To me it seems like O-27 is something that is relegated to the carpet or little kid layouts. Even if it’s not, it’s generally looked down upon by the “purist rivet counters” but then again 3 rail in general is anyways for a number of reasons. Has anyone ever tried to make O-27 look decently realistic? Within certain limits anyways. I think one of the most important things about modelling is creating an illusion. When you scale things down from real proportions to a small size such as various train scales, the same effect doesn’t always scale with it. Selective compression often looks much more realistic in layout photos than if the proportions were kept original. Of course it would also make for a huge layout.
I am currently trying to see what I can do that can recreate some semblance of realism using O-27 on a very small 3’ x 6-1/2’ hollow core door layout. I can’t find the track in the radiuses or options that I need so I’m making some from other pieces. It’s going to be a simple oval with a passing siding and a short siding feeding one small industry. Currently I’m working on the track. I am building a curved switch (2 of them) using O-27 for the inner radius and O-42 for the outer radius. Obviously this means some handiwork but it’s pretty easy. I studied the proportions of real tie length and spacing and figured out what it would be scaled down. The interesting thing is that my proportions look more like MTH scale trax rather than Atlas or Gargraves. It just “looks” right to me. I’ve been cutting my own ties and basically laying my own track. I’m just using the tubular O-27 rail.
My simple oval curves work out to what would be somewhere around O-29 radius if it existed. I’m using the center and outer rails from O-27 curves but am moving them over so now they become the inner and center radius. The outer rail is bent from a center rail of an O-42 radius curve track. I have a picture in my head as to how I’m going
When I was much younger, living at home, my layout was all O-27. Somewhere along the line, I was able to obtain a bunch of wooden ties about the same width as the Lionel ties. I put these under the track and used a commercial ballast. On one of my later layouts I used Kitty Litter which was much cheaper.
How fun! I love 027 track - like you, I find it easy to work with, fairly ‘bullet-proof’, and with a nice lower profile (in comparision to traditional 0 track.) Certainly, you can work on expanding the illusion - there is a CTT advertiser who is actually located somewhere out in my part of Illinois who provides very nice-looking ties. I’ve also experimented with ballasting using real-tiny rocks, chicken grit (with the cats we have in the house, I would never ever use kitty litter [;)]), using dyed-brown/black carefully-cut wood strips /customized popsicle sticks. Heck, that third rail is still there but if I squint, I don’t see it as much when Thomas and his buddies are going by … [:D]
Fred, I don’t have a digital camera, but I can paint some pictures with words.
YES, I have built several door layouts over the years. And YES I have made my 027 track look more real.
You can “modify” the diameter of 027 track another way, by adding half straights (or even quarter if you cut them yourself) between some of all of the curves on a half circle.
I’ve chopped down my modern MPC era Lionel switches to literally just the track itself, inspired by the old Lionel 1024 switch design. By removing all the extra base off the switches, it opens up a whole variety of track plan options not available with the large excessive footprint of the switches as is. Doing this is a little bit of extra work for sure… plus feeder wires need to be soldered on the bottom of the switch because of the loss of the sheetmetal baseplate. But the end result, and new layout possibilities is worth all the effort.
The manual switches on my prior layout were operated by a system of fishline and springs that I devised. On the new layout, I haven’t gotten to that point, so the switches are all operated by my simple verion of TMCC: a long wood stick with a rubber bumper on one end and an “L” shaped hook on the other. You know, I haven’t had to send my version of TMCC out for repairs not once.
My UC tracks have been modified to run off auxiliary power instead of track power, so I get much better results with operating cars and uncoupling.
I added ties and ballast to my 027 track. I used balsa wood and bass wood which I spray painted the surface brown, and then used magic markers to color the sides after I had cut them to size. You’ll notice on the 027 track tie, there is a bend that goes upward on all 4 sides. This bend was introduced by Lionel during the MPC years to minimize finger cuts. When I cut my wood ties, I based the size on the top dimension of the metal tie, and not the bottom where the bends are. After you ballast the track, you don’
I use “Popsicle” sticks, which you can buy in bulk at craft stores. Saw them into 2-inch lengths, dunk them in paint, and arrange them under the rails when dry. The glue in the ballast will hold them in place. They are slightly narrower than the O27 ties, but not enough to be obvious; and they give the impression that all the ties are narrower and not quite so far out of scale.
For those wanting an O27-profile track with curvature between O27 and O42, I recommend Marx O34.
I have made ties from 1/8" hardboard (Masonite). Cut it into 1/2" wide strips, then cut the strips into 2" lengths. The masonite is already a medium brown so no stain or paint is needed. This size and color somewhat matches the 027 ties and I use 6 additonal ties per straight section. If you are going to ballast the track and glue the ballast down, there is no need to attach the ties to the track. If you don’t ballast, you can glue the ties to the bottom of the track using white wood glue. This glue will hold the ties in place but if you do decide that you don’t want the ties any longer, you can easily snap the ties off. Although the ties look too wide, I like the effect on a toy train layout.
