While I normally model in HO, I’ve been itching to build something in a larger scale. I’ve gotten O Gauge Rail-Roading magazine, but it seems to be focused mainly on three-rail “high railers” and semi-scale modeling.
I’ve searched the web, but seem to find only RTR brass and RTR diecast.
Does anyone know if the old All-Nation Line kits are still around and if so, how to order them?
I’ve built steam kits in HO with a lot of satisfaction, just thought that I’d give something larger a try, but am surprised how little there seems to be available (I hope I was just looking in the wrong places).
As far as I know, Babbitt is still making “some” of the old Loubaugh kits, and there are some available on the secondary market, unbuilt (unmolested?).
I look for the older (from the 1980s) brass diesels that have the cold soldier joints at shows, and rebuild them. Easier than kits.
OST is a bimonthly mag, it’s focus is swinging more to 2 rail, than the HiRail that OGRR has swung to. As far as 48th Scale news, it’s a hit or miss on publication dates.
I’ve been monitoring that big online auction site to find either a kit (unbuilt) or a locomotive suitable for restoration or rebuilding, but I’d rather start with an unbuilt kit for fear of breaking a screw in the casting while trying to back it out, etc. I realize that this will be more challenging than building an HO mantua or roundhouse(MDC) kit, but that’s the point – taking it to the next level.
I’ve also considered taking some basket case lionel steamers and trying to bash them into something new/fresh, but I’m not looking for needless frustration either.
Is 2-rail O scale modeling dying? Or is everything aimed at RTR/collector circles now?
Try this site http://www.btsrr.com/btsacwst.htm for various “O” scale kits. They have Locos, mostly 1800’s style, but they usually sell out before they come in. They have a link to the Civil War Model Railroaders group who also has links to other mfrs. My [2c]
Paul, I wouldn’t say O scale is dying, on the contrary, thanks to the upswing in the HiRail segment, 2 rail is beginning to make a comeback.
New O scale is however primarilary RTR, but there are kits out there, there are scratchbuilding supplies, and most importantly, there are O scalers out there who are very helpful.
Now, by your location block, I see you are in the NNJ NYC area. There are a several clubs in your region, The New York Society of Model Engineers comes to mind off the top of my head, that have very helpful members.
There is a club in the Cherry Hill area (I think, I’m not looking them up, that’s what Google is for) that has several VERY active members. Including the fantastically talented Harry Heikie (Eagle’s Nest Minatures) Phil Gatto, and several others.
This link is for the garden state mrr club http://www.gsmrrclub.org/ . They are in North Haledon, and share space in the basement of a strip mall with an O gauge club. Both the O gauge club & the NY Society in Carlstadt make/build most of their locos. Be warned, the Dover show is mostly Lionel - I’m in HO so didn’t pay attention to see if there was any 2 rail there a couple of weeks ago. [:)]
Two-rail O scale has been a rather esoteric thing for 50 years or more. Model railroading and Model Railroader grew up together in the ‘30s, when the primary scale was “O gauge.” Guys needed parts, developed their own patterns, etc., and once they made some, it was easy to make more, which they offered to others in the scale. The larger companies, like Lobough, Grace Line, etc. came along in the late ‘30s, and Wm. K. Walthers was always there with his own things. As the smaller scales of OO (4mm=1’), HO, S (3/16"=1’), and later TT (1/10"=1") came along, O scale declined in popularity because of space considerations, but it hung on because of its size, which was easier to work with. (It also required more detailing, since it’s so easy to see!) When I came back to O scale in '93, I found most of the old familiar names from my 1960s excursion into O scale had seemed to disappear, but O-scalers are a friendly bunch, and a former manufacturer, who’d owned Babbitt Railway Supply, clued me onto the two most popular O gauge magazines.
I recommend 48/ft., O Scale News (http://users.foxvalley.net/~osn/index.htm), not only to see what others are doing, but as a gathering place for all those “basement operators,” who are still the backbone of O scale supplies! Unfortunately, as the Older Generation dies out, we are losing manufacturers, who can’t find buyers for slow-moving minority scale businesses. Boyce Yates, of Babbitt (who makes the old All-Nation line of steam locos), recently announced that he wishes to retire and is selling off his stock of kits and parts! However, Bob Stevenson has purchased and preserved many of the old O scale steam locomotive lines and has a 26-page catalog of the old kits and parts (and
There is an English manufacturer called DJH which makes some kits in 7mm O, OO, and HO. Sticker shock is severe for me when looking at the HO kits. Bowser is sooooo much cheaper.
Their O steam is mostly British prototype, with one French loco that I can see.
Yes, I dug this out of the basement, but this post needed commented upon.
As a former HO guy, I can understand this POV, but, when I actually started loking at all those boxes fo Lionel, that’s when I discovered just how much 2 rail is still floating around. I have discovered really inexpensive Atlas F-9s buried in boxes of Lionel, Rivarossi C-Liners, on tables filled with MTH, and recent Weaver 2 rail stashed between rows upon rows of Williams. This is just the locomotives!
Little engines offered an O scale Live Steam engine, checked their website, didnt see it, maybe still in the catalogue, or maybe dropped, dunno. It was a 4-8-4.
AHM had an O scale 0-8-0 exactly like the HO one, cant recall if it was in kit form, I think it was, but not so much your kit like Bowser tho.
The AHM / Rivarossi was (and still is, as they are always available on evil-bay, Craigslist, and at shows) a decent model, that makes a nice starting point for a 2-8-0, 2-8-2, a 2-8-8-0 etc. Th biggest downfall, was that the insulated drivers, and motor were in a seperate sale kit. (I have a few of them, no, they are not for sale [:P] ) The motorizing kit was, and still is, hard to find. Add to that, they used the same 3 pole can motor as their HO products. Needless to say, they didn’t pull very well.
Quite frankly, that motor sucked.
The Casey Jones 4-6-0 was also available, and can still be found, but it has the same issues.
I had a Little Engines 4-8-4, they are uninsulated, so don’t even THINK of running them on a 2 rail layout with the power applied to the rails. (I never did get mine running on steam, I ran it on air a few times, then, traded it to a friend of mine)