anyone runs both scales,HO and Ogauge?

Absolutely NOT.

 

This subject comes up on the Forum every now and then. I personally cannot come up with one good reason why I would ever want to integrate or switch to HO.

 

As a kid, I really resented the introduction of HO, and maybe that thought has never left me. Old fashioned, probably yes, but all the reasons I love O-Gauge have never changed. It has only gotten better.

 

 

Resented?  Why?

 

Well Josey, it's hard to deny BLI.  Unless your set up high to view it good it just doesn't have the mass to move you.  My scale interest is N-scale but I run an O-27 on the floor.

 

In order for me to enjoy my N-scale I have to have it off the floor at 57" that's to the top of the bench work.

 

In HO you can go lower, but it will actually take up more room then a modest size O-scale.  You'll be able to run that engine on perhaps 18" radius but it won't look good for being a scale model.

 

Too each there own, but again no denying the quality of BLI.

I'm Kato man myself for N-scale.  Although BLI is doing some in N and even with sound, but I'm gun shy after being burned by Atlas and Bachmann, so I'm afraid to move away from the best.

 

Go for it.  But two different scales ain't cheap.

I still have all my HO stuff from my HO days......

And I have picked up some items in HO that are not made in O or could not afford.

I have the BLI PRR 2-10-4, PRR 4-8-2 and PRR T1 bought before my scale T1 was acquired. I saw they were doing the PRR Turbine.....but have two in O....so.....

Let's try not to turn this into another HO-bashing thread.  The poster's question was whether anyone runs both.

In answer to the original question- yes, I have both HO scale and O gauge.  Both have their advantages and disadvantages, and there is definitely some nice stuff being made in HO.

I do O, HO and N here.

 

Bob

"Both scales"? That kinda reminds me of the line in The Blues Brothers from the saloon owner in response to Elwood questioning what kind of music they play there: "Oh, we got both kinds. We got country AND western." 

 

Anyway, I run O, N, and Standard, but not on same layout. 

 

HO and O both, never could get away from either scale.  The HO models are appealing to the scale model side of my interest, while the "Lionel" O stuff is just what it is... and needs no further explanation !   Have fun .

Martin:

 

As a kid I was very passionate about our O-Gauge trains. It was the late forties and fifties and our hobby was booming. There was S Gauge out there, but in reality, most of my train buddies were all Lionel.

 

HO was not the primary downfall that occurred in our hobby, but it was something I associated at the time as not being good for us O-Gauge loyalists. When Lionel dipped their toes into this market, I hated this move.

 

These thoughts have never left me, and while I respect the HO portion of our hobby, it is something that I still associate in my past that was not good news for O-Gauge. Maybe it is just me, but I tend to tell it as I see it.

 

If I were interested in true scale and more product variety, I'd do HO too, because that's where the market is at. As it is, I like non-scale representations so I stick with traditional 0/027.

 

What I find interesting is how some folks wish that 3-rail trains could be simply larger versions of HO with the same variety and availability of products. The reason is so simple: The numbers are in HO scale. It's a much much larger modeler base, therefore making it justifiable for the increased product variety.

 

Nothing against the scale high end of the 3-rail hobby. But nearly everyday there's a thread here about someone wishing this or that could be made in 3-rail. Folks should count their blessings we have the variety we already have in 3-rail trains given the much smaller and more diverse market.

 

I think it's also somewhat ironic that Ken Silvestri and Bob Grubba were at one time working for a 3-rail train maker, and now they have their own company making detailed, accurate HO trains, not 3-rail trains. Hmmm... maybe they also understand HO is the real market for these types of products.

 

I've never bashed HO. When I first got back into trains and immediately started repainting and scratch building, I received many positive compliments from HO guys, who told me it was a rare thing to see a Lionel guy doing what they've been doing for decades... and they liked it.

 

I think if anyone isn't happy with what's available in 3-rail, rather than complain and starting petitions on Facebook, just do HO too... it's already been made more than likely.

 

And to Rich Melvin, you could probably save time and money by dropping some of the subcategory forums, because for some reason, even though this is the hi-rail, 027, and traditional 3-rail 0 gauge forum, many threads pop up here that would be more suited in one of the other forum categories.

 

I think it's great Broadway Limited is making these incredible products in HO. I'm personally looking forward to RMT getting geared up again, for the new R-T-R Lionel catalog and for for the arrival of some of the delayed Atlas Industrial Rail products.

I still model in both. HO for the scale rivet counting modeling and O for the more relaxed run your trains.

I think Lionel was more responsible for their own downfall than the introduction of HO or slot cars or the numerous other options we had. When I was growing bored with toy trains and looking to more scale offerings Lionel was going the other way and giving us missile cars and bobbing head giraffes. Had they expanded on their pre war offerings rather than eliminating them for 40 years I may have never switched to HO.

 

Pete

I have ONE display I am working on with NYC steamers that will compare and contrast G, O, S, HO, N, and Z gauges.

 

Otherwise it is all O.

 

HO is simply too small for my fumbling hands and older eyes. G is lovely but too big to be practical, indoors anyway.

