Why did you leave HO ?

[TurboOne]

I noticed that many of us started in HO. What caused you to go up to your new gauge?

What do you see as the differences?

Tim

[choochin3]

I never fully left HO.
In addition to O gauge,I'm also collecting toy like HO stuff like Tyco,AHM,Life Like and such.
Buying stuff I had as a kid,and stuff I wanted but couldn"t afford.
Also getting into Flyer S,and N scale too.

Cheers,
Carl T.

[3railguy]

I left HO because it only has two rails.

[underworld]

I didn't! [:p]

underworld

Easter Easter Easter Easter Easter!!!!!

[:D][:D][:D][:D][:D]

[andregg1]

Because is too small, no heavy, lot of plastic(reason why a like only post war)
Lionel is heavy, AC power, steel wheels, 3 rails and required maintenance.

[Kooljock1]

I've never dabbled in two rail myself, but I think I can comment as my brother has a nice, scenicked H.O. layout.

For me, it's the rumble and the roar. I like the way the table top vibrates with the weight of the passing locomotives.

I like the colors of the accessories, the glow of the passenger car and caboose windows.

I like the mis-match in size between the Gateman and the Plasticville Colonial Mansion nearby.

And I like the fact that the trains can DO SOMETHING other than just run in circles!

Jon [8D]

[Anonymous]

My first Xmas layout was HO. When I unpacked them the following year, the steam engines would'nt run right. After 3 years of this...GONE! My neighbor had a nice, large HO layout, but I never really saw them RUN. He was always saying, "I just need to clean the track again". Joe

[IRONROOSTER]

I wanted to build in a larger scale than HO. I tried O scale, but the space requirements for a layout are too great. So I find S scale to be the perfect compromise - fun to build in, hefty presence, dosen't seem to have the track cleaning issues of HO. Still, I have some Lionel that I run.
Enjoy
Paul

[Anonymous]

I haven't ! Marklin HO 3rail or stud contact will always be a part of my program. "O" scale Hi-rail train have become my dominate interest for several reasons. The sound Systems, their massiveness, wimsy, easier to work with(In my opinion) etc.
Many individuals seem to have a general assumtion that a Classic Toy Train must be Standard, O, or S guage. I don't beleive that's true! I had a couple Toy HO train sets whe I was a kid. One was very crude AC powered with no reverse. Ran on tubular track with fiber ties. I think the train was made in Texas by a company named ("Circle Twenty"?) I have never seen them at any of the shows. Another HO train was made by Lima of Italy. Battery powered, it consisted of a German 0-4-0 w/tender and a 1st and a 2nd class coaches.Toy Trains to me not only decribes the, sometimes characterazation of a train; but the method in which we play with them.

[FJ and G]

The cars shake too much and stall w/just a little bit of dirt on the track and are prone to derailments; even on professional layouts. Also, they are less than half the size of 0 so that makes them twice as toy-like. 1:48 is closer to real railroading. You can begin to feel them rumble.

[zwbob]

I was going to get into HO in the early 80's because I felt that the stuff lionel was making at the time was junk and post war prices were getting higher and higher out of my price range. And I was newly married with the thought of babies. My wife bought me a HO set for Christmas, but it just didn't do it for me. So I kept running all my postwar stuff and the HO sat in the box for about 15 years. It was a good decision because I love all the O gauge stuff I have accumulated over the years, new and old. I sold the HO stuff about 10 years ago.

[wrmcclellan]

TTim,

I actually started with Lionel as a child. I got into HO because my parents bought me some for Christmas one year - likely because the HO was very economical as compared to Lionel and it does not take up as much room.

I came back to 3-rail because I never was a very good scale modeler. For me the detail work became too tedious. I was never into weathering and trying to create lifelike scenes. I really liked just running the trains.

The change for me occured when the large Lionel Christmas displays appeared here in Dallas (Team of Ronald McDonald house and Ban Bywater's train collection at the Cresent and then the Galleria - now at Northpark mall)). I liked the noise, pseudo-realism, and operating accessories. So I dug my old Lionel out and packed up the little HO I had remaining.

BTW - I really enjoy looking at and reading about scale layouts (N, HO, O, G, whatever) and admire those that can build them. I have helped several friends with scale layouts, including O, usually with electronics and wiring. I think DCC is pretty neat, but it has as many quirks as TMCC and DCS, and is more expensive than TMCC or DCS.

Regards,
Roy

[Anonymous]

I had a Lionel set as a kid, but got into HO scale as a serious modeler in 1965. Good size (which is why it's so popular), but as I got older, it became more frustrating to work with. More detailed models become very fragile, and my near-vision inability was not helping. I received Papa's old 1948 set in 1987. I fell in love with it again.... can't explain it, it was the sight, the smell, the sound and heft of it. I trashed or gave away all the Half-O junk a few years later. Now I only do the full O! I feel sad that there are so many train brothers that have not yet seen the light.

