I've become interested in HOn30. I have mostly Minitrains equipment with Peco track . Question, can someone point me in the direction of websites, suppliers info etc, etc. Are there anyone here into HOn30? I would love to see pictures of your work.
HOn30, HOn2 1/2, HOe and OO9 share one common denominator- the 9mm narrow gauge track. HOn30 and HOn2 1/2 are the same - the US name for 762mm gauge in HO scale, mainly following US prototype (which there were very few, if any). HOe is the name for 750 to 762mm narrow gauge of continental European prototype, which there were plenty in about all countries, up until today. Bemo, Roco, Liliput are the most common brands for trains of German and Austrian prototype.
OO9 is a different bird, though. It´s the name for any narrow gauge in the UK, be it a 1ft. 11 5/8 inch gauge, like the Ffestioniog Railway, or the 762mm Welshpool and Llanfair Light Railway. Very popular in the UK and a growing interest on the Continent.
I have dabbled in HOe and OO9 and still have a pending project of a OO9 micro layout in a box, called the "Lighthouse Rlwy.
This is what I have so far:
The idea
The engine
The train
The engine is a scratchbuilt body on a stock Kato 2-axle chassis, the open coaches and wagons are also completely scratchbuilt.
Pictures of my long gone HOe layout:
Happy times!
Ulrich (aka The Tin Man)
"You´re never too old for a happy childhood!"
Blackstone
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
BigDaddy Blackstone
Henry - there is a 1.5mm difference in gauge between HOn3 and HOn30. Blackstone products won´t run on 9mm track.
Ulrich you are correct, but you have had a 6 hour head start on me an coffee.
At Boothbay Railway. Village, we have an HOn30 section along side of our HO standard gauge tracks. We are modeling a representation of Maine 2 foot gauge.
We have some Minitrain things we bought from the old. Caboose Hobbies in Denver. They went out of business a couple of years ago; I am not sure if Caboose, the company that replaced them, stocks Minitrains. Furraniganilo and Cameringlo (probably spelled wrong) makes a line of HOn30 resin kits. Shapeways has a lot of 3D printed HOn30 as well.
George In Midcoast Maine, 'bout halfway up the Rockland branch
G PaineMinitrain things
Minitrains used to be made by Roco and imported to the US by AHM. That´s a long time ago. Minitrains now is a whole new brand, independently owned, which offers a nice range of products for HOn30, *** a 0-6-0 Porter
and a Forney
and a Baldwin WW I 2-6-2
All of them have smooth running mechanisms.
G PaineFurraniganilo and Cameringlo (probably spelled wrong)
Earlier I was on my Ipad which does not have the links
Funaro and Camerlengo www.fandckits.com
Shapeways HOn30 https://www.shapeways.com/marketplace?q=hon30
Walthers lists the following in HOn30: https://www.walthers.com/products/scale/hon30-scale/mode/list/show/120?match=AND
HOn30 is a very small niche in the market, and finding ready to run models is difficult. Aside from Minitrains, Bachmann has some HOn30 in their Thomas the Tank Engine (see walthers link) line a few of their may be acceptable for modeling. IN the past there has been some HOn30 brass models. Otherwise, it is build it time. The 3D printed and resin kits do not include trucks and couplers. I use Microtrains N scale arch bar trucks and couplers.
These are a couple F&C kits I have built
and a critter I kitbashed from an Athaern Hustler shell and a Bachnam N scale 70 tonner mechanism
" alt="Climax" />" alt="" /> built by T.C. out of an "N" scale engine and other asst. parts HOn30.
George - Bachmann´s HOn30 offerings are slightly oversized, so they fit more into OO9 gauge. They actually represent engines from the Talyllyn Rlwy. and can easily be re-worked into prototypical models. Skarloey represents Talyllyn No. 1 "Talyllyn", and Rheneas Talyllyn No. 2 "Dolgoch".
