any clerance issues with the running gear, many could be adapted to true HOn2.
Another route to take is Sn2. There, HOn3 track and running gear stand-ins for specific 2' gauge track, but it's very close IIRC. One advanatage to it is there are lots of S scale vehicles and other items, although S is definitely not as popular as O is.
The one place where a lot of folks work in true 2' gauge is On2. Still a small group, but they probably have the widest following and greatest availability of useful stuff.
Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL
The whole point of HOn30 using N track or Sn2 using HOn3 track or On30 using HO track is so you don't have to hand lay your track or totally scratchbuild locomotives and freight car/passenger car trucks. Still, except for On30 with Bachmann, any 2 foot modeling will require lots of scratchbuilding, kitbashing, and/or craftsman kit building.
HOn30 and On30 became popular enough that some track for them with correct tie size and spacing is offered, but narrow gauge modeling is a subset of model railroading and 2 foot modeling is a small subset of that subset.
Enjoy
Paul
Talk about your up hill battles! HOn2! Wow. I have said here before that my hat goes off to narrow gaugers in odd scales like Sn3, Nn3, etc., but the two foot gauge in any scale is a virtual scratch builders heaven. If I took on the mantle of HOn2 as a real layout effort, I would look at the hand laying of my track as probably the easiest part of the entire effort.
As Mike noted, narrow gauge is a small, but ever growing part of MR'ing. HOn3 has the largest selection of everything of all scales in narrow gauge for the model rail with the narrow gauge bug. On30 would be next, thanks to Bachmann and Then possibly Sn3. On3 is rare and there is little or no true Gn3, but there are a Few G scale narrow gauge engines and some rolling stock running on standard gauge G scale track. All the n2-1/2 gauges are rare save what they call On30 but On30 seems to rarely portray any real N2-1/2 engines but strives to depict 3 foot gauge rolling stock??! N2 is just a vapor thin whisp in model railroading in all scales.
To answer your question......I have never seen or heard of any ready to use true scale HOn2 track. I would be surprised if there ever has been any and even more surprised if their ever will be. Blackstone only last year cobbled up the very first HOn3 sectional track. Who would ever have thought true scale narrow gauge "snap track" would ever be made in any scale!
Unless you are willing to "fudge" the real track gauge scale to use non-scale 2 foot act-alike, (Z scale flex), you will have to lay your own track by hand. Again, this will be the easy part of HOn2!
Richard Hull
Richard
If I can't fix it, I can fix it so it can't be fixed
Rooster70 Does anybody know where I could find HOn2 (NOT HOn2 1/2 or HOn3) premade sectional or flextrack. I'd really like to model some of the Maine Two - Footers but handlaying track isn't my forte.
Hand laying track is a whole lot easier than changing the track gauge of, or scratch-building a model locomotive. So if you really want to model Maine 2 footers in HO scale, I assume you are NOT scratchbuilding your locomotives. All the existing model production of 2 ft gauge in HO scale has been made for HOn30 gauge, not true HOn2.
When 2ft gauge modeling in HO first developed in the '70s and '80s, N was the smallest gauge with any commercial components. Since N gauge scaled to 2ft, 6.9in in HO, this was deemed "close enough", and allowed use of N mechanisms and track.
Since then, Z has come into being. Z gauge scales to 1ft 10.3in in HO, and would be a better choice. However, there is a lot less usable "stuff" for HO narrow gauge in Z then there is in N. There is also the issue of all the "legacy HOn2" made to 9mm (N) gauge, which would be incompatible with true HOn2 or HOn2 on Z gauge.
So far, the only commercially viable true n2 gauge has been On2. Even in O, Bachmann has done their models of Maine 2ft prototypes in On30 rather than true On2. Sn2 uses HOn3 (26.5in in S), or sometimes N (22.7in in S).
The availability of 3D printing has made it a lot easier to produce good stuff for the smaller scales in very small lots. However, metal items such as locomotive chassis and wheel sets still need to be produced by other methods (at present). So we're back to either accept compromise gauge for HOn2, or build everything yourself. In which case, hand laying track is not an issue.
