American HO

On 05/10/2006 17:57, Paul said,

TBH, you might be better asking on alt.models.railroad.ho

Whilst there are sure to be people on the UK group who can help, there are more likely to be more people on an American HO group!

Hope this helps.

"Paul"

You can run anything you like.

That's such a sweepingly broad and unfocused question as to be almost unanswerable as in: -

I would like to build a UK layout OO scale. Can anyone advise me on what rail companies I can run on a layout especially if I build a switching yard or fiddle yard.

-- Cheers

Roger T.

Home of the Great Eastern Railway

"Paul" wrote

This is a real 'how long is a piece of string' question. If you're talking about a layout set in the current period then there are only a handful of Class A roalroads remaining, but if you go back to the steam era the choise was vast.

John.

In message , Paul writes

Where do you live. If you are anywhere near the south coast then there are a group of like minded people who have formed a club based in Sompting and Worthing that may be able to help you make some more informed choices.

Or transition era when first generation diseasels were coming in.

Also, in the steam and transition eras typical freight cars were 40 or

50 feet long. Trains were both shorter and made up of shorter cars.

IMO modern 80 foot freight cars look silly in a short train with a modern locomotive. On the real thing trains can be over a mile long, with yard tracks to match.

American steam switchers were typically 0-6-0 or 0-8-0 (and occasionally 0-4-0) short wheel base tender locomotives, with slope backed tenders working tender first. Personally I think they're ugly unless you get much earlier ones with smaller boilers.

How about the yard switched by first generation diesels like EMD's SW1 or Alco's S1, with the trains brought in and out behind a small 2-8-0 or even an EMD GP7 or an Alco RS3?

In message , Christopher A. Lee writes

At least one road had some 0-10-0 switchers, although finding a model of one might be a bit difficult.

"Jane Sullivan"

Many roads had 0-10-0 switchers.

0-4-0 switchers, though very popular in modelling circles, by the turn of the 20th century were very rare in the prototype. At least on class one railways.

-- Cheers

Roger T.

Home of the Great Eastern Railway

A hint for any UK modeller of the North American scene.

Whatever you know about UK practice, from the operating depart to the signal engineering and track design departments, timetabling, etc., etc., forget it all!

Other than four foot eight and half inches, nothing you have learnt is useful. Take it from one who's modelled UK (BR(S)) and currently models North American.

-- Cheers

Roger T.

Home of the Great Eastern Railway

You could check out the Walthers beginners books - Modelling the Clichfield in N is a personal favourite of mine - That's an old one though, it would be worth asking on a US/HO group to get a pointer. I got the lineside industries book last christmas, it's packed away at the moment so I cannot confirm the details but looking through that when it came taught me a lot about US practice, good book if you are heading that way.

Mike

Mike

"Jane Sullivan" wrote

Some roads (Western Maryland for instance) used articulated Mallets for shunting!!!

John.

They did indeed. And some roads, like WM, N&C, and C&O use large articulated locomotives as branch line power into the mountains and the coal fields.

-- Cheers

Roger T.

Home of the Great Eastern Railway