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The good news is that it can be done. I have heard of HO (or actually British OO) being run outside, the most impressive out-door layout layout I remember seeing was an exact scale replica of Birmingham (UK) New Street Station, complete with full scale inner city tower blocks, etc It was published in the British mag Railway Modeller about 15 years ago. I know of others who have tried it on a smaller basis. There is one big advantage - you can have a very large layout.[8D] Unfortunately there's lots of bad news [:(] some of which includes: <ul><li> Nickel-silver rail tarnishes even faster outside </li><li> The plastic the ties are made of is attacked by UV light and becomes brittle and breaks real quick - I know of some plastics that haven't lasted 12 months in bright sun </li><li> Extremes of temperature can buckle rails in summer and break soldered joints in winter, turnouts are particularly vunerable </li><li>Be prepared to keep having to clear leaves, dirt, bugs and other critters of your pike - HO sized trains are much more vunerable than the larger scales<li>Be prepared to kave to keep cleaning your loco mechs real often</li> [*]Its difficult to get plants that look in scale - even most alpines and bonsai trees which are fine for G or 16mm scales are way overscale for HO</li> </ul> As your banished from the house an alternative might be to have a back-yard shed layout with or without an outdoor loop to give a longer run in good weather.
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