Why did you choose the scale you're in?

[mmartian22]

.i choose ho because they"re not tiny like n which makes it hard to work with when repairing them.the lager scales eats up a lot of room of which I don"t have . my ho scale fits nicely in my 12x 14 room.

[WCfan]

 

I plan once I win the lottery to move into G scale for the yard, and maybe even the 1 foot gauge stuff to surround the property with and ride around on.  

Hey, you reminded me. My cousin has the 1 foot stuff(he has the money though). Those things are cool. I really like the Big SD-45s and up. Or in my cousins terms"curve Strightiners"

[Occams Razor]

I model in both HO and N (layouts currently under construction).  Started when I was a kid in HO, and the stuff was never sold, so when I decided to get back into model railroading, I have all the HO stuff, but my house has no room...my father is also a huge train buff, and we decided we'd build a layout together in the attic of his barn.  So that's the story on why HO.  Of course the still better than N selection of available equipment was a factor, but mostly because since I'm lucky enough to be able to share it with my father as he gets older he can't really see the N scale, although he's fascinated by it as well.

 In my house, I've only got a 12'x12' bedroom for a model railroad.  Since I don't like modeling small-time railroading the only option to have something realistic is N scale, which I've always been intrigued by anyway.  So I'm slowly building a collection, and the two N layouts, the room size and a doorway sized one that I'll use to rediscover my lost modeling skills.

I plan once I win the lottery to move into G scale for the yard, and maybe even the 1 foot gauge stuff to surround the property with and ride around on.  

[ARTHILL]

In 1949 my dad bought me an English Yard Bird 0-4-0 in HO. I tried a little N, but really have never considered anything else.

[Cox 47]

I had American Flyer as a kid "Santa" musta liked Flyer...I started in HO about 40 years ago ..HO offered the best selection and price too...Retirement move to a small apartment and a move to N scale..N scale is OK but I would have to say my heart is in HO...Cox 47

[on30francisco]

I sorta blundered into N Scale.

Like most people in that far off day and age - the early '60s - HO Scale was really the only way to go.  I considered TT Scale but it was loitering on its deathbed at that moment with very little commercial support so I naturally began in HO Scale where I remained for the next nineteen to twenty years.  I did not have a home layout from 1964 when the Air Force transfered me from Washington state until 1978 when I retired. I belonged to three clubs in the interim and I constructed several die-cast kits, mainly of steam locomotives.

Upon my retirement I immediately began an HO Scale layout which I very quickly abandoned simply because I grew very tired of the plan which I had selected.  I then began a second layout which I really did not like any better than the first but which I did push to a point of completion where I was at least able to run some trains around my oval.

After three years of frustration I settled back in a mood of contemplation.  There were a couple of things which I observed.

1. With the space available to me - and this was not likely to increase in the immediate future - I was probably never going to manage anything except a 'chase the caboose' oval.
I have since gained a little better knowledge of track planning and realize now that I could probably have fitted more railroad into the room available and probably have escaped the obvious oval - but that knowledge lay in the future.

2.  My motive power was simply not conducive to my space allocation.  At one time in the early '70s I had ordered a Bowser Challenger but it was out of stock at that particular moment.  More than half of my fleet was Cary/Mantuas which are not the largest locomotives on the planet but were just a little too big for 18 inch radius curves.  They looked like aitch negotiating that radius.  I realized that I should have been building MDC lokes over the years but I was, then as now, primarily interested in heavy duty Class I operation; I did, however, give some serious consideration to doing just that, switching to a shortline operation.  Another way I could have gone would have been with an industrial switching pike but my interests at that moment did not motivate in that direction.

Instead I went with N Scale which I had randomly toyed with over the years but which had always eventually wound up on swap tables somewhere.  I no sooner began my first N Scale layout when my wife and I went into a remodeling project and down it came; six months later when I resumed the hobby I elected to go with Micro Engineering Code 55 rail where I have been every since.  My first Code 55 pike was an N Scale adaptation of the HO Railroad That Grows.

This remodeling did not actually increase the (allocated) space available for a layout; it did, however, increase the size of the living room and I contemplated some sort of a portable layout - put up and take down - but when I suggested that idea to my wife I got a do-you-know-how-to-spell-divorce-lawyer glare and I promptly abandoned it.

I have been a mobile home resident for the past seven years and an apartment dweller for the nine years preceding that.  I have, in the past twenty-five years, acquired quite a bit of N Scale equipment, both motive power and rolling stock.  I am, for reasons beyond the pale of this discussion, currently between layouts; I am giving serious contemplation to returning to the HO Railroad That Grows concept.  My eyesight is not what it once was, and my fingers don't quite have the agility they once had, but I don't envision myself ever - bad word - leaving N Scale to return to HO Scale.  It does look suspiciously, however, that my next/future layout will have to be portable.

