Newbie Question

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

Hey all, this is my first post and I have what may be a simple question.

My father has a ton of Lionel O-27 gauge trains and I finally have my own house and can have all of his trains to set up. I read up on the differences between minimum curves and such but it seems like most sites list engines and freight cars as O not specifically O-27.

Will O engines generally work on O-27? Can I buy standard O with confidence that it will work? I see most engines have a minimum turn of O-31. Does O-27 have less of a selection now then it used to?

I’m curious because I don’t know if I should just convert to Standard O track and buy new rolling stock. I’d like to make this into a hobby and don’t want to be completely limited.

What are your opinions and experiences with this?

Thanks for the input,
Joe

2

I think there are more of the classic trains guys who can answer your question on the forum called “Classic Toy Trains.” They’re mostly O gauge fellas.

Otherwise, welcome to the forum!

3

The only difference in standard “O” and O -27 is the height of the rail. Lionel O-27 has brown ties that are not as large as O’s black ties, and rails that aren’t as tall as O’s. But, the equipment made for O and O-27 is compatible with one another, as long as you meet the minimum diameter requirement.

There are three sizes of O-27 curves; 27" diameter, 42" diameter, and 54" diameter.
While, in standard O, your choices are; 31", 42", 54" and 72" diameters.

More and more products are coming out that require a 31" diameter. If you want to run, say, an MTH engine, you probably won’t be able to use your 0-27 track.

The reason most websites list products as “O” is that they are built to O gauge. Both O-27, and O use the same gauge. O-27 trains are just built as a “Semi-scaled” model. They do not follow the 1:48 ratio set by O scale. You might find that some larger locomotives (Big Boys, Alleghenies, et cetera) are built to 1:56 proportion to enable the use of tighter turns.

Now, if you want newer locomotives and rolling stock that runs on O-27 track, look at Lionel. O-27 was their invention, and as such, they produce locomotives and car to run on it, but I think that the number is dwindling. And in my honest opinion, the O-27 compatible products from Lionel are not the best, but I haven’t seen them all, or any recently for that matter. MTH is my personal favorite.

If you want to run a greater variety, you don’t need to switch to standard O, you would just need to buy a larger diameter curve, being 42" 0r 54" in the O-27 sizes.

Good luck, and welcome to the Trains.com forums![;)]

4

Thanks for the info. I wanted to be able to reuse as much as possible and be able to expand in the future. Through all my searching I didn’t see much for O-27 specifically but it sounds like I can make my curves a larger diameter and shouldn’t have too much of an issue.

I take it O gauge is slightly larger than O-27 so any new engines or rolling stock I purchase will look larger than the ones I already have. Does all the track work interchangeably? Would I be able to use all my O-27 straight track and just replace the curves?

5

I don’t know about diddly in O gauge, so my input might be worthless. But depending on the age of your dad’s rails they might be brass. If they are, you might be better off replacing them anyway. Track corrodes. When brass corrodes the oxide does not conduct electricity. When nickel silver corrodes , the oxide does conduct electricity. Brass is maintenance intensive. If you don’t want to spend as much time cleaning track as running trains you might want to consider changing anyway.