As I get further into O Scale I get the impression that VERY few people have 2R HOME Layouts. 2R equipment is much more scarce than 3R. Within 70 miles of me (Poughkeepsie,NY), I know of 3 Club 2R layouts, but only 1 person who has a home layout.
I understand the challenges due to size. It is often pointed out as the reason for the rise of HO post WW2 among scale model railroaders.
Please respond if you have a HOME 2R layout, or know of some near where you live.
Thank you!
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I'm aware of one club and three home 2-rail O-scale layouts in the Cincinnati area.
While they may seem scarce in the Poughkeepsie, NY area, they are a lot easier to find in the northeast than in the Houston, TX area. I am told there were once many O Scale layouts. Now, there only seem to be two left. In one of the largest cities in the country.
@ecd15 posted:While they may seem scarce in the Poughkeepsie, NY area, they are a lot easier to find in the northeast than in the Houston, TX area. I am told there were once many O Scale layouts. Now, there only seem to be two left. In one of the largest cities in the country.
Are those home layouts or club? Thanks
@Bob posted:I'm aware of one club and three home 2-rail O-scale layouts in the Cincinnati area.
Thanks!
I don't know much about them but I do know that a 2 rail club is around St. Louis someplace and they have a nice club layout. I have never visited them in person though.
I know 1 3 rail/2rail club and two home layouts in P'burg and south Bethlehem, PA.
@MainLine Steam posted:As I get further into O Scale I get the impression that VERY few people have 2R HOME Layouts.
There are a good number of folks that simply do not advertise that they are model RR'ers, let alone 2R O scale. Some folks are actually rather private.
2R equipment is much more scarce than 3R. Within 70 miles of me (Poughkeepsie,NY), I know of 3 Club 2R layouts, but only 1 person who has a home layout.
Not seeing that availability of equipment enters into having a layout; it takes very little equipment to actually have a layout.
I understand the challenges due to size. It is often pointed out as the reason for the rise of HO post WW2 among scale model railroaders.
Size is also not really relevant either - size is dependent on choices made, not actual need
Please respond if you have a HOME 2R layout, or know of some near where you live.
Yup. In a "huge" 11x16 space, 
And, there's at least 5 others in the area that I am aware of although that has decreased a wee bit over the past decade with deaths and relocations.
I am Blessed to have a layout in my finished daylight basement. It's an L shape. 20x12, 18x12 roughly. I have 150 feet of mainline ( 2 mainlines separate, continuous ) Yard is roughly 4 tracks 6ft long that come together at both ends.
I'm in Coeurd Alene, Idaho. Don't know of any 2railers in Coeurd Alene. Making contact with a fellow in Spokane ( 35mi. West ) that reached out to me last week.
Would like to meet more 2railers if any were to be known.
John
Coeurd Alene, Idaho
@mwb posted:There are a good number of folks that simply do not advertise that they are model RR'ers, let alone 2R O scale. Some folks are actually rather private.
Not seeing that availability of equipment enters into having a layout; it takes very little equipment to actually have a layout.
Size is also not really relevant either - size is dependent on choices made, not actual need
Yup. In a "huge" 11x16 space,
Thank you for the perspective. You have very valid points. Starting out in O gauge less than 2 years ago I have been surprised how much more prevalent 3R is versus 2R. Just trying to "get a better handle on it".
@MainLine Steam posted:Are those home layouts or club? Thanks
They are both home layouts. One is in a two story garage and the other is the second floor of the house. The layout in the garage is also dual gauge.
@prrhorseshoecurve posted:I know 1 3 rail/2rail club and two home layouts in P'burg and south Bethlehem, PA.
Thanks for the video. I know what I am going to be doing for the next 1/2 hour.
@Derailed10o posted:I am Blessed to have a layout in my finished daylight basement. It's an L shape. 20x12, 18x12 roughly. I have 150 feet of mainline ( 2 mainlines separate, continuous ) Yard is roughly 4 tracks 6ft long that come together at both ends.
