Hey Folks,
I have a few questions you probably field all the time. I know I’ve seen this info someplace at this site, but I cannot find it. Google searches have yeilded only FORE SALE items. So I was hoping somebody could shed some light on it for me, or at least supply me with a link. Here goes:
As I understand it, On3 is O scale running on HO track. Is this correct?
What is the difference between On3 and On30?
The On3 stuff I’ve seen (Bachmann sets), more to me more like Sn3, as the locos seem small compaired to their O counterparts. Am I misunderstanding something?
And then, what is HOn3? Is that HO running on N track?
six inches. On3 is 3’ wide, On30 is 30" wide. They are called Narrow Gauge.
Bachmann stuff is all On30, can run on HO width track. All narrow gauge rolling stock is smaller than full sized stock. That was one of the reasons why it was popular - smaller rolling stock and smaller tracks cost less. It is all 1/4" to the foot.
No. HOn3 is the same as above - it runs on 3 foot wide track. HOn30 runs on 30" wide track, or N scale track.
To clarify Bob’s comments, the designation breaks down like this:
The first part is the scale (size ratio of model to prototype). HO is 1:87.1, O is 1:48, etc. If this stands by itself in reference to rolling stock or track, it’s assumed to be a scale reduction standard gauge.
The lower case “n” denotes narrow gauge. Anything modeled after a prototype that uses a gauge less than 4 feet 8.5 inches is technically narrow gauge. The most common are 3 feet, and 30 inches.
The last part can be confusing. Obviously the “30” in the end isn’t 30 feet. That would be extremely wide gauge. But I guess it’s easier to type than HOn2-1/2, which has fallen into disuse.
Example: HOn3 is an HO scale model (1:87.1) of a railroad built with a track gauge of 3 feet, rather than the standard gauge of 4 feet 8.5 inches.
And just to get annoying about it all, my recollection is that On30 is not exactly 30" scale (which is why some prefer to call it On2 1/2) and ditto for HOn30 – N gauge is not exactly 30 inches in HO scale. Somewhere I bet there are guys who have exact 30" gauge, just as there are some British OO modelers who correct the gauge and of course 1/4 inch scale guys who do not use O gauge but Proto48
Dave Nelson
OK, Thanks. I understand most of it. Still question#3 though. I understand the smaller equipment thing for narrow gauge. But still Bachmann On3 stuff seems significantly smaller than the standard O stuff. I guess I need to find some pics of a standard gauge something sitting next to a narrow gauge same something. I was comparing a couple locomotives in a glass case and nothing else.
I think what it is, is that brain won’t accept the two different sizes of locos as both being “O”. Dang brain. There’s another part I need to replace!!
Bachmann doesn’t make anything in On3. All the Bachmann plus and Spectrum stuff is 30" inch gauge, which will run on standard HO trackage. Keep in mind however, while you can run On30 equipment on HO scale track, it isn’t correct for the most part. Most narrow gauge railroads used ties that were 6’ to 6.5’ in length. An HO scale ties comes in around 4’ long, and less than 4" X 4" in width and height which are all much to small to use for proper O scale trackage.
The first thing you need to remember is that O scale is 1/4" to the foot, standard gauge and narrow gauge trackage don’t change this. Your question about the narrow gauge stuff looking small is correct, most of it was. Even the large narrow gauge equipment used by the Colorado railroads is very small compared to todays standard gauge stuff. Keep in mind however, people and structures will work either way. If a structure is built to 1/4" to the foot specifications it would work for either gauge… [:D]
And just for fun On3 is the same as U.S. OO standard gauge (British OO runs on HO track).
This use of a smaller scales track for narrow gauge has been popular for years. Some others are Sn42 uses HO track, Sn2 uses HOn3 track, Nn3 uses Z track.
Enjoy
Paul
I was just thinking about asking the track question too! You beat me to it! HA!
So many scales and gauges. How does one decide? Nevermind, I know that one. It’s all what you can afford!
Hmmm. Does anybody make proper On30 track (HO track with O scale ties)?
There are at least two firms that supply “proper” On30 track. I would guess that at this point, most people who model in On30, use this O scale track, rather than HO scale track. It looks better, since the spacing betrween the ties, and the size of the ties themselves, are more in keeping with the size of the equipment. The British manufacturer PECO is one maker, and Micro Engineering in the US is another. There may be others.
While I generally agree with Ed about the track, the Micro Engineering is much better looking in my opinion. While the Peco is reliable and readily avaiable, the ties are still undersized for American prototype narrow gauge trackage. Apparently they are also coming out with a line of matching turnouts!
How to choose? Well, if you are interested in modern-era railroading, narrow gauge becomes less of an option, because narrow gauge railroading is all but extinct except for a few tourist lines, at least in the United States.
About Question #3: Let’s use cars as an analogy. Compare a Chevy Suburban with a Mini Cooper. Both are the same scale (1:1) but one is radically bigger than the other. People chooseMini Coopers because they want to pay less money, because they want something that is smaller to get into tight spaces, because they’re a lot cheaper to run, and/or because they don’t think they’ll ever need to carry as much as a Suburban can hold.
Narrow gauge railroads are the same way in the real world. Before the coming of trucks, tractors, forklifts and other industrial machinery, a narrow-gauge railroad was often the best way to move goods in confined or cramped spaces–like a winding mountainside, or a crowded industrial dock. They didn’t need full-sized equipment with its associated expense, and the smaller, lighter equipment meant less money spent on bridges, fills, cuts or heavy-duty roadbed. Often narrow gauge lines were built by people not so interested in railroading as the industry the railroad served–logging, mining, industrial shipping, etcetera. So they wanted a cheap solution that would get the job done–which is how narrow gauge railroads were marketed.
The gauges used by narrow gauge lines varied. Two-foot gauge was used for Welsh slate mining and New England logging. Three-foot gauge was popular for mining railroads in the Southwest and logging railroads in the West. 30" gauge was sometimes found on small industrial railroads, and meter gauge was popular in Europe. 3’6" (sometimes called “*** gauge”) was commonly used on cable car and horsecar lines (the San Francisco cable cars run on 3’6" gauge) and some streetcar lines that kept their old cable-car gauge, like the Los Angeles Railway.
In the 20th Century, trucks and tractors and improved r
Track code is rail height in thousandths of an inch. Different code rails are used because real railroads used different weights of rail. Code 100 is the most common in HO, but is actually waaay too big for actual HO–it’s about the size of the heaviest weight rail ever used. Code 125 and Code 143 are common in O, but using Code 83 or Code 100 would work out nicely for On30, representing the lightweight rail that narrow-gauge locomotives used.
The larger On30 locos, like the 2-6-0 and such, probably want at least a 15"-18" radius curve. The Porter you can use with curves as tight as 6", but they look kind of silly unless you’re modeling a super-tight industrial area or building a dinky mini layout.