My personal choice would be Sn3, as PBL offers all the wonderful products in that size.
I really like the way that the size differences between the gauges show up when you have dual gauge terminals and operation. Unless you handlay track, HO is the best scale to work in, since Shinohara makes ready to lay dual-gauge turnouts. And of course HO and HOn3 have the widest selection of items available. My layout reprresents Durango if it had stayed dual gauge by having the Farmington branch stay standard gauge as if it connected Gallup, NM to Utah.
A variation on this, although of only rare prototypes, is to work in On30. If you use Shinohara dual-gauge, then you can replicate On30 and On20 with it. There’s not a lot of 20 inch gauge stuff out there, model or prototype, although freelancing would be easy by adapting HOn3 trucks to represent On20.
Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL
One of these days I’m going to take all my G stuff outside and make a great garden layout. As soon as I fini***he HO Pennsy masterpiece inside… [:O]
On30 for me
G scale looks good to me. With three acres to mow, I’d love to convert some of it to a garden railway, D&RGW equipped of course!
Chris
Im in On3, but On30 [ 2-1/2] is a wonderful new alternative. The stuff is easy to see, and there are plenty of 1/4 inch buildings and detail parts so you don’t have to ‘scratch’ everything. Big drawback to On3 is track. Most in this scale hand-lay and bulid their own turnouts from raw rail. I am forced to search for turnout kits, but still have to hand lay main rails around the frog and points. I wi***here were READILY available On3 turnouts assembled onto molded plastic ties like in HO and O standard, but I suppose the market would be almost non-existant. However, you can get On3 flextrack that is decent!!! On30 that uses HO track solves the track problem, except for appearance. ties too short and too close together…Hey, bury it in dirt and ballast and crud and weeds in the tradition of small NG RRs, and then the ties are hidden…problem solved
Jennifer
You left off 7/8n2.
I do it for mostly the same reasons I have also dabbled in H0n2½ and 0n½. You can use existing proprietary equipment and kitbash it to have something else that is not usually commercially available.
7/8n2 runs on 45mm (#1) gauge track and represents 2’ gauge.
Some choose to model Maine prototypes which can be quite massive and require large radii to look good when running.
The models are big but if you model a small prototype you can use the (almost) right angle bend track commonly available in regular LS (read “G” scale) and still have a realistic layout.
The 45mm gauge power drives are smooth and robust. They provide a good solid undercarriage.
Tony Walsham (RCS).
I voted G because thats what I’m doing now, but it takes up a lot of space to even do something simple. I have also done HOn30 but dont recommend it.
However if I was to make a suggestion to you , I would seriously look at On30.
The selection of things avalable gets better each year, you can use inexpensive and reliable HO drivetrains, switch machines, controls, etc. The trains have a nice heft to them and a really cool On30 layout can be done in the same area as a modest HO layout.
On2-1/2(On30) premits the average shumck like me to build an O scale narrow gauge railroad. Atlas code 100 HO track becomes very convincing O scale narrow gauge track.[:D]
The ties are only slightly short but it is convincing as they are the right width and are on 15" centers not 18". This is typical of most pre WWI narrow gauge. Modelers have seen my 4x8 layout and have asked what type track I am using not recognizing the Atlas HO. I even have a staging area using Bachmann EZ-track and people don’t recognize it as HO, even if they are utilizing it on their layout.
I am building a 4x8 On2-1/2(On30)layout on my website at:
http://www.pacificcoastairlinerr.com
Just a thought[:)]
Harold
I’ve always had a hidden attraction to narrow gauge modeling, but the thought of doing “gee, one more of 10,000” RGS, C&S, or D&RGW narrow gauge layouts always leaves me cold (although I do enjoy seeing them all in the flesh). If I were to bite the bullet, I’d model eastern narrow gauge from somewhere around the turn of the century, or else model the EBT.
Since I’d probably be freelancing at that point, I’d go whole hog and model in On30. Bachmann did the hobby at large a real service when they came out with good looking, decently operating, INEXPENSIVE mass produced narrow gauge models. From everything I’ve read, it’s the fastest growing part of the hobby today. Starting with Bachmann components, and eventually progressing to the likes of Grandt Line, I could assemble all the cars and engines I would ever need for a fraction of the money I now have invested in HO.
If Bachmann ever comes out with an EBT 2-8-2, I’m in trouble!
I model in On30. I’ve tried HOn3 but it dosen’t run well and is sort of pricey. I’ve also tried Sn3 and On3. Locomotives are extremely expensive in these two scales (all that’s available is brass). The Bachmann line of On30 locos look great and are very reasonably priced. With On30 you have the heft and detail of O scale and the convenience and economy of HO.