To help blend the switches into the layout, I have painted the switch ties and the area around the switch to somewhat match the color of the surrounding area. I used acrylic paint and one advantage is that if you want to go back to the origional plastic color, the acrylic paint can be easily scrubbed off. Here is a photo.
The first switch is completely layed out with rails and ties all cut and glued down. About half of the ties are now stained. I use a stain pen which is just like a paint pen. I tried gluing the ties to the bottom of the rails after they were stained but they didn’t like to stick so I go back and do it afterwards. The stain stick makes it very quick and easy. My ties are much smaller than most others. I am using basswood. 3/16" thick x 1/4" wide x 2" long. My spacing between ties is about a tie and half width to almost 2 tie widths in between. I am now gluing the ties to the rails with liquid nail. Works great. I am going to go back and use more under the rails as well as use small nails to finish off the look by spiking the rails down to the ties as well.
The next part is the fun part. I get to build a frog and the turnout points. Oh goodie (sarcasm)! Due to the fact that the 2 tracks don’t diverge very fast, I am running into a problem that was addressed in the last issue of CTT and that is my center rail gap through the switch will be pretty long. Longer than most small engines. I’m designing this for small locos though so it’s a bit of a conundrum. You’ve got to do what you’ve got to do though. Just to give an idea as to how close the parallel track spacing is after the switch, with 2 O-27 sized box cars side by side, there is only 5/8" of clearance! It actually looks pretty good. All of my O-27 pieces clear. My standard O is a different story altogether. My postwar F3’s run into a slight physics violation!
If I can figure out how, I’ll post a pic of the switch tonight sometime. I’ve never layed my own track or built a switch before so this is a different experience and I’m probably going about it in a different manner than many others would. Hopefully my way will work. We’ll find out. All I do is engineer stuff all day at work. I hope a little train set piece doesn’t get the better of me!
Good for you. With some work you can do a lot with the 027 track. You can even paint it as seen in the picture. With wood ties, ballast and roadbed you can greatly enhance the look. What makes 027 unique is it has such a low-profile.
I use O-27 due to the fact that you can do more in a small space with it. All of the locomotives that I have are able to run on O-27.
In order to run larger locomotives, the main loop uses O-42.
I have made a few custom length chunks of O-27. Tubular track lends itself to be customized easier. I have made a few sections of curved insulated track for some of the “noisemakers” on the layout.
One thing about tubular track: it is far easier to tighten the connections than with FasTrack. The FasTrack that we have has become loose, and prone to disconnection.
I myself enjoy the action based accessories of O gauge. I also like doing scale modeling, hence why I run multiple gauges.
As far as ties are concerned:
On the layout I built when I was stationed in Charleston, I used strips of balsa wood that I soaked in a thinned out walnut colored stain, cut to the width of the ties. I used cardboard that was cut to slightly oversize and applied white glue, then covered with sand from one of the local beaches (cleaned heavily of course). The result was a decent looking layout, but did not travel well.
Dave - Those switch tracks look shiney. How did you get them looking like that? Did you use sandpaper/wire brush? How do you keep them from oxidating if you’ve used sandpaper/wirebrush which removes the tinplate?
lionel2986 - The switches were dirty and somewhat corroded when I got them. I cleaned them with wet sandpaper and steel wool. Then I applied WD 40 and rubbed it off. It has been about 2 years since the switches in the photos were done so that is how they look now, still no rust or corrosion.
I didn’t get around to getting a picture last night. I got too tired after work and fell asleep. I’ll try to get to it tonight. I am thinking about casting the frogs for them as well as a few other pieces by making a mold out of latex based off of the rails themselves. I’ll make the new ones out of a good high strength epoxy. I could sand, cut, shape them like I want to into the shape I need and then make a new mold of the frog itself. This way I could easily make more in the future. I’m also probably going to make a jig off of my first switch when done. I’d like to simplify the process from a week long ordeal over a couple of hours a night to less than a couple of hours total for future units. The neatest thing is that I’ll have less than $10 total invested in each one. My layout is only going to have a grand total of 3 switches on it so I don’t need many. 2 will be the style that I’m making now, one for each direction and then I’ll do one straight switch based off of either an O-42 or an O-54 curve. Someday if I ever build my dream layout, I’m not sure if I’ll buy track or just use this process. We’ll see. This sure is cheap and I like creating things.
Those switches are really sharp! They blend in really nice. I really like the indicators you’ve put on them.
I haven’t added ties to my trackwork yet (I’m planning on using the rubber ties advertised in CTT by 3r), but I did put cork roadbed under all my track. I stained it a medium grey to give it a ballast look without ballast. Here’s a picture of how it turned out:
Admittedly, this doesn’t sound like what the original poster was looking for. But if you’re going to ballast your track, painting your roadbed a similar color might conceal any spots that were missed for whatever reason.
I’ve always thought that I’d like to put an 027 trolley line on my layout (once I get started).
Something I ran across tonight while going thru some junk boxes,was a couple pieces of 027 track with imitation lithographed “wooden” metal ties.They are spaced apart just like Lionel or Marx,but have no markings as to who made them.
Any ideas ? May be common,but my Dad and I never really messed around with 027.
