Which scale?

snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com spake thus:

^^^^^^ that's "piqued"

(Groan) oh, dear Gott, a great excuse for opinions flying every which way. But anyhow, here's mine (I'll try to make this painlessly brief):

o O: +: great for super-realism -: expen$ive less stuff available than smaller scales too big to represent large spaces, unless one owns a man$ion

o HO: +: most common scale (in North America) relatively inexpen$ive (except for brass, etc.) large enough for good detail and realism small enough to model large spaces (my preference)

o N: +: can represent huge (modeled) spaces in a small physical area +: good amount of stuff available -: too dang small for good detail or realism too dang small for those without perfect eyesight

The larger scales (G, No. 1, etc.) are generally used for "garden" or outdoor railroads. Then, of course, there's live steam, and TT and Z scale if you have eyes like an eagle.

Hi,

Mt thoughts on this are:

O Scale

Wonderful detail, quite expensive, need to have a large room/building to do anything of any size.

HO Scale

Obviously the most popular (in the US). Can be relatively inexpensive or VERY expensive depending on what you want to buy (Brass, entirely too expensive). One can model pretty much what they want with the space they have.

N Scale

Small (too small for me). The price for N now pretty well matches a lot of the HO scale stuff.

Hope this helps.

First of all , what are your main interests ? Operation , building structures ,motive power , scenery , Your primary interests will pretty much dictate the scale. A good place to start would be magazines , seek out a local model RR club and hang out there a while , go to some model railroad shows and conventions. It won't take you long to find out which scale is for you. As long as you're having fun, thats the main thing. Just don't be in too big a hurry to jump into building a big layout.

Ken

The O gauge stuff that you got from your wife's grandmother sounds as it could be quite old, so might be quite valuable to a collector. Regards, Bill.