I’ve become interested in HOn30. I have mostly Minitrains equipment with Peco track . Question, can someone point me in the direction of websites, suppliers info etc, etc. Are there anyone here into HOn30? I would love to see pictures of your work.
HOn30, HOn2 1/2, HOe and OO9 share one common denominator- the 9mm narrow gauge track. HOn30 and HOn2 1/2 are the same - the US name for 762mm gauge in HO scale, mainly following US prototype (which there were very few, if any). HOe is the name for 750 to 762mm narrow gauge of continental European prototype, which there were plenty in about all countries, up until today. Bemo, Roco, Liliput are the most common brands for trains of German and Austrian prototype.
OO9 is a different bird, though. It´s the name for any narrow gauge in the UK, be it a 1ft. 11 5/8 inch gauge, like the Ffestioniog Railway, or the 762mm Welshpool and Llanfair Light Railway. Very popular in the UK and a growing interest on the Continent.
I have dabbled in HOe and OO9 and still have a pending project of a OO9 micro layout in a box, called the "Lighthouse Rlwy.
This is what I have so far:
The idea
The engine
The train
The engine is a scratchbuilt body on a stock Kato 2-axle chassis, the open coaches and wagons are also completely scratchbuilt.
Pictures of my long gone HOe layout:
Henry - there is a 1.5mm difference in gauge between HOn3 and HOn30. Blackstone products won´t run on 9mm track.
Ulrich you are correct, but you have had a 6 hour head start on me an coffee. [;)]
At Boothbay Railway. Village, we have an HOn30 section along side of our HO standard gauge tracks. We are modeling a representation of Maine 2 foot gauge.
We have some Minitrain things we bought from the old. Caboose Hobbies in Denver. They went out of business a couple of years ago; I am not sure if Caboose, the company that replaced them, stocks Minitrains. Furraniganilo and Cameringlo (probably spelled wrong) makes a line of HOn30 resin kits. Shapeways has a lot of 3D printed HOn30 as well.
Minitrains used to be made by Roco and imported to the US by AHM. That´s a long time ago. Minitrains now is a whole new brand, independently owned, which offers a nice range of products for HOn30, kike a 0-6-0 Porter
and a Forney
and a Baldwin WW I 2-6-2
All of them have smooth running mechanisms.
Earlier I was on my Ipad which does not have the links
Funaro and Camerlengo www.fandckits.com
Shapeways HOn30 https://www.shapeways.com/marketplace?q=hon30
built by T.C. out of an “N” scale engine and other asst. parts HOn30.
George - Bachmann´s HOn30 offerings are slightly oversized, so they fit more into OO9 gauge. They actually represent engines from the Talyllyn Rlwy. and can easily be re-worked into prototypical models. Skarloey represents Talyllyn No. 1 “Talyllyn”, and Rheneas Talyllyn No. 2 “Dolgoch”.
Kato has announced to enter the OO9 gauge with engines from the Ffestiniog Rlwy. The first to be released are the 0-4-0 George England engines “Prince” and “James Spooner”, followed by the iconic Double Fairlies. Peco has the correct carriages to go with that.
Want to keep your gauge options open? Then get one of these little monsters from Liliput.
While rather modern as a copy of a Gemiender diesel used on the Austrian narrowgauge, it is one heck of a puller and easily modified. It comes as a HOe/HO30 gauge model to run on 9 mm track.
Liliput offers a conversion kit to easily modify it to run on HOm track, which is 12 mm gauge. Basically you exchange the wheelsets for slighlty wider ones. 12 mm also happens to be TT standard gauge.
This is very convenient if you do want a HOn3 loco, which as has been noted runs on 10.5 mm gauge. All you do is slightly narrow the HOm wheelsets in the HOm conversion kit.
So, for around $200 and a leisurely hour’s work you can have a loco that runs on 3 different gauges.
If you’re in the US, search out sources of foreign models for a wider selection of offerinsg than those made just for the US market. I tend to use Reynaulds, but there are several others that can help you scratch this itch. A couple of brand names worth exploring besides Liliput are Roco and Tillig, among others.
Mike - sorry if I am being a PITA, but that´s Gmeinder.
Or you can build your own. Scratch-bash is what I did.
A set of four electric boxcabs on Kato 4 wheel power chassis.
A set of diesel box cabs using DD40 trucks.
And a railtruck project that hasn’t been finished yet.
If it’s not commercially made then build it. These will be used on my quarry line railroad eventually.
Bernd
That is basically what one has to do with Shapeways 3D printed loco shells and conversion kits.
Tin plate Toddler, Love your idea for the lighthouse layout!! Thanks for the info and photos. There are definitely many, many more items available for European style equipment.
Wow!, lots of great builds! Caboose Hobbies is where I got my Minitrains equipment from, but now their website list all Minitrains as back ordered.
G Paine thanks for the links!
Here is a list of who sells Minitrains in the US.
Minitrains had a huge problem last year, when the Chinese manufacturer was closed down. Andreas Schönfeld, the owner of Minitrains, made a bold move and brought the production “back” to Germany. He didn´t tell us who is making Minitrins products know, but I suspect it to be Bemo. Of course, manufacturing in Germany is a little more expensive, but the increase was very moderate.
Caboose Hobbies is gone, replaced by Caboose Ltd.
They do list Minitrains, but everything is listed as “Place backorder”
I have built some HOn30, when I get approved maybe I can post some pictures? T.C.