I'm in Coeurd Alene, Idaho. Don't know of any 2railers in Coeurd Alene. Making contact with a fellow in Spokane ( 35mi. West ) that reached out to me last week.
Would like to meet more 2railers if any were to be known.
John
Coeurd Alene, Idaho
Sounds like a great layout. Wish I had the space to do something similar.
@ecd15 posted:They are both home layouts. One is in a two story garage and the other is the second floor of the house. The layout in the garage is also dual gauge.
Thanks Bob for the reply!
I actually personally know 2 people...one lives in Beech Grove, Indiana. The other in Carmel. And, I seem to remember that are a few more in central Indiana that I can't recall at the moment.
There are at least four 2-rail home layouts north of Denver, including Jeff MacDonald's High Plaines Route and David Stewart's Appalachian & Ohio. There are more near Denver. Several will host layout tours during the 2023 O Scale National convention.
I'm not aware of any club layouts.
Edited to count another layout.
there are at least 3 of us in Rochester NY , just lost the forth a bit ago Harold Russels. mine is not large for O scale 16 X 30 but will keep me bust for a long time. seems that lots of O scale two railers are lone wolfs so there might be more locals. I know of several in nearby buffalo.
Four known in Colo. On a percapita basis 330 divided by 5 times 66 is 264 nationally? Probably somewhere in the low hunderds of 2 rail O scale layouts. Many more toy train set ups.
I have one
I know of a few here in the Chicago area, and in nearby (well, relatively speaking) Rockford, Illinois. Any of you whom have attended the March Meet, will know who I am referring to. Two are home / club layouts, while the others are home layouts. Like Martin stated, some are quiet about advertising their layouts to the world. I am a two railer, no layout, but would love the space for one. I generally do not advertise my collection, not only for security reasons, but to not have people with a bunch of kiddos from knocking on my doors wanting to look at what I own! Now don't mark me as a snoot....... I do not mind sharing my hobby with other serious modelers, but most kids, and some adults, just do not understand the delicate nature of some of our models. And like many, I don't desire someone grabbing an expensive Overland brass diesel and knocking parts off with heavy handedness.
Three quarters of my layout is in Maryland and three quarters of it is in Florida. Seriously, the layout is moving and being reconstructed in Florida. There is a really great group of local FL 2 rail 0 scalers and I don't think they are active on the forums. I have not had enough time to participate in FL as much as I'd like yet to get a feel for it, but I am really excited about this. There are some really great 2 rail modelers I associated with in the DC area and some of them don't really participate on the internet.
I know of a couple of 2 railers in Poughkeepsie where I’m from originally as well,…., but they are private folks, and don’t want to be advertised, and they don’t participate on the forum…..ditto on the one I know of in Midlothian Va. ( I work on his locomotives ) …….if I wasn’t so entrenched with so much 3 rail, I’d rip up the track and go 2 rail …probably even p48 …..
Pat
@Engineer-Joe posted:I have one
I’m jelly of you Joe!….I love your track work and how expansive your layout is!…
Pat
The San Diego Model Railroad Museum has a 2-rail layout as well as a 3-rail layout. We lost the Citrus Empire 2-rail layout at the LA County Fairgrounds back in 2005. There are no 2-rail layouts -- club or personal -- that I know of here in Arizona, though the one I'm working on will support both.
I live in the SF Bay Area. I am aware of two home 2-rail O scale layouts. Both layouts are owned by professional layout builders / modelers. One layout is in a special upstairs room and the other is in an out building behind the house. There are possibly 2 other 2-rail layouts but I am unsure if they still exist. The SF Bay Area has lost 3 home layouts during the last decade because of the owners' deaths.
There are also about ten 2-rail "collectors" in the area. They have moderate to large collections of 2-rail equipment but no place to run it. I am in the small collector category.
There are 2 large O scale club layouts in the Bay Area. One is at the Golden Gate Model Railroad Museum in Richmond and the other is at the Alameda Fair Grounds in Pleasanton. Both club layouts have existed for 50 + years and share space with smaller scale layouts. NH Joe
Thank you to all that have replied, and those who may still reply. Again lots of good perspective.
