Is this HO scale narrow gauge which runs on N scale track? If my calculations are correct, this works out to a track gauge of 31.45 inches in HO scale.
I’m considering adding a narrow gauge excursion railroad to my standard gauge layout and am wondering if this is a viable option. Nothing elaborate. Just a short spur that would disappear into a tunnel.
Yes it is HO scale running on N gauge track, and you are right that using N track meant it was not precisely 30" gauge, just pretty close.
The fact that it is not exactly 30 inches is perhaps why, when it was new, Model Railroader preferred calling it HOn 2 1/2 – which of course is exactly the same thing technically, but “half a foot” just has a slightly more vague or ambiguous sound to it.
If you are asking directions and somebody says the intersection you seek is “half a mile” ahead, that is more general than if they said it was 2640 feet which is quite precise. If that intersection was 2650 or 2660 feet away you’d still say, yeah that’s half a mile
Perhaps also Model Railroader felt it was appropriate to use HOn30 only when someone built models to exact 30 inch gauge, as I suspect somewhere somebody has done.
A firm called Egger Bahn introduced that scale and gauge mixture, with mostly European looking models. Then AHM came out with their Mini Trains line which had some actual American prototypes. I seem to recall the French firm Joeff also had trains to that size and gauge. Just before they dropped the line from their catalog AHM showed some proposed models of the Maine 2 footers made to run on HOn 2 1/2.
30" gauge was not a common size in this country but there were contractor and some industrial railroads to that gauge. Appropriately the Egger Bahn and Mini Trains lines mostly had contractor type rolling stock and locomotives
Dave Nelson
Hi John-NYBW,
You are correct. HOn30 runs on N scale track. The critter in my avatar is HOn30 scratchbuilt using an N scale Bachmann 4-6-0 drive.
Instead of using N scale track, Peco (and probably others) sell proper HOn30 track and turnouts. The difference is that the HOn30 track has the ties spaced wider apart. The ties on N scale track are too small and too close together to represent HO which is what the actual scale of the HOn30 locomotives and cars are, although they tend to be much smaller than typical HO stock. The Peco HOn30 ties are aslo somewhat irregular in shape so as to mimic track laid as cheaply as possible.
My HOn30 critters (there are two of them) were originally intended to model a small mine that was to be part of my first (never built) layout. I kitbashed a small fleet of ore cars using N scale British style two axle hoppers. Unfortunately the hoppers are usually a bit pricey but I did manage to find a bunch of them on eBay for a reasonable price.
Cheers!!
Dave
Look at 009. Which is the British scale version. There are a few American models. Like a plymouth diesel and porter 0-4-0. Many 3D print pieces now out there too.
lots of drives and motor blocks available too
shane
I’m feeling like an old fossil today…
if you go back to MR in the '70’s and '80’s, you’ll find some guys modeling the Maine two footers in H0 scale,with N gauge track. I think their names were Dave Frary and Bob Hayden. One railroad I can recall was called the" Carrabassett and Dead River". There is also an entry in video, I believe it is one of the Allen Keller videos, worth looking at.
And, I remember a gentleman producing die cast boilers, for a short time anyway, to turn Z scale engines into Nn3! What you are asking is completely do-able, and could be a lot of fun!
Paul
If this is all you are doing, I would definitely use HOn3. There is much higher availablility of equipment, and the prices are coming down quite a bit.
HOn30 was a compromise scale making it possibleto model something in the flavor of the New England 2 footers but with readily available N scale mechanisms.
If your goal is a 2 foot narrow gauge excursion line, then HOn30 might be a better choice than HOn3.
Hayden and Frary were very instrumental in my ideas of what a layout should be. Their emphasis on including scenes for photography sites and building a layout around these scenes really rang true with me.
