A question has arisen on a British Forum I am on.
David
To the world you are someone. To someone you are the world
I cannot afford the luxury of a negative thought
Does Lionel even make HO track, particularly 3-rail? The only Lionel HO engine I've ever had over for a "visit" was a garden variety 2-rail loco.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
Lionel does and has, but it was two rail.
I cannot find any Lionel three rail HO scale track.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
Isn't there a slight issue with just scale to start with?
A pessimist sees a dark tunnel
An optimist sees the light at the end of the tunnel
A realist sees a frieght train
An engineer sees three idiots standing on the tracks stairing blankly in space
Probably should ask on the Classic Toy Trains forum if Lionel ever made 3-rail HO scale track.
Checking the wiring path should be quick and easy and determine if Marklin and Lionel are the same.
What I believe the question refers to is that, in the late 1930s, Lionel created a line of OO scale trains that mirrored their then-new scale O equipment - Hudson steam locomotive, several freight cars, and caboose. Lionel made two versions, one for two-rail DC and another for three-rail AC, and made track in each version too.
The Lionel OO track (both two and three rail) was gauged to be correct gauge width for OO (unlike British OO which uses HO track but 4mm to the foot linear scale) so the track gauge was wider than HO track, so they are not compatible with each other.
Lionel ceased all train production during WW2, and the OO line was never started up again. Lionel made several later attempts at HO scale products, but all of those were 2-rail DC.
Thank you for the replies everyone.
Not knowing anything regarding either Lionel or Marklin it appears people in the '30s had to stick to one brand.
As a kid I ran exclusively Lionel 3-rail until I sold all those and went to HO for realism and cost. Over the years, I've seen Marklin layouts at shows and enjoyed those, too. This is a hobby for all to enjoy. My personal guage is too large for most, but as long as I can maneuver myself around I'm OK. Marklin isn't big in the US so its adoption is small. But, our hobby is understanding and forgiving, and those who choose European modeling are as welcome as any.
Hello All,
Sorry...there is no such thing as Lionel 3-rail track in HO.
Märklin runs HO (OO) on a three-conductor track using digital packets and Alternating Current (AC) jiust like DCC.
With Märklin AC track there is no continuous third rail running down the center.
Both rails are the same positive conductor and the center conductor- -not actually a rail- -but nubs on the sleepers (ties) that contact the center shoe on the locomotive(s)- -is negative.
Märklin AC digital version is called MFX+, not DCC.
The two-rail, DCC-compatible division of Märklin is Trix.
I converted a three-rail MFX+/DCC equipped Märklin locomotive to two-rail DCC, by swapping out the trucks and tapping into the correct pads on the MFX+/DCC decoder.
Well, that was easy...relatively...
Some locomotives are even more difficult to convert from three-rail AC to two-rail DC.
My Marklin BR 24 058 loco running only backwards
Keep the questions coming and...
Hope this helps.
"Uhh...I didn’t know it was 'impossible' I just made it work...sorry"
NorthBritNot knowing anything regarding either Lionel or Marklin it appears people in the '30s had to stick to one brand.
That's kinda where the NMRA was so important, to set standards for all.
Three-rail HO was actually 'a thing' back then, some modellers and model makers used it. There were discussions / arguments back then on whether to use HO (3.5mm = 1 foot) or OO (4mm = 1 foot), and whether to use HO track for both or to use the correct wider gauge for OO (like Lionel did).
In O scale, many modellers used outside third rail, altering their engines to pick up power from a smaller rail on one side or the other of the running rails - somewhat like what some real electric rail operations did, like the New York Central around New York City. Some outside third rail O layouts were still around in the 1980s.
BTW Marklin 2 and 3 rail has I believe always been HO, not OO. Britain is I think the only place where OO is really common.
Here's a good Marklin AC HO layout:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4xLHVrQBE4
Stix nails it -- if someone has seen Lionel track that to them looks like three rail HO it is actually a rare and old surviving example of their three rail OO gauge (and scale) track. So wrong gauge for Maerklin HO..
And yes in the very early days of HO some modelers used outside third rail just as they did for O scale trains. But pretty early on HO went to DC (initially 6 volt, then 12 volt afgter WWII). A few stubborn types stayed with outside third rail O scale into the 1960s and perhaps beyond. Why? Inertia I suppose but also, working signal systems were easier to wire
Dave Nelson
I was an O-scaler in the 1970s-80s, and there were still a (very) few outside third rail guys around. I think the last layout article in MR with an outside third rail layout was about 1989 - I could dig out my MR 75th DVD to be sure. BTW John Armstrong's layout was outside third rail.