Any success with 0-27?

This has been an interesting and useful series of posts. I now have a new appreciation for 0-27, and may look into some expansion of it on my current mixed layout (0-27 on lower level, O on upper). 

Mike:

I believe the last video Max had posted of my layout was done in 2011.  Since then, I have added probably 200+ trees to the layout, added a pole line, finished the river and the camp ground and added the position light signals.

Regarding the trees; thank God for sedum!  Max showed me how to use sedum cuttings for trees and they have been a lifesaver insofar as being easy to make and not costing a ton of money.  I was able to do most of the trees in about 4 weekends, making and "planting" 50 trees per weekend.

Curt

Wow - way to go!!

I shall have to try that - it all looks great.

MIKE

 You know I never realized Lionel made 027 profile in the 054 radius,or K-Line 072   

I have some Marx wide radius,have planned a loop of that on my layout for my Marx stuff.

  In the past ,I have always used "O" gauge on my layouts and never really paid much attention to the 027.

  I have a new quest now at the swap meets

I've used 027 since 1952.  I built my current layout in 1995, with the inner loop using 027 curves and the outer loop using 042 curves.  Had I had sufficient room, I'd have used 031 for the inner loop and 054 for the outer loop, but it wasn't to be.  While I'd rather be working with the wider curves, what I have works pretty well as long as manufacturers don't kid about what the "minimum curve" for an engine is.

Here is a video of my little 32"X 60" lionel O27  layout. I have alot of miles on that track and also scratch built alot of stuff on it. Also pardon my voice still learning how talk without messing up LOL 

For several years this O27 figure-8 layout-on-a-door was the extent of my O-gauge empire, for my father's 1931 prewar train set. In just the last couple years I've added buildings and more trains and expanded operations with other O-gauge layouts.

Ace I love figure 8s.  My first layout was a figure 8 inside an oval requiring only four switches and the cross.  This simple layout allows reversing in either direction plus continuous operation on the oval or through the figure 8.  Lots of action and keeps interest up longer than most configurations.

Charlie

I have 027 on my second level of my layout along with Gargraves switches, most of my engines will go through the Gargraves switches.

Also have an around the room ceiling track with 027 on it, used because of the weight of 027 track and the extra long pieces of straight track(35 inch K-Line) that I had on hand too.

Lee Fritz

I had a 16' x 8' O27 layout many years ago and still have all the track and switches.  Something in this old man's mind suggests my grandsons will see it as "new" and "different" someday and replace their FasTrack with it.  Hope they think to wear leather work gloves if I'm not around, as I remember assembling O27 track as frequently painful.  Come to think of it, I will place some gloves and warning notes  - and some track pliers - in the boxes containing the track and switches.

Wow, these layouts are great! I too operate a small 027 layout, in just 3'x3'! It's basically a square with curved edges, no switches. If not for O27, I too would not be able to operate any O. I was a bit surprised/confused/saddened that many of the sets in the new Lionel catalog have a min. radius of O31, including those that said O27 in the prior years. I do wonder though if this is due to either a misprint (they also have a handcar needing an O31 min, as well as those new docksider sets) or the fact that it appears that Lionel is either discontinuing or slowing down the making of tubular track, so 031 is now the smallest radius. An email has been placed, can report back if you'd like. After getting back into the hobby 2 years ago and doing research, did MTH do the same?

I've found that while it does limit what you can run, there is still (at least at this time) alot you can run. I don't have the budget to run larger stuff anyway. I recently bought some KLine locos (2 Pacific steam locos from the ex Mark 333 molds, an MP15, and a long pined for S2) and they, along with the RMT beeps seem just perfect for O27. Along with of course starter set locomotives from PW, MPC and current Lionel, as well as some of the Williams by Bachmann. But I have to say, I always thought O27 was just for me and for under the Christmas tree, I'm amazed and pleasantly surprised at these layouts.

O27 track is great. The inside curve is old Mark O34 track and the outside is O42. The ties and ballast are craft foam from Michael's.

Get it while you can as apparently, Lionel is not going to make tubular track anymore.

-Roger

My 5' x 9' layout is all 027 track with 027 curves, 1022 postwar manual switches and 1122E remote switches.  All of my engines are Postwar Lionel 027 and they run great on those tight curves.  You can get a lot of track plan in a small space with 027.

Wow, this thread goes back a ways! I've redesigned my 39x80 O-27 layout since February 2013. Got a figure 8 with switches to run as an oval in the center now. Went with all old Marx switches so I can run old school locos on the inner loop.

And my Lionel locos will will still run through the Marx switches!

If it weren't for O-27, I have no O at all!

great layouts all around, that's the most fun anybody can have running trains.

great job gentlemen!!

That's not necessarily true. The catalog only says "Limited Quantities" which can mean that they will only be doing small production runs.

That said, it's not like the stuff is flying off the shelf. The bins of O-27 at the LHS's around here don't get touched unless I touch them.

Most "Christmas tree" modelers have all the tubular track they'll ever need. All the serious modelers have gone to Gargraves or Atlas or some other premium track system. Anybody getting a new set gets Fastrack. The people who actually do significant layouts with tubular are far and few between to begin with, and those that are starting new tubular layouts, or expanding, are even farther and fewer.

It's a fact that sales of tubular track are dwindling, and it's nothing personal to any tubular track modeler if and when Lionel finally decides to stop producing it. AFAIK, all the other companies have stopped making tubular track.

Fortunately there's a huge amount of new track out there, probably enough to satisfy the market demand for decades. Then there's always used track from people pulling up their tubular to lay down more realistic/premium stuff.

I don't think us tubular guys will be having a problem any time soon.

Thanks for this-I bought all my o-27 used at a train show(hard to believe the deals you can get on this stuff!), and it makes my Lionel whistle tender jump every time it crosses over it!  

The small radius made it possible for me to build a very small clockwork layout as a second to the larger in a spare bedroom. Without the tighter radius, it would have been impossible to run the Hornby stuff and I enjoy this as much as the larger..great for confined spaces. It is roughly 3X3..

The way I look at it, yea it's a tighter radius, but it's better than having the trains on the shelf!