There’s lots of nice old time rolling stock available in HOn3, but we’re running standard HO here. It seems to me that converting an HOn3 boxcar or what have you, to HO involves no more than swapping out the trucks.
Obviously converting locomotives would be more involved, but I’m not looking to do that, just rolling stock.
Is it really this simple, or are there other potential problems I’m missing?
Some NG rolling stock is MUCH smaller than SG, some is not any smaller. Thus a generic answer is not practical.
Replacing the trucks and possibly the couplers is all it takes.
Replacing small trucks under narrow gauge rolling stock with standard gauge trucks will give the cars a real tall stubby look, with trucks taking up more space under them. The trucks might not clear the underframe - truss rods, brake gear, etc. It would be best to check each one first.
Bob Boudreau
I haven’t dealt with HOn3, but good luck! Anyway, I think replacing the trucks would most likely work.
Ok, thanks for answering. Instead of buying any fleets online, I’ll just get one to test out first.
Going the other way, I’ve decided to get an On30 narrow gauge train for the Christmas tree, and finally get some use out of all the snappy track the kids got for borthdays and other gifts.
The main problem is that HOn3 rolling stock is MUCH smaller than HO rolling stock. Two-truck narrow-gauge cars run about 20-26 feet, maybe seven or eight feet tall and six or seven feet wide. Narrow gauge railroading meant more than just the distance between the rails–the way the equipment was built was radically different in size and scale, and except for a few very rare experiments it was NOT meant to be directly interchangeable with standard gauge equipment.
There’s lots of nice old time rolling stock available in HO–most narrow gaugers spend a lot of time cutting down standard gauge equipment to run on their narrow gauge layouts.
Who makes all this nice HO scale old time rolling stock? Except for a few Roundhouse models, it seems like most old time trains are out of production.
I consider the IHC old-timer kits to count (they’re cheap, look nice, and with different couplers and wheelsets, reliable runners) as well as the Roundhouse stuff.
Quite frankly, there’s lots of darn near EVERYTHING compared to RTR narrow-gauge equipment.
LaBelle http://www.labellemodels.com/ makes a line of kits. They are a good introduction to scratch/parts building.
Enjoy
Paul