want to start!!

Some of the Spectrum-series stuff from Bachmann has been looking really good, and I think they hit upon a very appealing idea with their narrow gauge O sets: All the joys of O, but it runs on HO track and won't look silly if you need steep grades, tight turns and shorter trains. I've played tourist on the Georgetown Loop Railroad here in Colorado a couple of times, and now really appreciate the modeling potential of narrow gauge!

I also like seeing what folks are doing in Europe via Marklin Magazin, Voie Libre and others. Lots of emphasis on smaller trains, and compact layouts, but a good deal of color and variety. Some of the older cities in Europe have a lot of good modeling potential because the scale is smaller and less sprawling than in many parts of No America, and there's a good variety of architecture.

HO has the broadest selection of equipment. It's also about the same price as N. They both have the attraction that you can cram a lot of stuff in a small space. They also draw less current, so the electronics don't need to be so robust.

O scale has the attraction of being, well, big. Scratchbuilding or kitbashing is easy (if expensive), but detail becomes very important simply because it's more visible. You can cram electronics and sound chips into your stuff. It needs a LOT of space to look good though, and for transformers you're looking at a higher capacity than the smaller scales. It's also big-ticket stuff.

Plan ahead. Maybe see what space you have available, then plan a layout in the space in the different scales and see what you can put on it. There is photo software available so you can 'see' what you've built, or you can design it using plastic track templates and pencil on paper.

That is, if having a scenicked layout what's important. Some people are happy with track on a board and doing operation. It all depends on what floats your boat.

Jay CNS&M North Shore Line - "First and fastest"

Aaron wrote: I want to start a model rail road, What gauge would you reccomend, I see that HO is most popular, however the O gauge lionels look most realistic to me. I know they are more money, however, if I am going to take this seriously what would you reccomend. Eventually I want to have everything (scenery houses etc.) to scale.

----------------------------------------------------- Here are a few websites that you might find helpful:

Thor's All Gauge Page:

Trains.com:

NMRA's "Purchasing Model Railroad Equipment":

Good lucl with your railroad! I hope you derive as much pleasure from model railroading as I have.

Bill Bill's Railroad Empire N Scale Model Railroad:

History of N Scale: Links to over 700 helpful sites:

Aaron wrote: I want to start a model rail road, What gauge would you reccomend, I see that HO is most popular, however the O gauge lionels look most realistic to me. I know they are more money, however, if I am going to take this seriously what would you reccomend. Eventually I want to have everything (scenery houses etc.) to scale.

------------------------------------------------------ "Fun with Electric Trains: How to Get Started" is a good book that will help you select a size and get your railroad under way.

Bill Bill's Railroad Empire N Scale Model Railroad: History of N Scale: Links to over 700 helpful sites:

How much space do have to work with? What do you want to model? - switching - point to point - continuous (a loop)

Paul

Aaron, welcome, good to hear. I would like to suggest that you find a local club and hang around with them for a bit, to find out what you really like. Is it operations, building, distpatching, trackwork, wirting, etc.? All you can do will help you decide, just remeber this gets expensive over time, and you don't want to go down the wrong track.

Having had all the scales (N to G). I'll throw in my two cents. But for starters I might be out in left field because I have never seen a Lionel that looks realistic, and consider them toys. MTH and K-Line make much better looking equipment but it still runs on three rail template track.....

The toy train track is great fun because the third rail is always in the middle and one can mindlessly connect track in any helter skelter way and get them to run. The oversized wheels keep them on the track better. I abandon O-Gauge shortly after junior high.

I with great dismay dismantled my O-Scale layout about 18 months ago. I just couldn't afford the space for it. I love the size.

I really like my G-guage which to me is three feet between the rails or

1:20.5 (called Fn3 sometimes). But it only comes out at Christmas time and consumes the house for a month. I could never commit permanent space for it in the house.

I switched from HO to N-scale in 1969 just so I could fit a nice loop of track 11" radius on a 2'x4' board. This was great until I decided I wanted to get some detail into my models. I switched back to HO in 1983 so I could actually model a 3/4" hand rail on a locomotive.

It is hard to beat the compromise of detail and space allowed with HO equipment.

layout so to speak.

This is a myth. That is, if one is not stuck on the concept of scale. I've been able to fit twice as much on 2x4-foot O gauge module than I ever dreamed of in HO.

He said "for the same layout". Which is not a myth.

The biggest constraints for any of us are space and money. your 4x2 layout has a quarter the track of the same size layout in HO and 16th the track of the same sized N-gauge layout.

And very likely a quarter (or 16th) the locomotives and stock.

And I suppose it's 4 times as much as you could have done in N?

It's not a myth, it's simple mathematics. Your 2x4 foot O scale module would be roughly equal to a T-Trak module in N scale... not much bigger than an 8.5 x 11 inch sheet of paper.

Note that the original reply said WITH THE SAME LAYOUT. That means scaling up the WHOLE layout, not just laying O track over the HO trackplan. Sure, you can use 27" diameter turns... but they're UGLY to run on. That would scale down to about a 3 INCH Radius (6 inch diameter) in N... I've got a couple of places on my N layout where some industrial sidings have 6" RADIUS turns... and i wouldn't have done it if I hadn't needed to! Bit of an operating challenge...

I _will_ grant that it's easier to DETAIL the O module... but then, the details are bigger, and further apart than HO or N. Then again, you NEED that higher level of detail to make a convincing scene... because your viewing distance is "closer"... a distance of a scale 100 feet in O is about 200 feet in HO and about 400 feet in N... and the level of visible detail changes accordingly.

Work it out... Twice the linear scale means 4 times the area and 8 times the volume: scalex2, scalex2^2, scalex2^3.

I'll bet your O module would fit on an O flatcar if it was done in Z...

Sortakindamebbe.

Fingers don't scale, so things like parallel track spacing have to be wider in smaller scales than would be prototypical, unless you have someone with extra small hands to rerail your cars.

In larger sizes, moreover, you need a lot more small details to make the scene convincing than you do in smaller scales.

OTOH, tinplate O fits in a much smaller size than scale HO--heck, I've put more spaghetti on a 4x8 tinplate than I'd even consider attempting on my under-construction 4x8 HO scale.

I see your point Christopher. To built the * exact same * layout, O gauge requires much more space.

But you can get away with 27 inch diameter curves in O, something true HO scalers would never ever do!

And technically, my O gauge has more track since it's much wider and taller. Plus I don't have to squint to see my trains. * wink *

True scalers seem to like HO. I can appreciate that. O gauge has just been much more fun for me. All my HO stuff has been packed away.

Good Morning!

The relationship that *corelane* speaks of works very nicely when comparing "O" and HO trolleycars. The latter often have

11-12--inch radius limitations in HO but same will Easily Negotiate 9-inch radius turns in "O"--Scale. And, YES, this is Most Definitely Prototypica. The inside curve on double track in streets is usually 35-40--feet radius at intersections!

Both 2- and 3-rail "O"--Scale exists but it *seems* it is necessary to dig a little to find the 2-rail variety. Quite a few 3-railers, or *Tinplate* fans as they used to be known.

Waiting for a bus is as thrilling as fishing, with the similar tantalisation that something, sometime, somehow, will turn up. George Courtauld

James B. Holland

? Holland Electric Railway Operation....... "O"--Scale St.-Petersburg Trams Company (SPTC) Trolleycars and "O"--Scale Parts including Q-Car mailto: snipped-for-privacy@pacbell.net

? Pennsylvania Trolley Museum

Pittsburgh Railways Company (PRCo), 1930 -- 1950 ? N.M.R.A. Life member #2190;