I do understand the privacy issue. While I participate on this forum, I keep a low profile about this in my neighborhood. I have the same feelings as mentioned by R Nelson. While my models are 3R, I have Brass Steam Locos. My young grandsons can look, but not handle. I have given them other trains to play with. If still interested, when they get older, it will be different.
I am sensitive to real or possible privacy wishes of many modelers. Jeff's beautiful craftsmanship has been shown many times in photos and videos posted to these forums. So has the A&O on occasion. I intentionally didn't mention by name a third layout in Northern Colorado (and potentially others) out of respect.
I was once an "unrepentant" lone wolf HO-scale modeler until my first visit to the A&O. David met with me 1:1 and set me up with a long coal drag powered by his Alco C430, with all the coupler slack run-in. When I heard the couplers stretch I was hooked, and subsequently my life changed for the "more" better.
Many readers might be surprised at the number of 2-rail layouts lurking out-of-sight within a short drive of their homes... (I don't have a secret list of them...)
I have a small 14 x 15 2 rail home layout and belong to the Big Bend RR Club which is a 2 rail O scale club with a layout. There are a few members with 2 rail layouts as well plus at least two other non members that I know that have 2 rail O scale layouts.
I grew up in Sunol. I remember Alameda County Fairgrounds club very well.
@christopher N&W posted:Three quarters of my layout is in Maryland and three quarters of it is in Florida. Seriously, the layout is moving and being reconstructed in Florida. There is a really great group of local FL 2 rail 0 scalers and I don't think they are active on the forums. I have not had enough time to participate in FL as much as I'd like yet to get a feel for it, but I am really excited about this. There are some really great 2 rail modelers I associated with in the DC area and some of them don't really participate on the internet.
You do not say where in FL you are but there used to be a two-rail modular club in southeast in the FTL, WPB area called FLORIDA ATLANTIC LINES. Unfortunately, most of the members have passed on or moved out of the area. I was a member but left in 2015 to move to SC. The below photo is the last set-up near West Palm that I was associated with:
I am hoping that H was able to take these modules with him when he moved. BTW, that setup ran very well for the duration of the TCA show where we set it up.
I very much enjoyed the Allen Keller video series, though only a handful were of 2-rail O scale layouts, with John Armstrong being the one I remember - what a great man he was. OGR did at least a couple, Louis Hertz and Frank Miller's outstanding layouts. TM has done a couple, I think. The older OGRs from the 80s and 90s featured many 2-rail layouts - I've kept those issues because they're the best articles and photography to this day IMO. I don't know if those guys were master model railroaders, but they sure could design and build great layouts - and their writing was top notch.
Good post! I’m in the Cincinnati area and have about 1200 sq ft of 2 rail in my basement. It’s still only in its infancy, but it’s growing! As Bob B mentioned in the first response, we have a large 2 rail club layout here in Cincinnati as well.
there are a few of us out there!
Rick
For all of the 2-railers in the thread, would love to see some photos.
Dave
@christopher N&W posted:Three quarters of my layout is in Maryland and three quarters of it is in Florida. Seriously, the layout is moving and being reconstructed in Florida.
Now just one minisle Chris....3/4 plus 3/4 is 6/4....that's a layout and a half! 
ECI
MS, Probably more than you think. Go on You Tube and search. There are several on there. I'm sure there are some that just don't desire the publicity.
ECI
I have an unfinished 12x14 layout at home. Incomplete largely due to my membership in a very large club layout.
I do. Mine is about 46x26. I also have several (more than 5) friends within an hour of me with 2-rail home layouts. There are quite a few guys in the MD/DC/southeastern PA area with home 2-rail layouts.
I know of two home 2-rail O layouts in central Indiana. The last time I visited either of them, very little scenery was completed.
A great way to meet other 2-rail hobbyists is to join NMRA and get active by going to meetings, open houses, etc.
Does a powered 8 foot straight track count?
Why not; it runs trains, right?
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