Why did you leave HO ?

[Kooljock1]

Lehigh,

"Narrowminded"?

I think Snell is just more descerning, that's all.

Is a man "narrowminded" when he chooses a fine Italian red over a box out of the cooler at the Supermarket?

Is a man "narrowminded" when he chooses to sail a turn-of-the-century design trimmed in varnished mahoghany over a modern clorox bottle of a sailboat?

Is a man "narrowminded" when he marries a "good girl" with classic American looks over the tattooed, pierced goth-freak down the street?

Nay I say! Lovers of O Gauge are just more descerning of the finer things in life!

Jon [8D]

[Anonymous]

I left HO mostly due to time. With HO cars and locomotives you have to put them together before you can run them (ok, Athern units just need the handrails applied but still). I also know myself and I would be very nitpicky about all the details in the layout and making sure everything was just right. On an HO layout thoat would take years to fix, lol. Lionel trains are simply toys, toys to be enjoyed for years and years. It's just as simple as take it out of the box and put it on the tracks. Instant gratification.

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Skyray

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.

In addition to O gauge, I also model Z scale and eyesight has never been a problem.
I'm just about nearsighted as you can get.[;)]

[Munster518]

3 rail trains can take a beating, HO can't. From my own personal experiences from trains leaving the train layout and onto the floor. HO is great for realism and scale, But I want to play with my trains. But Don't we all :()

-JOHN

[Anonymous]

I had O-Gage as a very young boy, and then it was HO. I think that HO was a little easier on my father’s pocket. After several years and layouts I got marred, got out the HO and set it up. One day I was looking at my father’s o-gage 2356 ABA on my wall and thought that I set up a 0-gage layout like he did way back when. There was two Lionel trains running and reproduction of a Colt’s Browns championship game (With full stadium and lights) that took place some ware back in time. 50’S
I never looked back, however at this time I thinking about finding a pleas for the HO. By the way my father loved the garden. (Baltimore Term)

[scottsmith]

1) So my son then 5 years old could but the trains on hte tracks
2) Sounds
3)Improved detail along with true scale size
Scott Smith

[Anonymous]

Just remember that ol' saying:

H-O gauge is better than N-O gauge.

This just means that I'd rather see someone working in HO than in nothing at all. Odd-d

[Anonymous]

Good to see you too, Tim.

Well you guys could like what you want but Im stiking with O!!!!

[TurboOne]

My G, O, and HO all have different couplers. In HO I even have what I think are called international hooks. Like a metal hook over a metal sextagon. Weird,

I like trains so all are good.

Good to see you back Colin.

Tim

[palallin]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Lehigh Valley Railroad

Narrowminded?

That's a little unfair. For example, yes, HO has sound, but it's tinny compared to O sound systems--an inevitable product of speaker size. HO brass is expensive, but it's still cheap in appearance next to the heft of an O loco, and it is much more fragile. An Kadees are no bargain, either: I've watched just as many struggles to keep them connected as the horn-hooks. To be fair, of course, some O couplers aren't any better. snell50's observations do have merit, even if they are a little harshly worded.

[Anonymous]

Narrowminded?

[Anonymous]

Well, whatever. As long aas i don't have to worry abour HO i am ok.

[Anonymous]

Colin, I beg to differ.

I take some HO to alocal club and they DO have sound, They are BRASS models, which you would NOT think is cheap. I also bet you did not use KD's... only Hornhooks.

[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!!!

[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.)

[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]

[palallin]

Inability to get the HO trains to run.

Nostalgia.

Heft and presense.

[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

[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.

[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.

[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

[Anonymous]

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

[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.

[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]

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).

[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]

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][|)]

[BigJim]

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

[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.