-Kevin
Hi there. HOn30 replicates two-footers railways, and they were indeed rare in the US. But there were some. There is a good wiki page here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2_ft_gauge_railroads_in_the_United_States
There were passenger and industrial usages. One of my favorites is the Gilpin railroad, that had nice Shays. I have two short lines on my pike, one serving a quarry, the other serving a sawmill (loco on the left):
IMG_20211203_213915 , on Flickr
For an excursion train, there was a real one with a cool 4-4-0 near Mount Gretna:
I made a small loop for the Christmas tree (sorry no pictures), where I run a small 4-4-0 with two passender cars. Here is picture of the loco:
IMG_20230507_191704 , on Flickr
The loco is a kitbash: I used a Model Power 4-4-0 mechanism, with 3D parts purchased on Shapeways. The passenger car is a Minitrains model (not the old AHM line, the newer stuff). It runs very smoothly. I still need to put decals on the thing.
About choosing between HOn3 and HOn30. I actually have both on my layout. If I were to start over, I would go strictly HOn30. Why? Well, HOn3 is cool, but very expensive. You can find some old Roundhouse 2-8-0s and brass on the used market. I have a Round
Looking at the prices for used HOn30 locos on ebay has given me second thoughts about adding a narrow gauge line, even on a small scale. I believe the ones I looked at were all DC, which isn’t that big a deal since the narrow gauge line wouldn’t connect to the standard gauge track and I could run it on a DC power pack. Paying $300-500 for a loco I’d use sparingly is hard to justify. It looks like there are kits to convert an N scale mechanism to HOn30, but I’m not sure I want to go that route.
It was an interesting idea but for now I think I’ll put it on the back burner. Maybe in a few years if I get bored and have run out of things to do on the standard gauge part of the layout, I’ll revisit this.
eBay prices are insane for that scale. You can get new shipped from Europe far cheaper. Which is what I been doing. Or go to shapeways and get 3D printed pieces for very inexpensive prices. eBay is not the place to buy 2 foot gauge. Really lousy selection there too.
shane
I agree. But HO gauge will always be cheaper.
Simon
While looking around the net, purely by luck, I found someone selling laser cut kits to convert HO scale locomotives into 2 foot gauge models.
All fantasy stuff, not following the Maine 2 footers at all. They said the scale was 1/35 using HO scale track dimensions.
-Kevin
Sorry for the late entry in this discussion, I have been having problems logging on to the forum.
I volunteer with the Boothbay Railway Village in Maine, and our layout has an HON30 loop. I have kitbashed a number of locomotives using N scale mechanisms; complicated by our narrow gauge is also DCC
Model Railroad - Railway Village Museum
Two road switchers were done with Bachmann 44 and 70 tonner mechanisms kitbashed into Athearn Hustler shells. These have factory DCC. This is the one using the 70 tonner
Funaerro and Camerlingo make a number of resin rolling stock kits
I bought a Shapeways short boxcab shell and got a custom mechanism from Bull Ant in Australia. it has a can motor and was set up for an easy decoder install
Hi George,
Nice work on the HOn30 stuff!
I’m not sure if you are aware, but Bull Ant has moved to England, or at least, the product has. The Australian owner was experiencing severe back problems. I have a couple of Bull Ant drives and they work great!
Unfortunately, they are having supply issues for the Bull Ant parts, but they also carry several other makers’ power trucks.
Cheers!!
Dave
Sad to hear, the guy at Bull Ant was very helpful with my special mechanism request
Hi there. There are also great N and HOn30 drives from Japanese sources, including Tomytec, Tsugawa and Toma. For diesels and steam, in different sizes. You can find some on Ebay, or you can order directly.
Simon
kato has good drives too. 11-109 is a popular one
shane
HOn30 locomotives are also available from European brands, where they are known as HOe and represent 760mm gauge which was used on secondary narrow gauge lines in Austria and other places instead of larger, heavier meter gauge.
Bemo and Liliput are two model manufacturers. Their steam and diesel mechanisms are reliable and well-made. They are available in the US from importers who specialize in European model trains.