They don’t look real and the detailing is almost non-existant, not to mention there is this extra rail in the middle. We don’t use fast clocks and have operating sessions that mimic the real thing. Lord knows we don’t have the correct rivets on a 1906 tank car nobody ever heard of. We generally have a big square layout instead of the eye-level walk-around layout, which means we see everything at once.
Why do we like them so much?
That’s why we like them.
And besides a lot of us have had those other kinds of layouts and got bored to tears with all the nit picking details when all we really wanted to do was run trains.
And that says it all…PERIOD !!!
OTOH, I admire nicely detailed layouts but I too think it arrogant and unfriendly to hear the rivet counters being critical when I do something that is not their idea of the “standard” way of doing things. On this forum, people seem much much friendlier than on most and people here do pretty much as darn well as they please when it comes to layout building and no one seems to belittle anyone.
It sure is “fun to run.” On the other hand, I greatly admire some of the more detailed layouts in our scale or gauge (how 'bout that NP layout in the latest CTT) and am in awe of some of the highly detailed and breathtakingly expensive (to me) models that are coming out these days … as others have mentioned, this seems a golden age.
I like and admire all kinds of layouts - big or small, scale or non-scale, detailed or plain. Shoot, I wish I could build 4 or 5 different layouts to cover my own pet likes.
I guess when it comes down to it, the only person your layout really has to please is you! If no one else in the world likes it, but you do, then that’s just fine.
Good topic !! I guess I’m in the “Anything Goes” crowd !! Still admire any layout someone has !! I couldn’t cut the mustard when in HO, but you have to give them a lot of credit for all the knowledge they have & retain. They know a lot of history ! I wish I still had my Lionel 4x8 layout & trains I had as a kid !! Had fun then & I have fun now as it should be, I think !![:D]
Thanks, John
It all boils down to “what floats your boat!”
Ed
Well said.[:D]
Doug… you’re a genius…
The theme for O Gauge Trains:
They’re Fun to Run.
Viva, Las Vegas!
I too am a recovering former scale fidelist. Oh, the nights I spent scratchbuilding this, kitbashing that, superdetailing something else.
Now I’m just happy to get the right “look” on my layout, and watch the actors do their thing. Thank you Hawthorne Village, Dept 56, Lemax, and MTH Proto 2.0.
I can appreciate both ends of the spectrum when it comes to observing other’s efforts, if not the fellowship it brings.
In my case, I just want to create a perfect world. That is not a mimic of the real thing, where everything is dirty, rusted and old and politics and lack of money have left their marks in the country. To me the trains are an “escape” where I just sit down and whatch then rolling. I enjoy the sounds, the backdrop always suggests a nice sunny day whith comfortable temperatures and trains are always factory new with shiny paintjobs.
Of course, weathering and superdetailling results in a very realistic and admirable scenery, but I miss the toytrain look on those layouts.
I love the 3 rail look and shiny paint jobs, so I’ll have to live with that…
You might notice there has been a revival of actual Tinplate trains in both O and Standard Gauge. And Atlas O, for sure the current King of Scale, has just introduced it’s very Toy like IR line.
There is no right or wrong way to set up a layout… or play with your trains. You just pick your own space between accurate museum quality model and a loop of track on the floor.[;)]
I always thought they were attractive because I was a dork too! I’m just glad my wife (who is also a dork of the Star Trek/Lord of The Rings variety) is undeniably HOT. Don’t tell her I said this, but she’s even hotter than my 12’ tall man in blue! Jon
We have had this discussion before on this forum where it was argued, somewhat unsuccessfully, that you must run your trains clockwise around the loop. Interestingly there were newcomers to the forum that took the discussion seriously.[:-^]
Only those from Ohizo.[:P]
I have yet to meet a layout I didn’t like 
Jon
Of course, you all know that only those running layouts in the Southern Hemisphere run counter-clockwise. I mean below the equator - that South. Those of us in northern climes know the only proper way to run is clockwise. Though it sure is exciting to occasionally switch the trains to run “backward.” Whoo Hoo. No similar problems with trolleys which are allowed to run either direction. I should trademark Fun to Run just like Pat Riley did with ‘Three-peat’ or was it ‘Four-peat’? ™ 
Nah, I hearby grant anyone permission to use this phrase and make money from it.
In a word, freedom. The professional world is fraught with deadlines, rules, procedures et al. In my alternate toy train universe, none of the above apply. It’s more art than science. More imagination versus prototype. More interpretation than an exacting copy. More expression than realism. Colorful, cheap and impractical. I think there’s an underground stream that runs below the creation of layouts, and that’s artistic expression, which is woefully lacking in any practical way in the 9 to 5 grind.
Dougs world - Party time - Excellent