[Buckeye Riveter]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Santafekent

I had a Lionel set as a kid, but got into HO scale as a serious modeler in 1965. Good size (which is why it's so popular), but as I got older, it became more frustrating to work with. More detailed models become very fragile, and my near-vision inability was not helping. I received Papa's old 1948 set in 1987. I fell in love with it again.... can't explain it, it was the sight, the smell, the sound and heft of it. I trashed or gave away all the Half-O junk a few years later. Now I only do the full O! I feel sad that there are so many train brothers that have not yet seen the light.

[#ditto]

[Anonymous]

Like some others here, I never did leave. I'm still heavily involved in Marklin HO, as well as Z scale, O gauge, On30, Standard Gauge, and Large Scale. Each scale has its own set of advantages and limitations, and I don't consider any one of them to be better than the others.

[BigJim]

What caused you to go up to your new gauge?
Snow Village
Scale Locos
Sound
Animation
EYE GLASSES

[Anonymous]

I still have all my HO stuff but I could never get the layout right so the trains would actually run without derailing or stalling. I liked having twice as much track in half the space tho. I started buying Lionel and put all my HO stuff away. Now I put my layout (usually 3 loops so I can run 3 trains at a time )together on the floor (carpeted) and run all day then take it apart. HO would never run on the floor without being nailed down. John[:D][:D][:D][|)]

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Allan Miller

Like some others here, I never did leave. I'm still heavily involved in Marklin HO, as well as Z scale, O gauge, On30, Standard Gauge, and Large Scale. Each scale has its own set of advantages and limitations, and I don't consider any one of them to be better than the others.

Uh, how do you keep up with all of these scales/gauges? Do you have layouts for each? I bet your credit cards are maxed out.[;)]

[Anonymous]

Roscoe:

I make no real attempt to "keep up" with everything in each of the scales I model. My purchases are fairly selective in terms of type of equipment, era, roadname, and the like. I currently have operating layouts in Z, On30, O gauge, and Large Scale--none of them particularly large, but large enough to provide me with mre than enough fun. I do not currently have my Marklin HO or my Standard Gauge items up and running, but I hope to change that next year when I buy a larger residence for me, the pooch, and the trains. At that point, the Large Scale will be transfered outdoors, where I plan to build another garden railroad. Z scale poses no problems whatsoever because you can get a whole lot of railroading into a very small space. One of my Z scale layouts is built into a briefcase, and even that one affords plenty of opportunities for adding more details.

On30 is an area I began exploring just within the last year or so, and I've really taken a liking to it. I've long been a big fan of narrow gauge railroading and small locomotives and rolling stock, so On30 fills the bill quite nicely. Plus, most of the stuff is so darn affordable, and the variety of offerings is growing at a very healthy pace. Besides, any/all O scale accessories are entirely appropriate, size-wise, for use with On30.

In O gauge, my primary interests also gravitate to smaller items, and I collect and operate trolleys, Christmas trains, and Civil War era equipment. I've been thinning out the O gauge collection quite a bit in recent years, and will continue to dispose of items that don't fall into my special areas of interest.

I love Standard Gauge--thanks largely to Mike Wolf--but I grow that collection at a measured pace. I'm particularly fond of Standard Gauge trolleys and electric-outline locomotives, so that helps to keep my buying in check. I only collect recent vintage Standard Gauge, not the older original items, primarily because I like to keep my trains in pristine condition. Again, that helps to keep this segment affordable.

Truth is, I like all trains--real ones as well as models--and I have no preference of one scale over another. All scales have their own advantages and limitations, and the thing that bugs me most in this hobby is to hear or read a person putting down some other scale or gauge just because it's a scale that doesn't suit him or her. That's simply ridiculous, and very small-minded and self-centered, as well.

As for credit cards: I've been able to slowly but surely eliminate nearly all of them, and am continuing down that track. I'll hold onto one for future mail order purchases and the like, and will also retain my American Express card and one gasoline company card for use when I travel. All of the others are now gone, or soon will be gone. The lesson about the folly of using credit cards came late to me, but at least it did come--those things are nothing but a real (and legal) scam on the consumer. Nowadays, I pay for most new trains with money I make from selling off other items in my collections, or from money made from handling vartious writing and editing tasks as a side business (I'm a full time University Editor at a major university in real life).

[philo426]

I just liked the size and weight of an O gauge engine as well as the reliable coupling as compared to the often finicky HO gauge equipment.I also liked the fact that my O gauge engines rarely de-railed,wheras derailments were a common and frustrating occurance on my HO gauge pike.

[Anonymous]

I tried HO scale in relation to O scale, the size (HO) is getting hard for me to see and fingers to deal with as I age. I found HO scale to need a lot of maintenance and I did more maintenance with the cars than I did train operating. So I returned to O scale exclusively, I did like the size of HO to look at, but not work with.

