i had an idea i was thinking if i could buy a huge lot of land build a massive O-gauge on it make a bunch of junctions that are dual rail could i rent out junctions to people and have them timeshare the mainline if it was big enough and my end would be responsible for all rail maintenance and ensuring a smooth current the full line and replacement of all track that is damaged/destroyed as well as old going bad transformers.
plus with junction rental comes a lot for your own house/decoration if you wish (provided you bring your own padlock and latch with the house if the roof opens to deco inside) and 2 spaces for vehicles(non-rail r/c welcome and encouraged)
all non rail deco roads will also be maintained by me for your r/c to run smooth as well all outdoor and if its big enough heli pads for drones and maybe a r/c runway with hanger rental again all maintenance included in the rental fee.
basically youd be responsible for your own trains/whatever else you bring but everyone who rents would be able to timeshare the mainline with each other and just use the r/c roads whenever just like the real roads and of course use the airport like a airport come whenever but wait your turn to take off and land
Quite an interesting idea. I’ve certainly never heard anything like it. A big wrinkle I see with something like that is security. When you want to put that much effort and money into a project like that (with some of the features you mentioned), I wouldn’t leave out the possibility of stuff being stolen. Perhaps a well fenced and gated property with some security measures would help, but the big barrier is liability. You mentioned renting out storage for peoples’ R/C models and such. You would have to be prepared for liability to fall on you should something happen to an owner’s model.
As far as the feasibility, your main concern would be accessibility. In order to navigate and maintain something that large you have to be able to walk freely around the property for the most part.
I’m not trying to be mean, but I just don’t get your obsession with running smaller than usual scales outdoors, unless it’s a budgetary thing with the equipment.
I don’t see anything smaller than Gauge 1 being practical outdoors, and for control purposes, you would want to go battery powered/dead rail
7.25/7.50” gauge live steam, self contained ICE powered would be even more practical, I just don’t see “O” Scale being practical outdoors
Adding the various Air, Ground, Water RC activities may make it more viable, but I don’t know if it is something that you are going to make any profit on, as a nonprofit club cooperative, it might pencil out, as a for profit personal business enterprise, I personally wouldn’t do it expecting to make any worthwhile revenue
Doug
A model railroad co-op and condo?
i wouldnt call it a club or coop nessicairly and honestly itd be like driving into a state park and finding your camper lot except it would be a junction with track ready for you to set your train on then thered be a seprate road to access the other facilitys and somewhere near the mainline near your junction would be a lot for a decoration house (again if it has furnishings we ask you put a padlock on its roof so only you can open it just like youd lock your real house) and a parking space for 2 decoration cars(automobiles) if you decide to put a couple out and of course youd either lock up the cars inside the building when not there or bring them home with ya but if everyone brings their r/cs whatever they are back home when their done then that allows us to do maintenance with empty tracks
Like I said, as a nonprofit club, or similar organization, you MIGHT be able to sustain it, as an income producing, business venture, I just don’t see it as a viable proposition
And trying to do it in O Scale, I think is just going to make it even harder, than if you tried it in a scale that is Intended to be run outdoors
But if you try it, let us know how it works out
Doug
well im doing a HO outdoor at the moment that the track has survived 3 storms including hail without a spot of rust on it mostly its scrub with a sponge engine on the track lets roll and it works every time. also having to rebalance the track really doesnt happen to me anymore i use sticks to balance but the grounds adapted so well i seen no point the train stays up well with no lean
also it runs perfectly i may tap the tracks here and there if the engine stops on the test run but once thats done the rest of the day she runs perfect. lil workhorse too i have a r/c CAT797 skidsteer that i use id say O scale but the other day i had to clear sticks out of the mine from a storm cat797 made at least 12 trips or so made a whoppin pile of sticks near the tracks.
well the train cleared that pile with 5 cars in maybe 10 or so trips basically i started around 10PM with the train and was finished up all powered equipment inside by 11:30PM. provided its nice tomarrow and i (dry)scrub the tracks for dirt i should be good to go to remove another pile i had to move with my cat.
and since im charging my viva-tar and emptied all the old videos everyone will get a front row seat. also if i have time theres a pile of weed clippings i gotta remove with my 797 from the company front office. as well as theres track to lay next to the company front office its all display track for displays only fits O-guage 2 rail has a name fuller on it.
but the outdoor ho even has its own turntable witch is easy to clean. i only had to rebuild it one time to clean dirt but it works fine still rotates perfectly.
i have a tow truck that is made for semis thats O-guage i keep all my screwdrivers for working on this stuff on its bed as well as a 4 way lug wrench in o guage a couple panals off the doors of a toy pt cruiser o-guage extra screws, a couple chains. extra O-guage steel threaded balls for ball hitches (one of my semis already has 2 ball hitches i installed all steel) plus the lug nuts for the ball hitches. plus spare battery’s
so its simple for me to rebuild anything right in the field. or unscrew the battery compartments on my r/c equip and recharge bats.
and if the track trys to come loose from the bedding(witch i doubt now will ever happen) we have contingency plan. 3 boxcars filled to the brim with good (small right size) screws and tacknails that we can use on the tracks from the previous owner. so were set.
also keep in mind all 79’ of track plus however many extra for the siding plus the few peices to get to the turntable is all bachmann e-z track and powered by 1 dc transformer that i can unplug and go in a hurry if i need too(like having to run to the store or whereever and it could take a couple hours ill just pull my plug from the track and the power strip and wrap my cords and put it inside with my good engine before i leave only takes a second
1 Like