My home layout is O 3-rail.  I belong to a club that has a large (4,000 feet of track) HO layout and I am a member of group that operates weekly on a large (3 car garage size) HO home layout.

 

   The BLI HO engines are wonderful.  I think that MTH's HO engines are just as awesome with sound, smoke, detail, smooth running, automatic couplers, etc.  MTH has really upped its HO game by making its products run well using DCC.

 

I enjoy both O and HO for different reasons.  I believe that my approach gives me the best of both gauges.

 

Joe

 

 

I don't run HO but kind of collect it. Once in a while I see a piece that I like and buy it just to display it.

I run O and N.   O is largely seasonal for me, but very elaborate - for 4-5 months out of the year I take over the living room with O gauge as part of the holiday extravaganza.   I have a full DCS implementation, and it doesn't just go around the tree;  it goes around the entire room and... sometimes beyond :-)     I don't currently have the room to build a decent permanent layout in O, so N gauge keeps me busy for the rest of the year.

 

I'm in the process of building a permanent N gauge DCC layout that is both elaborate and functional - I can fit a LOT of interesting railroad into 4x12 replete with long trains.  4x12 isn't enough to satisfy my O gauge desires, so for now, I compromise.  

 

There are things I love and hate about both scales;  they are both challenging in their own ways.   It's cool to able to run a full-length California Zephyr in N scale, but IMO steam is a joke.   

 

Sometimes I wish I would have consolidated everything to HO, but the reality is it doesn't really save me space or money.   Additionally, HO engines are just large enough to be super-detailed, but small enough to be super fragile.  O gauge has the detail, and you can actually see it and avoid destroying it.  N gauge doesn't have it unless you are a sadist and add it after the fact.  I don't modify my N scale engines - I just about had a stroke trying to add handrails and MU hoses to a Kato SD80MAC.  Never again.  My limit is installing DCC decoders - and only plug and play.   If anything goes wrong outside of that, I pull the decoder and consider the rest of it disposable.  Much less stress, and it keep things simple.  With O I can usually just fix my mistakes.  

 

HO was just a mess for me.  I bought cheap, broke things, and was just generally miserable.   Much of it was my own fault, but I have had very few problems with O and N

 

I guess what I am saying in a round-about way is that IMO, O Gauge and N Scale suffer fools like me more easily than HO.    At least that's been my experience.  Stepping up from N or down from O doesn't really solve any of my particular issues.   

I like all of the scales.  My first train was "S" scale American Flyer in 1964.  I got into HO in the 1970s because a friend had it and I discovered it was relatively cheap (at that time).  I always LOVED O scale but had no money or place for it.  I had several large HO scale layouts from 1970-2010.  I bought my son an O scale set as he was very young and the Lionel trains are much more durable than anything in HO.

 

In 2005, I finally got my "dream" basement in reality and set-up my son's O layout--fairly simple--for him to enjoy while I planned my empire to end all empires!  But, I kept looking at those O trains.  Even with the third rail, even with the under-sized scale, even though people consider(d) this scale to be a toy.

 

I just couldn't resist!  I especially like the non-derailing feature of the switches and the greatest thing in the world about O scale and that is no more polarity issues!  Turntables, Wyes, Loops, no problem!  Have them anywhere you want!

 

I did hold over from my HO my desire to be a scale modeler.  By that I don't mean I count every rivet or go nuts over exact scale.  I mean my hope, plan and desire is to construct a model railroad, depicting the line that follows along Glacier National Park to look like the real thing.  I strive for a non-toy-like appearance yet I still have fun.    

 

@ thestumper,

 

That is basically where my thinking is at as well.  I simply can't get N-scale out of my head.  The key in N-scale is to buy only the best.  In locomotives you really only have one that stands far out from the rest, and contrary to popular belief Life Like/Walthers is better then Atlas.  They may have some detail but they are far to light to pull anything.  The new player is Fox Valley, but if they are charging me almost $100.00 per local they better be installing all the details.

 

Rolling stock you have far more options to chose from. 

I only buy Kato locomotives. 

 

 

 

And will generally switch off between several manufactures on rolling stock.

 

I have tried every popular scale on the market and only N-scale and O-27 hold my interest.

 

 

I think a lot of people do, but call the HO "On30".  This will not happen here, as I am

very annoyed at the effort spent on On30 that should, IMO, have been directed at

On3.  I have boxes full of unbuilt HO rolling stock kits from my period in HO, before

"salvation", and I was converted back into three rail.  I occasionally pick up an HO

structure kit to extrapolate into an O scale model. 

I do get frustrated because everything has been modeled in HO, and three rail never

seems to get far from the same few protoypes.

Dave I got one O scale S2 turbine...But would love to get the HO version..I live in a appartement..space is small..but running a 11x18 O scale carpet layout...but think if it was Ho layout..thats big..I wont sell my O gauge stuff...but might give it a rest for little bit until we get a bigger place or house...I have to leave 2 sections of track down when Im done running my trains..or other wise people could step on my track and bend them..

