2 Railers, how do you do it?

and on the smallest curves imaginable to mankind then.... to make it run smoother!

 I don't know why guys think three rail is the way to go for space reasons? Why stop halfway? Just go to large scale.

Another myth..........

That's as good as it gets - I'm clearly not entirely in phase with this plane of existence so I always appear slightly out of focus and at times go off in search of myself.  If you do see me, hold me there until I return.

And, I have no sense of humor that I am aware of.

Proof of the above: I have a Dixie cup full of O scale 2" x 4" x 8' and another of 4" x 4" x 8' for my next project (on the bench in between the other 3).  Then it's board by board clapboards......

How do 2 railers you do it?  We build it.

I couldn't agree more.  The irony-most of those 3R locomotives should run on large radius..36" radius or larger...and I'm a 3 rail guy.  

Never understood buying a large locomotive and complaining about boiler overhang or why it won't run on 27" radius curves....Just wait, there'll be crying about how the new 21" passenger cars look on 27" radius curves.  No ####, big surprise... 

Generally speaking, and I know there are exceptions, the 2R guys are model builders and craftsman.  There are a few of those guys in 3R, but most 3R guys are in the 'buy it' group.  Nothing wrong with that either.  

I love to read the 2R thread here, less drama and more model building/scratch building efforts with fantastic results.  

Yeap, there is nothing wrong with that!

Trouble is when someone starts justifying reasons not to go 2 rail and making up stories, someone else needs to tell the truth.

This is the 2 rail forum and who would think we don't enjoy it?

There's fun in all of the hobby.

I really think that most three rail guys start making excuses why they didn't or still have not gone two rail. It's fine, just don't lie or spread myths.

 If you don't have the room for 2 rail, maybe you don't have the room for O gauge for what you want to accomplish? I have some radii in the high thirties  and I run the biggest stuff I can get my hands on.

 A good model of a large engine will not turn on a dime and should not be asked to.

If I didn't have the room, I would switch to smaller engines and stay two rail O.

 ...and just for the record, I do have some three rail too. 

It's not the rail, it's the whole concept of running big stuff on radius that's too small.

If you look at a good portion of my layout, it's within a ten foot wide space! The engine yard goes out to my car yard. Some days I just make train moves building trains or switching out cars and engines.

https://ogrforum.com/t...658#2415514336541658

Before making the decision of 2 rail vrs. 3 rail, I suggest that you give John Armstrong's book on layout planning a complete review.  His "givens" and "druthers" approach will infuse a good dose of reality to whatever your initial plans for a layout may be. 

As an aside, in the past 35 years in O scale (2R), I have met a number of guys who converted from 3 rail to 2 rail, but have never met anyone who went from 2 to 3.

Wes

The best advise is to see as many layouts as you can and read as much as you can and make your decision...it all comes down to what suits the individual.  But yes there are a bunch of myths,lies and the generally mis-informed out there.  Take the time to learn the truths and realities of 2 rail O scale and see if it is a good fit for you.

Could use more of that - used to be a lot more of that here, too.

I have a few 2R locos, thx to MTH 2-3 design and a couple of Sunset brass locos. I also now have a bunch of 3R scale Lionel and MTH Premier and MTH Imperial RK locos.

I think most people interested in scale stuff would love to have 2R all day long. But, there is generally less available locos in 2R scale than in 3R scale "IF" you happen to like trains just for trains sake and not to model a specific era or RR.

Having said that, I really enjoy the few 2R scale that I own and I wish all my locos are 2R scale. On the other hand, I love all kind of steam locos, because they are "Steam locos ( and Diesel too)" . I like the DCC/DCS/Legacy systems and MTH and Lionel have a great selection of many locos I like hence I have many more 3R than 2R.

So, like many responses above. Decide what you want then see if either 2R or 3R will "do it for you". Don't get caught in the negatives of either choices. They are both great to be able to choose from...

BessemerSam: It's been 11 days since you started this thread. I was just curious as to what your thoughts are at this point? Whatever you decide makes no difference to me. There's no right or wrong answer. 

I'm really happy with the response that I've gotten from the o gauge community at large to this question. I started the topic just to hear out what ever anyone has to say about it. As for the question itself, I'm new to the hobby of course so I'm what you'd called the "brainstorming," phase of it. I plan on waiting and seeing what becomes available in the market mostly for now making a few purchases of items that would be considered, "rare finds." Likely I will end up focusing much more on 3rd Rail because of it's availability. Regardless I plan on keeping it small and simple for the time being. Call this an education stage.

Sounds as if you are going about it in an intelligent way...good luck to you!

Jeff C