[Anonymous]

*** stuff never stayed coupled for on the tracks.

[TurboOne]

Jon, I love the noise also, that is why I have O as well as my G and HO.

dt, doesn't marklin use a 3rd rail in HO ?? If so have you had any issues with size and runability ???

Roy, love those displays, wi***here were more of them. The O LHS in town took down their demo layout, one HO LHS never had a layout, and my favorite one that had G, HO and N layout moved everything in the store, and has none right now. [:(][:(] Well their is always the train museum.

BigJim, eyeglasses is definately a hindurance. Allen I love the Z, but how do you see it ??

David (FJ&G) and Chris, my HO hasn't derailed and it is temp track. My sons never derail but his Thomas and friends engines don't have any weight to them.

I like trains no matter the size. I even saw a train that made Z look huge. It was at the GATS show. I think T or TT but it was 1/10th the size of Z.

Take care all

Tim

[cnw1995]

I liked what I was able to do in N scale but like others, I got frustrated at my own hamfistedness with trackwork and fussing with the engine innards. Looking out from my 40ish year old perspective (with terrible eyesight even now) and anticipating working in model railroading for the rest of my life, I decided to move up. That said, I love learning from, reading about, watching and running all scales.

[Anonymous]

Doug M.--the eysight is a definite challenge: I have a pair of five power jeweler's goggles. But just wait until you have to brace your soldering hand because of shake.

[bogaziddy]

For me it has been a nostalgic kind of thing. Having a happy chilhood where trains ( toy and real ) played a huge role in my formative years is what has brought me back to toy trains. They bring back many pleasant memories of a care free youth. Mom and Dad are both gone now and the toy trains help me to remember both of them and fill those feelings of emptiness I sometimes get because of their passing. On my American Flyer basement layout back in the fifties, I was my dad's favorite fireman but he sometimes ran the layout solo. I remember Christmas mornings anxiously awaiting my turn to play with my trains because my dad and whoever was over on Christmas Day could not be pried away from them.

In my teen years, I traded my American Flyer stuff in for HO scale equipment. My dad O.K.'d the deal but warned me I might eventually come to regret disposing of the toys of my childhood. Being a typical head-strong, teen-aged youth, I dismissed his advice and took the plunge. Again he was right as he had been so many times. Boy ! How I wish I could have that A.F. Hudson and Rock Island Rocket passenger set back.

Now the HO scale stuff is for the most part gone or at least the most favored pieces boxed up and permanently put away. I'm trying to duplicate as closely as I possibly can a Lionel version of my childhood trains. The layout going into the garage will be a far cry from the one I had in our home's basement lo' those many years ago. But It will be great seeing those trains strutting their stuff out on the high speed main. Is that ozone I'm getting a whiff of ?

Got to get out to the garage now and lay down some more track.

The High Bogaziddy Mahesh Maserati - Top Ramen

[palallin]

Inability to get the HO trains to run.

Nostalgia.

Heft and presense.

[underworld]

TurboOne Actually TT is between N and HO. Usually 1:120 but like O it varies a bit, I've seen some as big as 1:100 some as small as 1:140 all on the same gauge track though. Marklin HO is 3 rail AC. German company Railex makes a 1/2 Z 1:440 but extremely hard to find. There is an American company that makes 1:900....probably what you saw at GATS. I forget the manufacturer name and the scale name but it is run magnetically......sort of your own mini MAGLEV !!!!! [8D]

Still in HO, my second train set was HO, I still have it! My first was O.....Marx Big Rail....I should still have that because I know I didn't get rid of it! [:(!] Third set was N.....still have most of that. Since then I've expanded in to most everything.....S, Z, G, Gauge 1, Standard Gauge, and TT. The Gauge 1 prewar is probably the worst habit.................... amongst the hardest to find and definately amongst the most expensive!
I like them all!!!!!

underworld

[:D][:D][:D][:D][:D]

[Anonymous]

My father had been in HO since the 1930s, then Marklin HO right after WWII (but all the die cast parts disintegrated from metal fatigue). Together we built an American HO layout in the late 50s, early 60s, but then the NMRA reduced the wheel rims, and derailments were constant, and we spent more time working on track than running trains or building models. When I went off to college, my dad got out my brother's and my old "kid" American Flyer S. After the Army and marriage, I realized he was right -- trains need to stay on the track, and spending hours on a foot of track to prevent derailments in NOT a fun hobby. I dabbled in Arnold Rapido N, until those rims were reduced too, and the need of eyeglasses discouraged also discouraged N. That and the lure of well built operating cars & aaccessories got me back to a dual gauge layout of S and 0. It was fun again. It still is. If I only have 15 minutes on the layout, I don't have to worry about derailments and bad areas in the track (although my son has HO with track with the built in base which seems to have solved a lot of problems.)

[Anonymous]

HO SUCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Pardon my language, but it does.

1.The stupid couplers on the tracks
2.the stupid couplers on the cars
3.its fragile
4.no railsounds
5.no heavyweight


I miss the price though!!!