Something seldom seen, prewar Lionel OO actually running and not just on display. This is my 1938 set, but being pulled by my later issue 003 Hudson that I converted to 3 rail operation. I have the correct 1938 001 Hudson, but its down waiting on new motor brushes to come in the mail. Lionel OO is true American OO, slightly larger than HO but smaller than S, track is 3/4 in gauge vs HO at 5/8ths. Christmas music by Manheim Steamroller.
Silly NT's, I have Asperger's Syndrome
Very nice! I hope you get many more years of fond memories out of it.
Mike, that is a nifty display.
Thank you for sharing the video.
Merry Christmas!
-Kevin
Living the dream.
That's really cool Mike. Don't have to wait patiently for that train to come around again. The thing is really booking and stays on the track well
I'm unfamiliar with OO. So I take it that scale is smaller than O. What is the scale ratio?
TF
Lionel OO along with the rest of the American OO trains from the 1930s thru the 60s when the scale faded away are 1:76th scale running on 3/4 inch width track. Its slightlty bigger than HO but smaller than S. The British still use the 1:76 scale but run it on HO track, which is to narrow in gauge for standard gauge. But with the overall size of UK railway equipment being smaller than ours, the track gauge to scale missmatch blends in. Many early HO items are overscale and are actually OO in size, such as the Mantua 4-6-0 Dixie belle and 4-8-0 old timer engines, many early building kits ect. Some of those building kits even used to say HO/OO on the package. I had it booking as there is a voltage drop on the right side rear corner and while it would run nice past the transfomer, she would nearly stall at the rear corner. I have fixed that issue to some extant now. When dealing with 80 year old tubular track, internal corrosion on the contacts make voltage drop happen quickly. The rails on the 3 rail Lionel OO track are tubular on a Bakelite roadbed. On larger layouts like I am planning, power feeder drops will be put in every couple feet to keep voltage stable around the layout. Here is a pic of a piece of Walthers code 83 HO flex laying on top of my Lionel OO to show the differance in gauge. Mike
Other OO companies in the 30's included Scale-Craft(Scale Models), Nason, Famoco, Tru Scale track and many other smaller companies. Most all other locomotives were craftsman kits either diecast kits or sand cast brass. Some early brass imports from Schorr were also imported after WWII. Think of a Bowser steam engine kit but far more crude and needing lots more work to create a fine model. But the Lionel Hudsons came RTR, in both super detailed(Scale) and semi detailed(semi scale, more like a O gauge postwar Lionel 773 Hudson). The scale versions(001 for 3 rail and 003 for 2 rail) were mini 700e Hudsons and the detail rivaled many brass imports of the J1e Hudson(its way more detailed than the HO Tenshodo). I would say till Westside/Micro Cast did the J1e, the OO Lionel was better detailed. The less detailed versions(002 for 3 rail and 004 for 2 rail) were more like your basic 773 Hudson in O gauge detail wise. All run really well once you service them and wake them up again. All the Lionel freight cars are all diecast metal. As were many of the other brands, along with brass and wood craftsman kits from those other brands. The only 3 rail was Lionel, the rest were 2 rail. And 2 rail Hudsons can be easily switched to 3 rail power pickup as I have done to my 003. There is an awsome blog about American OO that you can spend hours reading and learning whats out there hiding on ebay or train shows, mixed in with HO in those pop can flats on dealer tables. Here is a link to that blog, starting you on the Lionel page of it.
http://americanoo.blogspot.com/2008/04/lionel-oo.html