I've built the HO Railroad That Grows in the past and I still think it's a great layout. I grew up when Linn Westcott was editor of MR and still follow his concept of "growing a railroad." If I had a permanent space, I'd use a lot of concepts of that track plan and adapt it to an around the room plan with broader curves and practice the idea of "growing a railroad."

[Dave Vollmer]

Thanks for the web site. Amazing ! Did you build the web site also ?  I enjoyed the connections to You Tube Great scenes. Ihave another question in the Sept 2006 section you have a picture of steam at Lewis Port "St Lewis pulls away" I assume the smoke and steam has been added to the picture ?

Yes, I've had some experience in building websites (such as my research site here):

http://mesolab.meas.ncsu.edu/~drvollme/

You'll probably notice many of my pictures have smoke, steam, and sometimes digital sky added.  I use Paint Shop Pro 7, but I bet any good image editor would work.

[R. T. POTEET]

I sorta blundered into N Scale.

Like most people in that far off day and age - the early '60s - HO Scale was really the only way to go.  I considered TT Scale but it was loitering on its deathbed at that moment with very little commercial support so I naturally began in HO Scale where I remained for the next nineteen to twenty years.  I did not have a home layout from 1964 when the Air Force transfered me from Washington state until 1978 when I retired. I belonged to three clubs in the interim and I constructed several die-cast kits, mainly of steam locomotives.

Upon my retirement I immediately began an HO Scale layout which I very quickly abandoned simply because I grew very tired of the plan which I had selected.  I then began a second layout which I really did not like any better than the first but which I did push to a point of completion where I was at least able to run some trains around my oval.

After three years of frustration I settled back in a mood of contemplation.  There were a couple of things which I observed.

1. With the space available to me - and this was not likely to increase in the immediate future - I was probably never going to manage anything except a 'chase the caboose' oval.  I have since gained a little better knowledge of track planning and realize now that I could probably have fitted more railroad into the room available and probably have escaped the obvious oval - but that knowledge lay in the future.

2.  My motive power was simply not conducive to my space allocation.  At one time in the early '70s I had ordered a Bowser Challenger but it was out of stock at that particular moment.  More than half of my fleet was Cary/Mantuas which are not the largest locomotives on the planet but were just a little too big for 18 inch radius curves.  They looked like aitch negotiating that radius.  I realized that I should have been building MDC lokes over the years but I was, then as now, primarily interested in heavy duty Class I operation; I did, however, give some serious consideration to doing just that, switching to a shortline operation.  Another way I could have gone would have been with an industrial switching pike but my interests at that moment did not motivate in that direction.

Instead I went with N Scale which I had randomly toyed with over the years but which had always eventually wound up on swap tables somewhere.  I no sooner began my first N Scale layout when my wife and I went into a remodeling project and down it came; six months later when I resumed the hobby I elected to go with Micro Engineering Code 55 rail where I have been every since.  My first Code 55 pike was an N Scale adaptation of the HO Railroad That Grows.

This remodeling did not actually increase the (allocated) space available for a layout; it did, however, increase the size of the living room and I contemplated some sort of a portable layout - put up and take down - but when I suggested that idea to my wife I got a do-you-know-how-to-spell-divorce-lawyer glare and I promptly abandoned it.

I have been a mobile home resident for the past seven years and an apartment dweller for the nine years preceding that.  I have, in the past twenty-five years, acquired quite a bit of N Scale equipment, both motive power and rolling stock.  I am, for reasons beyond the pale of this discussion, currently between layouts; I am giving serious contemplation to returning to the HO Railroad That Grows concept.  My eyesight is not what it once was, and my fingers don't quite have the agility they once had, but I don't envision myself ever - bad word - leaving N Scale to return to HO Scale.  It does look suspiciously, however, that my next/future layout will have to be portable.

[grayfox1119]

I started out, like so many older modelers, with a Christmas gift "O" scale Lionel way back in 1947. Now that I am returning to the hobby after all of life's other tasks for a family man, the decision was made based upon:

1. How much room  do I have available to use
2. How big of a layout do I want
3. What is the availability of equipment ( locos, cars, buildings, etc. )
4. Cost....how much can I afford to build what I want.
5. Physical constraints, mainly eyesight, and secondly manual dexterity to work on small parts.

