I have been looking around at some products in On30 scale, like Bachmann’s 2-4-4T forney’s, and there 4-6-0. I have always liked the curious and smaller than average locomotives that these shortlines used. I am really becoming interested in this scale, as I have more that enough space to model this, and It would make sense to use some more “oddball” locomotives, than what a mainline railway would use. Could you On30 (HO track) modelers tell me the benefits, of modeling in this scale. Thank You!
P.S. How good is Bachmann’s forney, and 4-6-0 in On30?
Looking at O scale (1:48) in general, everything is just about twice as big as things in HO. By this I mean buildings, sidewalks, light poles, fireplugs, dogs…
Looking at the track gauge, 30 inches, there wasn’t much on the North American continent (that Bachmann forney is a model of a 24 inch gauge prototype.) OTOH, there was LOTS of 30 inch (and meter) gauge built elsewhere, some of which survives today. A few examples:
European light-rail tramways - including some that ran articulated steam.
The east coast lines on Taiwan - steam included 2-8-2s.
Sugar cane lines all over the Eastern Pacific area.
Light rail in Japan, including electrified lines that ran long EMU trains in commuter service.
The Ali-Shan Forest Railway on Taiwan - Shays, 4%+ grades and a real-live 1:1 scale helix.
The Kurobe Gorge Railway (Northern Coast, Central Japan) runs amusement park ride type passenger cars behind miniature boxcab catenary motors - on right of way that would have done the Norfolk and Western proud. Rock tunnels, steel bridges… Currently operating.
The Kiso Forest Railway (Central Japan Alps) ran tiny teakettles and a gazillion disconnects into the woods to bring out the (mostly) cedar. By 1964, the teakettles had been replaced by a bunch of seriously ugly diesel `critters.’ Abandoned 1975 - R.I.P.
Looking at the two together, if I ever change scales, I’ll be modeling my last two examples in On762. At present, they’re found as static displays on my 1:80 scale empire.
From a practical point of view, there’s a fair amount of commercial, `right scale, wrong track gauge,’ product available. Modeling the flavor of either the Maine 2-footers or some poverty-stricken 3-foot line should be easy. If you decide to model, say, the East Broad Top, the glory days of the Grande or the Uintah (six inches too narrow) you’ll be doing a lot of
Looking at O scale (1:48) in general, everything is just about twice as big as things in HO. By this I mean buildings, sidewalks, light poles, fireplugs, dogs…
Looking at the track gauge, 30 inches, there wasn’t much on the North American continent (that Bachmann forney is a model of a 24 inch gauge prototype.) OTOH, there was LOTS of 30 inch (and meter) gauge built elsewhere, some of which survives today. A few examples:
European light-rail tramways - including some that ran articulated steam.
The east coast lines on Taiwan - steam included 2-8-2s.
Sugar cane lines all over the Eastern Pacific area.
Light rail in Japan, including electrified lines that ran long EMU trains in commuter service.
The Ali-Shan Forest Railway on Taiwan - Shays, 4%+ grades and a real-live 1:1 scale helix.
The Kurobe Gorge Railway (Northern Coast, Central Japan) runs amusement park ride type passenger cars behind miniature boxcab catenary motors - on right of way that would have done the Norfolk and Western proud. Rock tunnels, steel bridges… Currently operating.
The Kiso Forest Railway (Central Japan Alps) ran tiny teakettles and a gazillion disconnects into the woods to bring out the (mostly) cedar. By 1964, the teakettles had been replaced by a bunch of seriously ugly diesel `critters.’ Abandoned 1975 - R.I.P.
Looking at the two together, if I ever change scales, I’ll be modeling my last two examples in On762. At present, they’re found as static displays on my 1:80 scale empire.
From a practical point of view, there’s a fair amount of commercial, `right scale, wrong track gauge,’ product available. Modeling the flavor of either the Maine 2-footers or some poverty-stricken 3-foot line should be easy. If you decide to model, say, the East Broad Top, the glory days of the Grande or the Uintah (six inches too
3ft gauge was by far the most common narrow gauge in the US, with 2ft gauge being a distant second. In Canada, 3ft never caught on as much, but there was still some. And in Eastern Canada, 42" gauge was used.
That said, many modelers use On30 to represent either 3ft or 2ft, or more often, just give the general feel of narrow gauge. And they have a lot of fun doing it. On30 has a lot more available (and at lower prices) than On3, Sn3, or HOn3. On3 has the advantage of being able to spread the wheels of On30 locomotives to get accurate On3 engines. And trucks can be swapped out on On30 rolling stock to get On3 stock.
HOn3 and Sn3 have their adherents (I’m in HOn3 myself), and there is enough available, although most commercial equipment is Colorado narrow gauge prototype. Blackstone and Micro-Trains have brought plastic RTR to HOn3. But prices are higher than standard gauge equivalents.
The 2 big drawbacks to On30 are the gauge discrepancy and the space that structures and scenery take. If you can live with the gauge, and can manage the scenery and structures, On30 is by far the easiest and cheapest way to get into narrow gauge. And you can run HO standard gauge on the same track when the mood strikes.
