Hello world of model railroaders! I would like you to say what scale you have, why you think it is the best, but list the downsides!
I model in HO scale, and I find that it is the best. This is because it is larger than N scale, and you get twice as much train for your buck than N scale. It is the most popular scale, so best variety, and is big, but not too big, and small, but not too small. find that it is harder to scratch build, and put stuff back together, as the parts are so small. I would recommend HO scale for these reasoned.
I’m an HO scale modeller. I don’t know if it’s the best scale but it suits me for my space available in the basement. G scale is actually my favorite but that will have to wait until I retire. I can’t think of any downsides to modelling in HO scale.[B]
I started with HO before there were any other ready to run scales and so remained with it.
The only O or S scale I saw as a child were tinplate and G, N and Z did not exist.
Were I to start today, I would still go with HO for the price, availability, variety and as mentioned a good balance between large and small. If not HO I would build an O scale switching pike.
Actually, the best scale is 1:1. With that scale, you get prototypical depth flanges, prototypical power curves, prototypical inertia characteristics, working brakes, scale size couplers and working cut levers, full spectrum sound effects (no need to worry about small speakers). You don’t need to weather them either since they run outdoors and Ma Nature does a superb job of weathering without any effort on your part.
Naturally, you won’t be considered a “real” model railroader since everything comes ready to run, the landscaping’s already been done for you and the layout’s already been built. Even if you’re adding to your “layout” by building a new line to increase capacity, you’re going to have the services of a number of people who would be doing the work for you. Naturally, your operating crews would insist on getting paid real money.
More than likely, your name would also be Warren Buffett.
After spending many a cold winter night playing with 1:1 scale, I think I’ll stick with HO. I don’t have to spend 45 minutes cleaning a switch just to spot one boxcar! I wouldn’t trade my experiences with the real things for anything though!
As a kid I had a TYCO HO slot car track and model railroad and bought a crossing and had both set up together, I still have a few pieces of that layout and some of the rolling stock. I also have big hands so HO is just easier to work on. I am just starting to build my first layout in nearly 40 years and the thought of switching to N scale had crossed my mind, but only for a second.
My first set was an O back in the early 60’s. I was 5 at the time and loved to sit and watch the train go round and round. The horse heads moving in and out of the windows of the box car fascinated me. When I got older and wanted more than a simple loop I realized that O would be too big.
I have HO and N, both in DCC. N would be great for my desires to build winding, complicated track systems but it is a bit too finicky to be totally enjoyable. Sometimes a N train can look at a switch and derail. HO is less likely to raise my blood pressure so that is my main scale.
I think the best scale is the one each of us decides best meets our needs and expectations. It is a bit of a road for some of us gettin’ der, but when we do, we have found our ‘best’ scale. I have a bit invested in HO, and would love to find myself croaking and still happy with it, but posts from members here suggest I’m likely to be disappointed. If so, I’ll look at O scale stuff, but not three rail…I just can’t.
I model in both N scale and HO scale. My club has an N scale layout and an HO layout. I usually do more work on the HO layout than the N. I have two HO modules that go to shows with the clubs HO modular layout. I have 12 HO loco’s and about fifty cars. All loco’s are DCC equiped and some have sound.
But my home layout is N scale. I have two N-Trak modules that I display with an N-Trak club and i’m currently building a T-Trak modular layout for my club and will have five modules of my own. I have forty N loco’s, most having DCC, and well over one hundred cars.
While HO is more popular and is easier to see, I prefer N because I can model more in the space I have available to me.
I played with 1:1 trains for thirty one years. I like N because I can be safe and warm when I do it.
The best scale is the one that fits the individual’s givens and druthers, and is specific to each modeler. Mine is 1:80, Japanese prototype, commonly referred to as HOj.
There isn’t much chance of a battle - the only other practical scale for the Japanese-prototype modeler, 1:150 or Nj, is impractical for someone with arthritic fingers and questionable eyesight.
Seriously, with the quality of today’s N scale and the fact that you can get so much more railroad in a given space and have a much more realistic scenery to track ratio as well as more realistic proportions of the scenery compared to the trains… Well I can’t imagine why anyone models in HO anymore. But that’s just me.
N, HO, 3-rail HO, S, On30, O27, 3-rail O, Scale O, Lionel Standard Gauge, G Scale, #1 Gauge and a few things that defy convention. All have their drawbacks. But since the majority of my equipment is S Scale or larger, I’d have to say my biggest pet peeve are the truck mounted couplers which are needed because of the extreme curvature in most of the RTR larger scales.
With that said, my HO scale Yuba River Sub is laid in asmall portion of the California Sierra Nevada. If it were N scale, I’d have a lot more of the Sierra Nevada in it, and if it were Z scale, I could pretty much model the entire danged mountain range from the California Central Valley to the Nevada Desert, LOL!
Except for 1:1 and a few close to that range, hardly any of the scales mentioned so far allow you the opportunity to climb inside the cab and operate it first-hand. THAT I would call a major downside.
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