Hi! A lot of favorites in the train world when it comes to size, scale and guage. I’ve wondered, from your vast experiences working with “O” and “HO”, which Brand and Style of track comes closest to the “real” thing in scale (not necessarily appearance) that is, the height of the rail and the size and spacing of the ties?
Example: Atlas NS ‘HO’…Gargraves ‘O’…Lionel FasTrack As always, many thanks.
As a 2-rail O-scale guy I like the Old Pullman ( www.oldpullmanmodelrailroads.com ) 2-rail O-scale track.
I elected to go with O-scale code 148 because I have a few $$ tied up in Atlas 2-rail O turnouts which only come in code 148. My local hobby shop had them in stock so I bought from them. Plus I didn’t want to wait for an online order to arrive. It’s that instant gratification thing.
I ordered some Old Pullman code 148 flex track and their 148 rail profile is somewhat smaller than the Atlas code 148 and it looks really good. I can only imagine what the Old Pullman code 125 or 100 looks like up close and personal.
If I had to do it over again I probably would have held off purchasing the Atlas turnouts and gone with all Old Pullman code 125 on my shelf switching layout.
For On30 I use Micro-Engineering code 70 track that is made for On30. Once weathrerd it looks extremely realistic.
Well you start by talking about favorites and switch to asking about facts. There can be a world of difference between the two.
O-track (unless you are talking about Proto:48) is immedately eliminated from being the closest to the “real” thing in scale since it is 5 feet between the rails instead of 4’ 8.5".
Thanks for your replies.
Shinohara S scale track in code 100 is pretty good.
Enjoy
Paul