I have mainly O gauge trains, but did a little in H.O. and can say that the size of H.O. curves are larger then 027 curves smallest curve. So for me size of layout don't mean much wether O gauge or H.O. you may need the same size of a layout area.

 

Lee Fritz

 

Don't confuse 'radius' with 'diameter'.

(that mistake cost me $500.00 dollars)

 

I have N (which I'm not running now) and O which I am running and adding pieces.

I run N, HO, O and G.  HO and O are my main scales, but I have a permanent layout for each (a garden railroad for G scale).  Each has advantages, with N scale it's that you can fit a lot into a small space, with HO it's that the equipment is so diverse and cost effective, we all know O's advantages, and with G you can enjoy your trains and the outdoors and gardening at the same time.

Although I had both  back in the 50's, I have been exclusively O gauge since starting up again in the mid-90's.  However, seeing some of the fantastic HO engines produced by MTH (e.g., Big Boys and Challengers), I am seriously considering a separate layout!!!  If Mike does the GN R-2 in HO, then I will be fully hooked!!

Don't forget N scale too!  I really enjoyed modeling in N for a while.  If I weren't so invested in O these days, I could have one amazing layout in N in my train room.  The latest Kato offerings are amazing.

I have all O gauge and my grandson has HO. I am going to set up a small loop of HO track so if he wants to, he can bring his trains over and have a place to run them. Will probably put it in the middle of one of my O loops so we can run them together at the same time. He will have to do all the HO running though, I can't see well enough to get them on the track properly. 

 

He currently has DC only, but if he ever gets into DCC I might try and add that here also (funds permitting). The HO track is fairly inexpensive, so that shouldn't be to much.  I think it would be fun to fiddle with DCC and all the CV's and things that go with it.  However, I will never be switching to HO permanently, O is the one I really like.  

Yes.

 

HO at home with my limited space. O at my buddy's basement layout.

 

Have been liquidating my old HO stuff, and buying new. Engines from BLI and Kato.

 

Its all good!

 

The detail FVM brings to the table allows me to overlook the fact that they aren't as "refined" as Kato.   Note that I didn't say "smooth";  I have four FVM GEVOs and they are like butter with DCC control - I've got two of the consisted pulling a 30 car mixed freight and I can run them 2-3 SMPH all day long.  They aren't even bad at 1 - these things can REALLY crawl.  However, they are not nearly as QUIET as my Kato's, which are also butter smooth, but I need to refine some of the CV values to change the Kato power curve - they are geared pretty fast.  That's the neat thing about DCC - you can change just about everything.    

 

My N-scale is mostly modern save for a few famous passenger consists running classic EMD F3/E8 power.   I do enjoy the fact that there is access to lots of quality, modern scale rolling stock.   I have all the different well car sets, spine cars, 80' flats, TrinCool reefers, auto racks... you name it.  But there is one thing that N just can't do for me:

 

STEAM !!!

 

As mentioned earlier, N-scale steam IMO is a joke.  Yes there are a couple of good steamers out there (Athearn's Big Boy is pretty sweet...) but good luck finding an M1a, a K4s, Dreyfus Hudsons, especially if you fancy command control.   It's needles in the haystack.   I love big, loud, obnoxious steam.  Sound is huge for steam, and it's so weak in N (better in HO).  It all comes down to speaker size - N just doesn't have it.   Live smoke is also awesome in O.   I don't mind diesel without sound - I actually prefer it sometimes - , but watching a steam engine buzz around the layout with nothing more than an electric hum just doesn't do it for me after the raucous PS2/PS3 cacophony that I've become accustomed to.  

 

Of course, I don't have a bullet train in O like I do in N-scale;  Kato does some really neat/odd stuff in other markets that you can occasionally get your hands on 

 

There's a person on this forum right now selling off his collection because he is relocating to Florida and doesn't have the room for a layout.  Maybe not in O, but if it were me, I'd at least find a way to wedge an N-scale layout into that place!

 

The other upside of O:   This place is pretty cool!  

Yes. Both, And I really enjoy both.

 

Nice video preview, my eyes were attracted to those N&W high sided coal hoppers

I am in the process of finishing up a 12' x 8' "L" layout in O gauge - I also have a some "HO" gauge left over from the 70's (mainly bought for the kids) and I plan on making a layout above the "O" gauge layout - one TIU should handle both layers - has anyone done this??

Yes. I have lots of 3 rail. My only complaint is the size of the room/real estate you need with O and 3 rail especially if you like bigger scale steam and large curves.

 

I enjoy a ceiling layout of 3 rail and G. I have a small collection of ON30.

 

I used to belong to Ntrak so I have lots of N scale. People always talk about the tiny 2'x4' layouts that are achievable with N scale but for me the big plus for N scale is give it a bit more room say 3'x 20' and you have 100 car freights and long passenger trains. Its the Scenery in N scale that can dominate. With DCC + N scale together you can have diesel or steam that run great and have fantastic details, the engines are so much more reliable than years ago "Postage Stamp" trains.  The downsides of N scale is the small/tiny size of the scale. Anyways I enjoy my O and N.