O Layout Size?

I usually model in N scale but lately I've been looking at some O stuff, it looks so cool. The only thing is, I like having some sort of interesting layout and I can't imagine stuffing much railroad into a reasonable space. Of course the track plan isn't the main deal for everybody. For you O people, what size layouts do you have? Just curious.

Reply to
Iarwain
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I have two:

3 rail - a 6' x 8' portable (made up of four 3' x 4' sections) Lionel (New York) postwar using O-31 track. It has two concentric loops connected by crossovers plus sidings to allow display of samples of most major postwar accessories. I do not have any recent Lionel / Williams / MTH / 3rd Rail equipment, so I do not need wider radius. But if I were doing a permanent non-portable layout, I'd make sure it had at least one loop of O-72 because even the earlier Lionel looks and runs better on the wide curves. 2 rail - a 20" x 6' urban switching layout using #6 turnouts and a sector plate.
Reply to
Geezer

A major difference from N scale that you will find will be the type of equipment you want to run. This can make a major difference in curve radii and therefore a difference in the size of the layout needed. If you have your mind set on running a Big Boy, or perhaps an SD 90, long passenger cars, stacked containers, and the like, larger radius curves become a necessity. Back up a few years in eras to be modeled, and run small steam, F-7's Geeps, and limit your self to 50' rolling stock or less, along with shorter passenger cars, you can have a nice layout in a smaller space. Another question is; are you talking about O scale 3 rail, or O scale(2 Rail), and there are major differences between the operation and requirements of the two.

Don Cardiff Model Railroad Design Kaneville, IL Our design information package is still free.

Reply to
CBT2000

To get an idea, take your N layout and multiply all dimensions by 4.

Reply to
wannandcan

Oh, for Chrissake, just answer the question.

027 isn't a whole lot of fun. There's just too much equipment you can't run on it. Starting with 45" curves permits you run almost all (but not quite all) equipment. That means a minimum 4' wide layout.

Download the RTS freeware from Atlas and play with it. You can do a few interesting things on a 4' by 8' layout. Anything smaller than that, though, is just going to be watching your choo choo go round and round round and round and round and round and round.

I LIKE O scale. I LIKE Lionel. The hell with all you sissies and your little sissy ho and n scale pussy toys. So there.

Reply to
Dunter Powries

On 5 Feb 2004 02:09:43 -0800, iarwain snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com (Iarwain) mumbled incoherently:

If narrow guage is ok for you, take a good look at On30 scale. Bachmann sells Spectrum models that look and run well. They have the increased realism of the larger standard O scale models, but use just a little more room than HO. HO mechanisms and trucks can be used to scratchbuild locos and cars. Then again, if you have the bucks, go for brass On3. Only problem is that my wife's frigging cats can knock them to the floor easier than my old standard guage locos and rolling stock. My skin crawls when I hear a loco hit the floor in the other room.

Then there is the idea of using N scale mechanisms to make, I think, nearly two foot guage models. Which you have a few of. If anybody is roaming around your train layout with a ruler, measuring things and making tsk tsk noises, do what I do - show him the "No Nit Picking" sign on the wall. My layout is loop-to-loop in my finished attic - reverse loop and yard twelve feet along one wall, ten feet along another wall, running through a closet into another room for fifteen feet, out and back using a reverse loop. It's not fully complete yet, but I'll try to get some pics of the sceniced areas online. Regards, Ken (NY) Chairman, Department Of Redundancy Department ___________________________________ email:

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Reply to
Ken [NY)

=>To get an idea, take your N layout and multiply all dimensions by 4.

By 3 -- 48 guzzinta 160 almost exactly 3 times :-)

Wolf Kirchmeir ................................. If you didn't want to go to Chicago, why did you get on this train? (Garrison Keillor)

Reply to
Wolf Kirchmeir

I thought O was 1:43?? 160/43 = ~ 3.72 real close to 3 3/4

Paul

Reply to
Paul Newhouse

Depends upon the type of O scale modeling you want to do. If you want modern mainline then the layout is going to be large as you generally need

6' radius curves to keep the equipment from looking toylike and that means a lot of room around a large space. Go towards narrow gauge modeling and you get to go more for detailing and so forth and the layout size can come down as the curves can be a lot smaller, especially with stuff like logging and so forth.

-- Bob May Losing weight is easy! If you ever want to lose weight, eat and drink less. Works every time it is tried!

Reply to
Bob May

Could not find a transcontinental RR to fit on a 4x8 layout to run mountain type locomotives in O scale. Like long trains. Will keep looking.

Don Cardiff Model Railroad Design Kaneville, IL

Reply to
CBT2000

Somebody makes a cat scarer - it;s motion triggered, just place it, turn it on, and when kitty comes near it lets out a huge loud HISSSS! encouraging kitty to vacate the area. Supposedly they learn not to come back.

No telling how you'll get the stuff scared out of the cat out of your ballast, though.

Reply to
Steve Caple

(snip)

No nitpicking is necessary. N gauge track is commonly used to model 2'6" or 760mm gauge prototypes in HO, as either HOn30 or HOe.

Reply to
Mark Newton

=>I thought O was 1:43?? 160/43 = ~ 3.72 real close to 3 3/4 =>

=>Paul =>-- =>Working the Rockie Road of the G&PX

Oh well, O denotes three ratios: 1:43, 1:45, and 1:48. Over here, it's 1:48, which is closer to 3 times the szie of N (1:160). And N denotes three ratioes, too. IIRC 1:152 is the UK one (same scale/gauge mismatch as for OO in 16.5mm track.)

Anyhow, most N gauge layout plans use wider curves (natutrally, since a wide cuirve in N doesn't take all that much more space than a medium one), so multiplying by 3 will give you a workable O scale layout.

As for what can be done in O scale: I've seen pix of very nicely done shelf layouts around 10-12 ft long and a couple feet or so wide. A spare bedroom in the 10ft x10ft range permits a twice around single track mainline with a couple passing sidings on each circuit, or a visble circuit and a staging circuit separated and hidden by low scenery. Could do pretty intense operations with such a layout.

Wolf Kirchmeir ................................. If you didn't want to go to Chicago, why did you get on this train? (Garrison Keillor)

Reply to
Wolf Kirchmeir

My O-scale (not O-gauge three rail stuff) was 9 x 7. Similar to layout #23 without the turn table in "101 Track Plans for Model Railroaders" by Linn Westcott.

Reply to
SleuthRaptorman

My layout is currently 4x8 abutting 3x7 in L-shape. Plans are to extend it around the walls of 11x17 room. Eventually.

Been quite impressed with what is possible in three rail since I got into it about 5 years ago. Semi-scale locomotives can generally run on O-31 curves (31" diameter, not radius!). Scale stuff often requires at least twice that.

Check out some of the layouts on my links page for some great ideas!

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Reply to
Corelane

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