I noticed that many of us started in HO. What caused you to go up to your new gauge?
What do you see as the differences?
Tim
I never fully left HO.
In addition to O gauge,I’m also collecting toy like HO stuff like Tyco,AHM,Life Like and such.
Buying stuff I had as a kid,and stuff I wanted but couldn"t afford.
Also getting into Flyer S,and N scale too.
Cheers,
Carl T.
I left HO because it only has two rails.
I didn’t! [:p]
underworld
Easter Easter Easter Easter Easter!!!
[:D][:D][:D][:D][:D]
Because is too small, no heavy, lot of plastic(reason why a like only post war)
Lionel is heavy, AC power, steel wheels, 3 rails and required maintenance.
I’ve never dabbled in two rail myself, but I think I can comment as my brother has a nice, scenicked H.O. layout.
For me, it’s the rumble and the roar. I like the way the table top vibrates with the weight of the passing locomotives.
I like the colors of the accessories, the glow of the passenger car and caboose windows.
I like the mis-match in size between the Gateman and the Plasticville Colonial Mansion nearby.
And I like the fact that the trains can DO SOMETHING other than just run in circles!
Jon [8D]
My first Xmas layout was HO. When I unpacked them the following year, the steam engines would’nt run right. After 3 years of this…GONE! My neighbor had a nice, large HO layout, but I never really saw them RUN. He was always saying, “I just need to clean the track again”. Joe
I wanted to build in a larger scale than HO. I tried O scale, but the space requirements for a layout are too great. So I find S scale to be the perfect compromise - fun to build in, hefty presence, dosen’t seem to have the track cleaning issues of HO. Still, I have some Lionel that I run.
Enjoy
Paul
I haven’t ! Marklin HO 3rail or stud contact will always be a part of my program. “O” scale Hi-rail train have become my dominate interest for several reasons. The sound Systems, their massiveness, wimsy, easier to work with(In my opinion) etc.
Many individuals seem to have a general assumtion that a Classic Toy Train must be Standard, O, or S guage. I don’t beleive that’s true! I had a couple Toy HO train sets whe I was a kid. One was very crude AC powered with no reverse. Ran on tubular track with fiber ties. I think the train was made in Texas by a company named (“Circle Twenty”?) I have never seen them at any of the shows. Another HO train was made by Lima of Italy. Battery powered, it consisted of a German 0-4-0 w/tender and a 1st and a 2nd class coaches.Toy Trains to me not only decribes the, sometimes characterazation of a train; but the method in which we play with them.
The cars shake too much and stall w/just a little bit of dirt on the track and are prone to derailments; even on professional layouts. Also, they are less than half the size of 0 so that makes them twice as toy-like. 1:48 is closer to real railroading. You can begin to feel them rumble.
I was going to get into HO in the early 80’s because I felt that the stuff lionel was making at the time was junk and post war prices were getting higher and higher out of my price range. And I was newly married with the thought of babies. My wife bought me a HO set for Christmas, but it just didn’t do it for me. So I kept running all my postwar stuff and the HO sat in the box for about 15 years. It was a good decision because I love all the O gauge stuff I have accumulated over the years, new and old. I sold the HO stuff about 10 years ago.
TTim,
I actually started with Lionel as a child. I got into HO because my parents bought me some for Christmas one year - likely because the HO was very economical as compared to Lionel and it does not take up as much room.
I came back to 3-rail because I never was a very good scale modeler. For me the detail work became too tedious. I was never into weathering and trying to create lifelike scenes. I really liked just running the trains.
The change for me occured when the large Lionel Christmas displays appeared here in Dallas (Team of Ronald McDonald house and Ban Bywater’s train collection at the Cresent and then the Galleria - now at Northpark mall)). I liked the noise, pseudo-realism, and operating accessories. So I dug my old Lionel out and packed up the little HO I had remaining.
BTW - I really enjoy looking at and reading about scale layouts (N, HO, O, G, whatever) and admire those that can build them. I have helped several friends with scale layouts, including O, usually with electronics and wiring. I think DCC is pretty neat, but it has as many quirks as TMCC and DCS, and is more expensive than TMCC or DCS.
Regards,
Roy
I had a Lionel set as a kid, but got into HO scale as a serious modeler in 1965. Good size (which is why it’s so popular), but as I got older, it became more frustrating to work with. More detailed models become very fragile, and my near-vision inability was not helping. I received Papa’s old 1948 set in 1987. I fell in love with it again… can’t explain it, it was the sight, the smell, the sound and heft of it. I trashed or gave away all the Half-O junk a few years later. Now I only do the full O! I feel sad that there are so many train brothers that have not yet seen the light.
[#ditto]
Like some others here, I never did leave. I’m still heavily involved in Marklin HO, as well as Z scale, O gauge, On30, Standard Gauge, and Large Scale. Each scale has its own set of advantages and limitations, and I don’t consider any one of them to be better than the others.
What caused you to go up to your new gauge?
Snow Village
Scale Locos
Sound
Animation
EYE GLASSES
I still have all my HO stuff but I could never get the layout right so the trains would actually run without derailing or stalling. I liked having twice as much track in half the space tho. I started buying Lionel and put all my HO stuff away. Now I put my layout (usually 3 loops so I can run 3 trains at a time )together on the floor (carpeted) and run all day then take it apart. HO would never run on the floor without being nailed down. John[:D][:D][:D][|)]
Uh, how do you keep up with all of these scales/gauges? Do you have layouts for each? I bet your credit cards are maxed out.[;)]
Roscoe:
I make no real attempt to “keep up” with everything in each of the scales I model. My purchases are fairly selective in terms of type of equipment, era, roadname, and the like. I currently have operating layouts in Z, On30, O gauge, and Large Scale–none of them particularly large, but large enough to provide me with mre than enough fun. I do not currently have my Marklin HO or my Standard Gauge items up and running, but I hope to change that next year when I buy a larger residence for me, the pooch, and the trains. At that point, the Large Scale will be transfered outdoors, where I plan to build another garden railroad. Z scale poses no problems whatsoever because you can get a whole lot of railroading into a very small space. One of my Z scale layouts is built into a briefcase, and even that one affords plenty of opportunities for adding more details.
On30 is an area I began exploring just within the last year or so, and I’ve really taken a liking to it. I’ve long been a big fan of narrow gauge railroading and small locomotives and rolling stock, so On30 fills the bill quite nicely. Plus, most of the stuff is so darn affordable, and the variety of offerings is growing at a very healthy pace. Besides, any/all O scale accessories are entirely appropriate, size-wise, for use with On30.
In O gauge, my primary interests also gravitate to smaller items, and I collect and operate trolleys, Christmas trains, and Civil War era equipment. I’ve been thinning out the O gauge collection quite a bit in recent years, and will continue to dispose of items that don’t fall into my special areas of interest.
I love Standard Gauge–thanks largely to Mike Wolf–but I grow that collection at a measured pace. I’m particularly fond of Standard Gauge trolleys and electric-outline locomotives, so that helps to keep my buying in check. I only collect recent vintage Standard Gauge, not the older original items, primarily because I like to keep my trains in pristine co
I just liked the size and weight of an O gauge engine as well as the reliable coupling as compared to the often finicky HO gauge equipment.I also liked the fact that my O gauge engines rarely de-railed,wheras derailments were a common and frustrating occurance on my HO gauge pike.