After considering all of the 5 above, I chose HO.

[yougottawanta]

Thanks for the web site. Amazing ! Did you build the web site also ?  I enjoyed the connections to You Tube Great scenes. Ihave another question in the Sept 2006 section you have a picture of steam at Lewis Port "St Lewis pulls away" I assume the smoke and steam has been added to the picture ?

[Anonymous]

I inherated a huge chest of my great grandfather's trains. None of his engines are that good, they're really old, but I use a couple train cars and all his buildings. I just kept building up stuff.

 

[Dave Vollmer]

Dave first let me say thank you for your service to our country. Men like you make me proud to be an American...  ...Again BIG THANK YOU. Secondly love the picture of your N scale,how long did it take to build all of those trees? Nice job! 

Thank you for the kind words!

Many of the trees you see came from previous layouts, so it would be difficult to say how long they took (I believe in recycling, especially as it applies to model trains).  Most of the trees are simply Woodland Scenoics Foliage Clusters hot-glued directly to the mountains.

I show step-by-step how I built my layout on my webpage.  Just follow the link in my signature block.

[ModelTrainLover]

I'm into HO scale, I got into it cause it was the scale of my first train set.

Colby 

[PRRT1MAN]

I guess I didn't choose!  My parents origionally got me a O scale set when I was a kid and then I wanted more stuff switches etc.  Well they saw that O was too expensive and bought me an HO set. At that time we could buy Tyco HO cars at K-mart for .99 a peice... The rest is history!

Plus now I love kits so what other scale is there???

SamV

[yougottawanta]

As a youngster I had a friend of the family who showed me his HO engine, I was hooked ! I loved the feel of the weight,the detail,the thrill of actually running my own train etc......Since then I have been collecting engines (I think need to join AAA of locamotives ) rolling stock,track,buildings... until,I finally bought a house that has an unfinished basement (boy have I been busy with working on this) and I have devoted half of the basemnt to a layout which I have already begun.I also think the prices are reasonable, I like the fact that you can buy used equipment cheap and either upgrade it ,repair it and make it into something better. I also like the abundant choices in steam and diesal engines,the unlimited choices in rolling stock and all the other stuff that is available to make a realistic layout. Lastly one of the best aspects of HO modeling is all the great people in HO who are open to discussing,offering advice,tips and in general creat a great community to get involved with. 

[yougottawanta]

Dave first let me say thank you for your service to our country. Men like you make me proud to be an American and belonging to a church that has missionaries all over the world we get a pretty good picture(nations that the mothers will push their children in front of cars driven by Americans because the resulting insurance settlement will set the rest of the family up for life,or in some countries the people are dieing by aids in such numbers that the dead are buried with bull dozers,mothers will hold their babies up to departing missionaries begging them to take the children out of the hell that is their life....) of how fortunate we are as a nation. I think most of us do not realize that much of the world is jealous of America ,resents our wealth and wants to wipe (ask Iran,Korea,most of the Muslim world,Chavez....what they would do to us if it were not for our service men)  us off the face of the earth.They dont because the men and women of our military service stand in the way. Again BIG THANK YOU. Secondly love the picture of your N scale,how long did it take to build all of those trees? Nice job! 

[fifedog]

Simple---"Hey! That's really neat and I want one..."

[tangerine-jack]

G scale, big, hefty, super detail, runs forever and indestructible- kind of like real trains!  You can run it in the rain or snow, use track power (DC or DCC wired or wireless), battery/radio control power or LIVE STEAM.  You can preprogram trains to run on timers or just let them run for days on end in circles if you like.  The scenery is live, the rocks are real.

There is nothing you can do in a smaller scale that can't be done better in G.  That is why I picked it.

[jbloch]

My father's layout was O27 when I was growing up, and although it was a pretty nice layout, the lack of realism of 3-rail and the wide gaps between ties and the fixed/tight curves with the sectional track--you get the idea.  I wanted more realism relative to all of the above considerations, and in addition there being so much more available in HO than other scales, HO was the only reasonable choice for me.  PCarrell's points about N-scale are well taken--having "effective" bigger curves and running longer trains is a definite advantage, but as I'm now in my mid fifties and have to use my Optivisor for lot of detail work on my HO locos, rolling stock, etc.--you get the picture.

Jim

[modelalaska]

N all the way. Saw my first N locos and cars about three years ago and thought wow, I can have quite a layout in a smaller space and the detail on the units was excellent.
Peter

[vsmith]

In the past did HO N and lastly HOn30, got sick of the crappy drives and the Northridge EQ was apparently sick of my tiny layout and layed it waste. Got out of the hobby for several years till we bought a house, then got interested in G scale, which eventually got very into due to the heft and extreme easy ability to kitbash. Everything is easier compared to HOn30.

