It will be another year or two before I can make it to the big show. But I hear its a good place to find OO, both Lionel and other vintage brands. For those there, what all have you seen and what kind of prices? All I am used to seeing is the stuff on evilbay, which many times are a bit high. Have a great time everybody with safe journeys to and from the event. AD
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Actually, I've seen a fair amount of Lionel 00 at York, especially in the Red Hall. As to prices, well, it ain't cheap. But the hardest stuff to find seems to be the 2-rail Lionel sets, especially turnouts.
How do you tell the difference between 00 and HO
Lionel never offered turnouts for the 2 rail line, but there were supposed to be prototypes(but they have never been seen in modern times I believe). The 2 rail straight sections are quite hard to come by as well. I know its expensive. The 3 rail turnouts on ebay have been in the 275+ range lately but not really selling at that. Trainz has some boxed/near mint turnouts on their website that will be up on the bay soon, even more expensive. To tell the difference, HO track is 16.5mm in gauge and OO is 19mm. All the freight cars are slightly larger than HO scale. Here is a pic of the 3 rail Lionel track vs a piece of HO scale for reference.
Thanks I knew they were close in size
Yes, they are close, OO just took advantage of the better/larger motors of the prewar times. After WWII the motor technology had moved way forward and excellent small DC motors were available for HO scale. OO is inbetween HO and S scale in size. When I compare the Lionel Hudson to the HO ones, its got much more heft to it and being just slightly larger appeals to me. So far I have a 001/001t from 1938, 002 that has a huge 7 pole motor stuffed in it, a Lionel Sunoco tank car and Scale Craft passenger coach. I plan to build up the original 1938 set(I need the repro peel/stick decals for the Yellow box car if someone sees/has some to spare) and build a recreation of the OO demo layout to take to shows. Home layout has Gargraves 3 rail OO track on it.
OO availability varies at York. The couple in the Red Hall that had some OO was not there last October. Like any train show you never know what you will find.
As for track, if you don’t have to have original, On3 track is essentially the same gauge. Maybe a few thousandths difference. Perfect for two rail and of course you have many choices for switches.
Pete
True, but I run 3 rail OO. If I am going to have to build switches, I will try to build a Ross Custom Switches style one for OO, but building like that really isnt my forte. But I would pay someone to build me a couple pairs of turnouts. AD
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