Kato has announced to enter the OO9 gauge with engines from the Ffestiniog Rlwy. The first to be released are the 0-4-0 George England engines "Prince" and "James Spooner", followed by the iconic Double Fairlies. Peco has the correct carriages to go with that.
Want to keep your gauge options open? Then get one of these little monsters from Liliput.
While rather modern as a copy of a Gemiender diesel used on the Austrian narrowgauge, it is one heck of a puller and easily modified. It comes as a HOe/HO30 gauge model to run on 9 mm track.
Liliput offers a conversion kit to easily modify it to run on HOm track, which is 12 mm gauge. Basically you exchange the wheelsets for slighlty wider ones. 12 mm also happens to be TT standard gauge.
This is very convenient if you do want a HOn3 loco, which as has been noted runs on 10.5 mm gauge. All you do is slightly narrow the HOm wheelsets in the HOm conversion kit.
So, for around $200 and a leisurely hour's work you can have a loco that runs on 3 different gauges.
If you're in the US, search out sources of foreign models for a wider selection of offerinsg than those made just for the US market. I tend to use Reynaulds, but there are several others that can help you scratch this itch. A couple of brand names worth exploring besides Liliput are Roco and Tillig, among others.
Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL
mlehmanGemiender
Mike - sorry if I am being a PITA, but that´s Gmeinder.
Or you can build your own. Scratch-bash is what I did.
A set of four electric boxcabs on Kato 4 wheel power chassis.
A set of diesel box cabs using DD40 trucks.
And a railtruck project that hasn't been finished yet.
If it's not commercially made then build it. These will be used on my quarry line railroad eventually.
Bernd
New York, Vermont & Northern Rwy. - Route of the Black Diamonds
protolancer(at)kingstonemodelworks(dot)com
BerndA set of four electric boxcabs on Kato 4 wheel power chassis.
That is basically what one has to do with Shapeways 3D printed loco shells and conversion kits.
Tin plate Toddler, Love your idea for the lighthouse layout!! Thanks for the info and photos. There are definitely many, many more items available for European style equipment.
G Paine thanks for the links!
Santa Fe all the way!Wow!, lots of great builds! Caboose Hobbies is where I got my Minitrains equipment from, but now their website list all Minitrains as back ordered.
Santa Fe all the way! Caboose Hobbies is where I got my Minitrains equipment from, but now their website list all Minitrains as back ordered.
Caboose Hobbies is gone, replaced by Caboose Ltd.
https://www.mycaboose.com/
They do list Minitrains, but everything is listed as "Place backorder"
https://www.mycaboose.com/lists?group=&keywords=&manufacturer_id=487&category_id=&scale_id=&society_id=&instock=false
I found room on my HO layout for a small ore operation that is HOn30. Both locos are 3D prints...
20190517_215454b by on Flickr" alt="" />
20190501_214822b by on Flickr" alt="" />
I'm also working on a sawmill operation that is fed by HOn30 locos, but it's not advanced enough to show here yet.
Simon
(Many of you have already seen this.)
The critter in my avatar is HOn30. It is scratchbuilt from brass using an N scale Bachmann 4-4-0 as a doner for the power. The motor is in the gondola (formerly the tender). It has 12 wheel power pick up and working lights.
Here it is under construction:
This is a second critter. I made a few improvements to things like the roof shape and the position of the headlight:
This is the Bachmann 4-4-0:
The critters were intended to be used on a small mining scene. I acquired a number of Graham Farish N scale gons to use as ore cars. I seem to have lost the pictures of them.
I built an engine house for the critters as well:
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
Dave, I don't think you ever showed us the engine house... nice job!
snjroyDave, I don't think you ever showed us the engine house... nice job!
Thanks snjroy,
It is a real scratchbuild! I cut the wall and roof slabs from a solid block of pine. It was a lot of fun to build, miscues and all!
Dave,
Nice work on that brass critter. Love working with brass. Also excellent work on the "critter house".
BerndDave, Nice work on that brass critter. Love working with brass. Also excellent work on the "critter house". Bernd
Thanks Bernd,