[pbjwilson]

Some of you have stated that HO is getting to small to see and that O is to big and expensive. Dont forget about S scale. American Models and S-Helper are making some awesome models. I was into 3-rail O for the last 10-12 years and have switched to S scale. Just has the right look and size I was looking for. Lots to choose from if you just look for it.

[Bob grech]

I guess you can call my preference to HO "The Goldielocks Effect" Not too big, not too small,  just the right size. 

[jecorbett]

My roots in HO go back to the early 1960s when my brother and I purchased a used 4x8 layout. Prior to that I had both a Lionel and American Flyer train sets, neither of which last very long. I immediately appreciated the greater realism, particularly in the track, that HO offered. I was unaware of two rail O scale at the time. We had lots of fun, and some frustrations with that layout until other interests took over and we sold the layout. When I returned to the hobby as a young adult in the mid 1970s, HO was the logical choice. In fact, I don't even remember it being a choice. I just never considered anything else. N was too small. Lionel unrealistic. And I still didn't know about two rail O scale and S scale. If I were to make a choice today, knowing what I know now, it would probably still be HO although S would get some consideration. I think these are the two ideal sizes. Anything smaller than HO is just too small and O just requires too much space to do what I want to do. S would probably get nixed because there just aren't the choices that are available in HO. I'll probably be an HO guy until I tip over unless my eyes and hands get so bad that I have to go to a larger scale.

[Zandoz]

My adult adventure into model trains started out in HO for two reasons...it's what the guy who got me reinterested in had...and it was where the availability of Wabash line stuff was.  After a number of false starts due to venu and health changes, I gave up on ever having a real HO layout.   For some bizaar reason (probably boredom) I was looking at train stuff on ebay when I happened across an N scale Kato Super Chief  A set.  After a few weeks of seeing me looking longingly at Kato's Super Chief pages, wife said to go ahead and do something on the dining room table.  I didn't argue much.

My little N scale layout is kinda my last ditch efffort at having a layout...not even enough room for a 4x8 so that pretty much left the only practical option to nothing being N.

BTW...as a kid I had Lionel 3-rail...inspired by my uncles whimsical basement room Xmas/winter theme layout.  As has been the issue all my life, I accumulated a large amount of the stuff, but never got to build a layout.  Now comes the real horror story...I'd accumulated enough track alone to fill an two and a half foot cube box...all the lionell stuff collected over probably12-15 years was stored in a garage my dad had rented. One time I came home from college, and the entire garage was gone...bulldozed.  Dad had told them to go ahead and bulldoze it since there was nothing in it of value.

[pcarrell]

Some of you have some really great stories behind your choices.

[CMSTPP]

I like HO scale. My father is in O scale and I thought about switching over to O, but it's just to big and way to expensive at the moment. I can't do that, so I went with HO. It's not to big and it's not to small and you can fit a lot of detail into it. So HO is for me. And the Milwaukee road looks perfect in this scale.

James

 

[WCfan]

When I was a kid I got HO scale train set. Then when me and my dad went to the LHS we had should get the same equpiment in that scale(I had no choice to get an N scale train set). So  bacisaly that's how it goes. Now I have too much equpiment to go and switch.

[Hawks05]

When I visited my friends house his dad showed me his HO layout which I hadn't seen since it was just starting when they moved in, which was roughly 10-12 years before that when I was about 5 or 6. I fell in love with his layout and discussed trains with my parents and when they said yes I went with HO because that's what he had and he explained how it had the most to offer in terms of equipment and detail. I went with him and his friends to a show and the rest is history. I don't think I'll switch any time soon. For one I'm a broke college student so HO is expensive enough, and even though I'm relatively young, my hands aren't equiped for N scale, I have what my dad calls, guitar fingers, so picking up small items doesn't work well for me.

I love the look of a nice HO modern day layout and can't wait to model mine like those.

[Bill54]

I went with HO scale over O because of cost and space.  I seriously considered N scale about a year ago.  I actually purchased some track, locos, and rolling stock, set up a small temporary layout and tried it for a few months until I found it to be too small for my liking.

HO seems to be right for me.  I have a 15x24 space to work with so I can have a modest layout.  I already had quite a bit of HO locos, rolling stock and track so that was also taken into consideration. My biggest concern was having enough room to build a layout where I could run trains with 15-20 cars.  Thankfully HO was the happy medium.

Bill