The thing to realize is that while O scale is roughly twice the size of HO in one dimension, it is roughly 4 times the area. So a building that occupies a 3x5 space in HO for 15 square inches will occupy 6x10 for 60 square inches in O.
The cars and locomotives are a nice size (they are close to S standard gauge) to model in and with the deep discounts available not too expensive. Since they are not HO size, you will need wider spacing on parallel tracks for sidings and yards than you would for HO.
Not that I’ve seen, but I’m sure somebody is doing it. People modeling 42" gauge typically do so in S scale - Sn42 (or Sn3.5) has the same gauge as HO standard gauge. In other words, you can use 16.5mm gauge track to model standard gauge in HO, 30" in O, or 42" gauge in S. There are also some using HOn3.5, but it doesn’t seem very common at all in North America.
Had you considered Sn3? Beautiful size and gorgeous equipment available although it is a “builder’s scale”.
If I didn’t have so much invested in HO I’d be in S Scale for sure, although it would be S “standard” guage probably but it’s a beautiful size. Impressive as O Scale yet still a lot more compact than O Scale.
For those of you in the northeast, there will be a narrow gage train show in Gray, Maine this coming Saturday, April 2 at the Gray/New Gloucester H. S. just off exit 63 of the Maine Turnpike. They will have a number of narrow gage modular layouts and other displays.
I understand what is to be young and ambitious. And I have a teenage son myself. So I’m going to give you my fatherly advice.
For the next few years, your hobby time is going to grow smaller and smaller as the rest of your life gets busier and busier. Then, often at age 18 or so, you will be moving on and out. Don’t believe me, ask your more senior high school buddies. So even if you have unlimited space, you are going to be constrained by time and money.
So your task becomes deciding what will give you enjoyment of the hobby while staying within your present and near-future time and money limitations. Recognize that whatever layout you build now or over the next few years will likely go by-by when you leave home. And your interests and what you want to model and resources to do so will likely change significantly when you leave home.
Because of the above, my recommendation is to pick a scale and gauge where there is reasonable RTR and/or simple kit availability at reasonable prices. That would be HO, N, and On30. That way you can get started with a simple operational layout, learning the more advanced kitbashing and locomotive modification and track laying skills at a pace that suits you. As you become more skilled you can replace your existing track, locomotives, cars, and structures with personalized models that better suit what you are trying to accomplish.
If you pick a scale/gauge/era/prototype where you have to build everything yourself just to get anything running, there is a very good chance you will give up in frustration.
Because of my time limitations, I use the same approach. I built a small oval layout with a mix of Atlas track and 4 turnouts, and some narrow gauge track and one narrow gauge turnout. This was to get me up and running quickly. I have a couple of trainset locomotives I use for stand-ins until I get kits and bashes more suited to my era built.&nbs
There is such a thing as Oj - 1:45 scale on 24mm gauge track. It’s a minority Japanese gauge that is supported by a few manufacturers. Commercial products guaranteed to give you sticker shock unless you’re independently wealthy ($3000++ US for a single DMU similar to a Budd RDC!) Also, while the Japanese primary rail system is 42 inch gauge, it isn’t, `Typical U.S. narrow gauge.’ Think multi-track mains, wide curves, heavy construction, incredible traffic density. Much closer to the glory days of the Pennsy and New York Central than to the bucolic Sandy River or the Rio Grande Southern trying (and failing) to make a living in Colorado high country.
Working in HOj (1:80 scale, 16.5mm track gauge) I model a secondary main line in a sparsely populated (by Japanese standards) area of Nagano Provence - one which (to quote the pertinent Wikipedia entry,) “Only sees one express and two stopping local passenger trains in each direction each hour.” There’s also freight traffic in the mix. Not at all like the typical three round trip a week Grande branch line. (Did I mention that it’s electrified? Partially, in 1964, completely since the early 1970s.)
I understand what is to be young and ambitious. And I have a teenage son myself. So I’m going to give you my fatherly advice.
For the next few years, your hobby time is going to grow smaller and smaller as the rest of your life gets busier and busier. Then, often at age 18 or so, you will be moving on and out. Don’t believe me, ask your more senior high school buddies. So even if you have unlimited space, you are going to be constrained by time and money.
So your task becomes deciding what will give you enjoyment of the hobby while staying within your present and near-future time and money limitations. Recognize that whatever layout you build now or over the next few years will likely go by-by when you leave home. And your interests and what you want to model and resources to do so will likely change significantly when you leave home.
Because of the above, my recommendation is to pick a scale and gauge where there is reasonable RTR and/or simple kit availability at reasonable prices. That would be HO, N, and On30. That way you can get started with a simple operational layout, learning the more advanced kitbashing and locomotive modification and track laying skills at a pace that suits you. As you become more skilled you can replace your existing track, locomotives, cars, and structures with personalized models that better suit what you are trying to accomplish.
If you pick a scale/gauge/era/prototype where you have to build everything yourself just to get anything running, there is a very good chance you will give up in frustration.
Because of my time limitations, I use the same approach. I built a small oval layout with a mix of Atlas track and 4 turnouts, and some narrow gauge track and one narrow gauge turnout. This was to get me up and running quickly. I have a couple of trainset locomotives I use for stand-ins until I get kits and bashes m