challenger3980 Be it 2 Rail O, High-Rail or Tinplate, they are all model railroading. That being said, HO Brass, O Brass, N, S, TT , Z or Gauge #1 are all TOYS also, regardless of Scale, Gauge or cost, they are toys, They are not tools, they provide no service, and the only things that they produce are SMILES, and Frustration, the percentage of which is always changing. Doug
Be it 2 Rail O, High-Rail or Tinplate, they are all model railroading. That being said, HO Brass, O Brass, N, S, TT , Z or Gauge #1 are all TOYS also, regardless of Scale, Gauge or cost, they are toys, They are not tools, they provide no service, and the only things that they produce are SMILES, and Frustration, the percentage of which is always changing.
Doug
Doug:
Amen to that.
Tom
Tom View my layout photos! http://s299.photobucket.com/albums/mm310/TWhite-014/Rio%20Grande%20Yuba%20River%20Sub One can NEVER have too many Articulateds!
My feelings about the whole shebang precisely, Doug.
-Crandell
May your flanges always stay BETWEEN the rails
There actually seem to be three classifications for O scale models. Scale 2 rail, high rail (those super detailed pieces that run on 3 rail track), and tinplate, traditional Lionel. Of course there are other subcategories and so forth if you want to be exact, but those three cover most of the model railroad activities in O scale.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
pastorbob SpaceMouse CNJ, Why would O gauge be considered a different hobby. Certainly there are O gauge railroads with the same level of detail as HO if not more. And the modelers can operate their trains just as HO operators do. I'm curious. While I hate to presume for CNJ, O gauge Scale and Lionel O are two different animals. I dabbled early in O but saw early on I would probably never have the space to build what I wanted and the offerings for O scale were limited. I do have one O scale steam loco that I kept, and which graces a shelf in the train room, far away from wandering hands. Bob
SpaceMouse CNJ, Why would O gauge be considered a different hobby. Certainly there are O gauge railroads with the same level of detail as HO if not more. And the modelers can operate their trains just as HO operators do. I'm curious.
CNJ,
Why would O gauge be considered a different hobby. Certainly there are O gauge railroads with the same level of detail as HO if not more. And the modelers can operate their trains just as HO operators do.
I'm curious.
While I hate to presume for CNJ, O gauge Scale and Lionel O are two different animals. I dabbled early in O but saw early on I would probably never have the space to build what I wanted and the offerings for O scale were limited. I do have one O scale steam loco that I kept, and which graces a shelf in the train room, far away from wandering hands.
Bob
There are of course HO and N guage "models" at the same sort of detail/toy level...
Chris van der Heide
My Algoma Central Railway Modeling Blog
Bob,
I very respectfully disagree, there are 3 Rail locomotives (and cars) available that rival HO Brass for detail, and even surpass some O-SCALE in detail. Yes 3 rail has an extra rail, larger than scale couplers (Standard HO Kadees are also guilty of this as well BTW) and larger flanges(Rivarossi, sound familiar?). A High-Rail layout can be built with the same quality and detail, that any other scale can be built to, it is more a matter of the hobbiest's skills, and time and effort put into, NOT a matter of scale, or how many rails the track has. But to flippantly dismiss O-Gauge as all being the same toy train quality, would be the equivalent of someone assuming that all HO are the same quality as Tyco's Silver Streak and Chattanooga Choo Choo. The Elitest and divisive attitudes of many modelers does the Hobby as a whole a major disservice.
They are NOT your Grandpa's Lionels any more.
Starting my Nephews out RIGHT, and Right Away. O-Gauge was the Best choice for these guys, HO would not have been a good idea, but the two Nephews in the Top pic spend HOURS each day with their Father "Playing Trains" and are totally and completely hooked on the Hobby.
Always promoting the Hobby,
shayfan84325One scale not mentioned so far is TT (1:120). I've often wondered why it hasn't developed a larger following.
The comments about N-scale rapidly growing. The other part is that it is also rapidly shrinking. I was one of the big early supporters of it. About 1983 I started hitting the scales limitations and although I tried to maintain multiple layouts for a while I finally gave up and razed the N-scale about four years ago. Because of that my last few hundred purchases have been HO. I have only purchased 1 N-scale loco in the past decade and that was a gift (Athearn 4-6-6-4 w/sound) for my father.
There seem to be various factions in the larger scales, some are a little more toy-like while others are some amazingly detailed scale models. I think of the work Cliff Grandt did in O scale and I'm still astonished.
