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Thank you to all that have replied, it's helped me look into some things. First; although S scale would seem to be a good compromise size-wise, I just don't think I would be happy with the (relative) scarcity of products in this scale. [quote]QUOTE: Based on your existing equipment and your concerns, I would ask this question next: What is your earnings potential in the coming years? Since you are out of college, does the degree field you have chosen promise salaries in 7 - 8 years above something like $60,000, $80,000, or even $100,000? If so, go "O"![/quote] I'm actually in grad school now, but in 7-8 years my field (biological research) will allow me to have a pretty generous salary. Nonetheless, school loans, a house, likely a new young family, and other hobbies compound to the point that "O" still seems very expensive. After reading a bit about DCC, I was plesantly surprised at how much this seems to have simplified HO wiring. When I was last in this hobby, command control seemed to be something that only computer/electrical engineers dared attempt. Now it seems wiring standard cab controls would be significantly harder than just going with DCC from the outset. This makes HO a lot more appealing again, as long as it isn't too difficult to convert my old locomotives over. [quote]QUOTE: What will be the estimated size of this layout that you are talking about when you own a home? The available space or lack of space may help you make your decision.[/quote] This is another of my problems. Since I know little about the potential home I predict that I'll be buying in 5-6 years, it's hard to say how much room I'll have. I can envision having anything from a bedroom (about 12x15 feet) to most of a basement, at double the dimensions & 4x the square footage. Obviously a whole basement makes O a lot more feasible, but there's plenty of ways to fill a basement with HO too, as well as ways to build smaller O layouts. [quote]QUOTE: You have me confused. You are still considering using O-gauge three rail track, with the locomotives that are totally out of scale to go around smaller than HO curves (toy trains), but then you turn around and talk scale model railroading in O. It is almost like you're really considering three different things. O-gauge, O-scale, or HO scale.[/quote] Sorry for the confusion; if I were to build a O gauge layout, yes it would be 3-rail, but I would operate scale-size equipment on it (which seems to be more and more popular in 3-rail these days).. This would still allow me to run my postwar (non-scale) trains on the layout whenever I wanted. Even scale-sized O equipment will run on relatively tight curves (O54) if it has to, though obviously bigger curves look better. I guess the bottom line is that this is just something I'll have to make a choice about, dive in, and hope I'm happy with.
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