In the Atlas book Six Railroads you can build ( old book I don’t know if its still avalable ) there is a drawing of a layout with the caption. You can decorate your pike so it would look better if you hadent. It has a airport that says Los Angeles and a station that says New York. A tower that looks like a Lionel tower thats grossly to big. A church also way to big. A round house with a GG1 in it and a interurban, and a diesel along with steam. Bottle brush trees, a cowboy on a horse in a urban setting. A toy type mountain with tunnel with a way impossible road going up and over it. All the people and trees and telephone poles have bases. A crossing guard that’s as long as the station. Ice skaters on a small pond with a sailboat.
Well, of course with the smaller scales it’s all about having more railroad in the same amount of space. That’s why if HO scaler’s look down their noses at us, then N-scaler’s treat us with utter contempt, and Z-scaler’s consider us not even worthy of the dust beneath their feet. [;)]
perfect example of how HO’s think of O gauger’s is a couple of weeks ago one made a comment in SPF
Very nice Frank. Looking at that I was surprised to see a third rail! The scenes are quite realistic.
H.O. people may veiw us with contemp, but they need to remember that O gauge trains pre-date them. H.O. stands for half O gauge, how do they like that? Also there is a company in H.O. that uses a third rail, Marklin from Germany, not visible at first glance but the third rail is there. From personal experiance, I don’t see how you gain much layout space with H.O, as it takes more space to make a basic circle in H.O. compared to 027 track, 30 inches in H.O. verses 27 inches in 027.
I say to each his own. They all have their + & - but I have O and it works for me. [:-^]
Kev.
I don’t know.
I’m in N scale myself and I have seen lots of very realistic layouts from the CTT crowd…
To me, it is all model railroading, no matter the taxonomy…argue with that you hairsplitters…[(-D][:-,]
That’s how a lot of 3-rail scale hi-railers see us postwar operators, too. Not so much around here, but on a lot of other boards I visit. The divide you describe exists even within the 3-rail community.
thats my oppion also I collect/run O but I like to look at n - G and inbetween I personally have G also but itd just a loop on my floor here in the den/trainroom/office lol and I don’t think I have run it since around christmas time its just sitting there lol.
To me a great layout is a great layout no matter how many rails or size.
with that said n is to small for me and HO is okay but O is just easier for me to deal with and add the electronics of today so I’m happy haven’t even looked at doing it to G set as well ts just a set actually for around the christmas tree which is down and gone but the set never got put up [(-D]
You can find snobs anywhere, I think. I’ve never been interested in HO, but had a friend who had one when we were kids. Much prefer my O scale. I wouldn’t trade my O scale for one, but a Garden Railroad? Something for me to dream about.
wyomingscout
Yep, that was me. I thought at first there was a 1:1 scene then the third rail took me completely by surprise. I was quite favorably impressed.
I collect anything and everything RR related that I can lay my hands on but the majority of my collection is O. Over the years I’ve come to the personal conclusion that there’s more versatility in O than most of the other scales. But that’s only based on what I do with trains as opposed to what anybody else would do with them. If my skillset was different I might be saying that about HO or N, who knows.
One other thing I can only do with O, Standard or 1 Gauge is build tinplate layouts. And I love tinplate! (Girl’s gotta have some bling! [swg])
Becky
I don’t have the visual acuity to appreciate the small scales. I’ll just stick to O scale/gauge and drug store glasses. I might give G a try one of these days. Let the Lilliputians think what they will- opinions are like — -----, everybody has one.
It is all a matter of preference. I doubt most would look at us with turned up noses, but they are out there. I have seen some guys, Like Jeff, who just appreciates trains. I have read responses in other magazines where they threaten to leave and cancel their subscription if another three rail shows up. This last case happened with O-Scale Railroading, they did a story on Norm Charbannou’s layout, which is fantastically detailed, and yes, it has three rail. I doubt any of those complaining could touch the level of detail Norm has in his layout and weathered models, but they had to pipe up.
dennis
To me, they’re all toy trains. [:P]
In my travels, I visited several of our CTT gang’s layouts. All looked real. Depends on the expense and time you want to put into the thing. I admire HO folks. When it come to “operating” them, not as much fun. Frankie had one due to space. Operating accessories not as available. When it comes to playing trains, lots more fun in O.
How HO’ers see us. [:^)]
Thinking in scale they see us a Giant Monsters. [:O] [:O] [:-^]
I have had several layouts over the many years, N back in the late 60’s, HO which I still model via the local club, and of course O gauge (not O scale) that started back in the middle 40’s with a Lionel “Scout” set. Here’s the thing, I love O gauge for what it is: A toy that we played with in our youth, a stepping stone for kids to get into model railroading, and the big thing to me, to have fun with. I personally don’t care what HO people think about us, my O gauge trains are not scale and I believe they were never meant to be. This thread kind of reminds me of the arguments we had as kids back in the old days between American Flyer two rails vs Lionel three rail track!!!
I have belonged to a couple of HO clubs in my life so I could socialize with other people who are interested in trains. I had a great time with them. They understood that I was primarily a Lionel 3 rail enthusist(sp?) and they did not have a problem with it. I have several HO diesels with DCC installed. I run them occasionally on the club’s HO layout. My home layout is Lionel O gauge and it will always be that way as long as the Lord gives me strength. I am also a railfan and train photographer so I have that in common with my HO friends. I have never run into this extreme anti-Lionel, anti-3 rail mentality among any HO people I know or have met. But really, if all someone can find about me to criticize is the fact that my electric trains use a third rail, I think I’m doing pretty good.
George
Aww geez, I gotta join in here.
I have been in HO scale going on 9 years, and I love it.
As an HO’er, I don’t look down on anybody in model railroading, no matter the scale or gauge.
But S gauge, American Flyer is my first love, from my long ago childhood.
As an American Flyer loyalist, the only thing that I look down on is O gauge. [(-D]
What’s with that third rail, anyway? [sigh]
Rich HO Train