If you are just putting down a short section of 2ft gauge track with a couple of cars on display, laying the track with some code 40 rail glued to strip wood ties will work just fine. However, finding trucks for 7mm gauge track will still be an issue.
my thoughts and experiences, your choices
Fred W
I built a little HOn2 layout back in the 1960's. All my track had to be handlaid - with a homemade track gauge. As far as I know there's still no ready-made track. . Locos would require a custom built chassis and a scratch- or kit-built body, or regauging an HOn30 loco as I did back then. It's correct that finding trucks ready-made for 7mm (actually 7.01mm min. per NMRA standards) is indeed an issue, but regauging some HOn30 wheelsets is not: several brands are made with straight, non-shouldered axles which should allow the wheels to be regauged quite easily. The gauge on the Grandt Line SR&RL trucks and the old AHM Minitrains cars can be changed quite easily. Others are tighter and would require a wheel puller tool. (I'd advise using some sort of jig to keep the wheels centered lenghtwise on the axle).
Most that model that stuff use HOn2.5 unless they like hand laying.
Has anyone regauged On30 to On2? I know there are a handful of people that have regauged from On30 to On3 - it may be possible to go the other way, but I'm not sure.
But if you want to model 2' gauge in HO, the HOn30 compromise is probably the way to go - as others have said, the track would probably be the easy part compared to locomotives.
How about using TT track, should come out about right.
rrebellHow about using TT track, should come out about right.
TT scale is 1:120 scale, standard gauge track = 4ft 8.5in = 56.5 inches.56.5 / 120 = .471 actual inches..471 * 87.1 (HO Scale) = 41 scale inches (HO), or about 3ft 5in Did you mean T-scale, 1:450?56.5/450 = .126 actual inches.126 * 87.1 = 10.9 scale inches (HO), or less than a foot. Nope, still not right.24 inches / 87.1 = .2755 actual inches.56.5/.2755 = 205.1 or a scale of 1:205.1 - is 1:200 scale used much in model railroading?
chutton0124 inches / 87.1 = .2755 actual inches.56.5/.2755 = 205.1 or a scale of 1:205.1 - is 1:200 scale used much in model railroading?
1:200 is not a model railroad scale. There is no commercial support for it in model railroading. It ia a popular shipbuilding scale. There are some non-operating loco and car models for creating port scenes, however. It is also one of the many scales used by Architects and Engineers for presentation models.
The closest model train scale with commercial support is Z (1:220) Z gauge track is 21.7 inches in HO scale.
chutton01chutton01 wrote the following post 7 hours ago: rrebell How about using TT track, should come out about right. How do you figure that?
I think he meant in relation to O, for On2. TT gauge is 12.5 mm and is also used to represent HOm meter gauge. It would scale out to just less than 2' in O, as On2 would be darn close to 13mm. HOm track and components are available from several vendors. You can even get it with rack sections if your hill is steep.
Found out Busch makes some and fast tracks has jigs for them.
rrebell Found out Busch makes some and fast tracks has jigs for them.
Presume you're still talking about On2 on HOm track? It's an interesting concept I don't believe I've heard of before. NMRA On2 standard is min gauge of .500" and max of .522" or 12.7 to 13.32 mm. So using 12.5 mm track is less than On2 officially, but really as close or closer than On30 is.
Most of Bemo's selection of HOm/12.5 mm is here: http://www.reynaulds.com/catalog/dept_1246.aspx
No HOn2, check it out.
rrebell No HOn2, check it out.
One solution is to use T-Gauge / Z scale. T-Gauge is 3mm, Z-Gauge is 6.5 mm. This means that T-Gauge is 26.1 inches in Z scale. Set track and flex track is available, and there are a number of Z scale structures available, and there are several drive units and and adjustable car chassis' available in T-Gauge. However, there is only one Z2 (is that right? Z-gauge 2-foot - Zm?) loco, a V10C that fits on a T-Gauge chassis. And of course, T-Gauge is not sanctioned by NMRA. But it works, and there are many successful T-Gauge layouts out there.
I should add to my previous reply, (1) as far as I know, there are still no commercially available HOn2 trucks or track gauges available - I made my own gauge for my HOn2 layout. (2) Fast Tracks makes a #8 HOn2 turnout jig. (3) I regauged one of the original AHM HOn2 1/2 Plymouths following an article by Bruce Bowden in the 1966 issue of Model Railroad Craftsman, but that was a relatively easy conversion.
As to Fred W's last point. if you can find some of the Grandt Line SR&RL trucks (sadly no longer made), they are relatively easy to regauge to HOn2.