On30 track

Model Railroader Layouts and layout building
1

Hi Fellow Model Railroaders,

I’m just getting back into the hobby after many years away and have designed an HO scale logging railroad based on late 1800s - early 1900s logging operations in north central Pennsylvania. My research shows light weight rail and ties spaced farther apart than on modern rail lines. Anyone ever use On30 track for old time logging railroads or does it look too non-prototypical? Thanks.

Paddy O’B

2

Since noone else has chimed in yet, I will.

On30 track is ties spaced further apart so it looks more prototypical to O scale trackage, as On30 is O guage trains on narrow rails.

It would be my opinion that if you are doing On30 then go for it.

But If you are doing HO then On30 track would be spaced TOO FAR apart scale wise for HO.

There is quite a bit of logging stuff in On30 available here:

http://www.wholesaletrains.com/HOProducts2.asp?Scale=HO&Item=NLCMTVE and:

http://www.wholesaletrains.com/HOProducts2.asp?Scale=HO&Item=160narrow

If you stick with HO, then I would stick with HO track and while tedious, perhaps you could cut out every other tie on the HO track to make it look more prototypical for your project. You could do this idlely while watching TV.

3

Short answer is that On30 track will be even more non-prototypical for your intended use.

On30 track was developed because standard HO track had the following flaws (from an On30 perspective):

  • ties too narrow and too short
  • ties spaced too close together

Tie size - narrow gauge generally used 6ft ties (1.5" in O). HO standard ties range from 8f to 9ft depending on era, which ends up being less than 1-1/8". On30 ties scale to almost 11ft in HO.

Tie width varies from 6" to 9", again depending on era and use. An O scale 6" wide tie scales to 11" wide in HO.

From a TOC HO logging perspective, standard HO track has several flaws:

  • tie plates - tie plates were not generally used on logging lines
  • rail size - for TOC, code 55 or code 40 rail would be the most appropriate
  • ties would be typically 5"x7" and 8ft long
  • dirt ballast

Probably the easiest way to get the desired look would be handlaid track. You can get correct size ties from Kappler or Mt Albert, and near scale size spikes from Proto87 Stores. Or use ME micro spikes, which are still pretty small. Use code 55 and code 40 rail. Space the ties to suit yourself.

Central Valley makes branchline plastic tie strip which will work with code 55 rail. You have to use gauges as you fasten code 55 rail because of the narrower base than the code 83/70 intended for use with the tie strip. This would be a big step in the right direction from Atlas code 83 track, but would st

4

As Fred points out, handlaying gives the most control over tie spacing and tie size, but you can achieve good results with flex track as well. Just turn the flex track over, cut away the plastic webs holding the ties to one aother, remove some number of ties, and spread the remaining ties out over the length of flex track.

Nip off a few corners of ties at the same time and angle a few of them slightly to suggest a bit more haphazard track-laying. Bill Darnaby’s article in the November 1997 Model Railroader illustrates the process well.

To my eye, this works great and is easy to do. It does take a little time.

Byron