One scale not mentioned so far is TT (1:120). I've often wondered why it hasn't developed a larger following. It is easy to scale .1" = 1 foot (simle math). It's a little larger than N and yet it fits into smaller spaces than HO. In many ways it seems just right.
Phil, I'm not a rocket scientist; they are my students.
Chip, there is O and S-scale model railroading and then there are the classic O and S-gauge "tinplate" trains by Lionel, Flyer, Marx and a few others. The former are recognized as a part of the adult model railroading hobby, while the latter have long been regarded as simply children's toys.
Although in the early days of the hobby (the 30's into the early 50's) Hi-Rail tinplate layouts composed of Lionel, Flyer or Marx toy trains, but modified and used by adults, were common and more or less accepted by MR and RMC readers, about the mid 50's they were bannished from the pages of these magazines and no longer regarded as part of the adult side of the hobby. Justification for this split was detailed in editorials appearing in the magazines at the time.
The situation today is, at least to some degree a bit different. While classic Lionel and Flyer trains still are made, certain high-end O-gauge scale models are designed to run on three rail Lionel track although they otherwise rival HO brass models...with prices to match. Nevertheless, three rail and Flyer hobbyists have not been included in any survey conducted by the scale model side of the hobby in at least five decades.
CNJ831
Both MR and RMC used to conduct periodic readership surveys of the hobby however I don't recall having seen one of these in many, many years. Therefore all anyone can do in an inquiry of this nature is venture the absolute wildest of WAGs.
The last surveys--from about the mid-80s I believe--accorded HO-Scale positioned at the head of the hobby with about 75% of active modelers; N-Scale, still relatively new--was about 15%; the remaining 10% was taken up by minority scales including Z-Scale which was in its infancy in those heady days of yesteryear. These figures were corroborated by allocated advertising and manufacturing dollars. Over the course of the next decade N-Scale showed about a 40% growth in popularity based upon advertising and manufacturing allocations while, at the same time, Z-Scale worked its way into the #3 position behind HO-Scale and N-Scale.
I would venture my WAG that the positions are thusly in the year of our Lord two thousand and nine:
HO-Scale . . . . . . . . . . 65%;
N-Scale . . . . . . . . . . . 21%;
Z-Scale . . . . . . . . . . .. 7%; and
Other-Scales . . . . . . . .. 7%.
I am certain that these figures will be disputed but, as I said, this is only my WAG. Those of us in that 35% minority bracket always wish that HO-Scale would get pummelled severely about the head and shoulders resulting in increased asset allocation to our particular scale. Will HO-Scale ever become one of those minority scales as is frequently prognosticated? Not before Jay Bush sells the "Secret Family Recipe!"
From the far, far reaches of the wild, wild west I am: rtpoteet
Chip
Building the Rock Ridge Railroad with the slowest construction crew west of the Pecos.
Ever heard of Lone Star Treble O? It is English obviously. My dad started buying me this stuff around 1962 (age 5). It is about the size of N scale and I had enough to fill a 5' x 10' layout. I pulled it out for my son about six years ago and he (I mean we) loved it so much that it started us on the road to our 15' x 24' HO layout. And my dear old long departed Dad is always at the layout with my son and I grinning ear to ear.
Brent
"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."
Don't know the percentages, but I think you are right, though I had Lionel as a kid, since I never got into a nice sceniced layout, I don't think of it as a model railroad. It is where many of us got our start though. I do believe HO is the largest segment, with N growing rapidly. S (what we ofter think of as American Flyer) seems to be holding its nitch and O has its followers, both 2 and 3 rail. Z has more offerings all the time, but I think they are still a pretty small percentage as it takes skill and ability to work with such small items. Garden seems to be doing well and I think a number of modelers have it for their summer model rr fix and another layout for the indoor months. The inbetween sizes seem to be nitch markets, there, but not large. Just my thoughts.
Hope everybody is having fun regardless how big their layout and whatever scale.
Essentially two-thirds of all model railroaders (which does not include Lionel, Flyer, Marx, et al. hobbyists as that is a separate hobby in itself) are in HO standard gauge (the vast majority), with a very small number in HO narrow gauge. N comprises around 25%-30% of the hobby and the rest total somewhat less than ten percent. If you doubt these figures, just look up the numbers reported by MR over the years. The percentages really haven't changed significantly in some years.
When I think of "model Railroading" I only think of HO scale, even though I have an old o27 but not running. I guess it's because I'm running HO, A question : what percentage of model railroading is HO?? there is zz, n, HOn3, HO, 027, G, and I'm sure I missed some. Is HO that much ahead of any of the others?