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Two and one half years ago when I restarted in the hobby I went to my LHS and asked to look at S gauge train sets. We had a long discussion. Well, mostly I listened. I was told that the offerings in S gauge were miniscule compared to O. Also, it was explained to me that minimum curves being what they are that I would not find much space saving by going slightly smaller. Subsequently I now have just a little over 5K invested in O gauge 3 rail trains. I am not unhappy but always wonder how my life would be had I made the "other" choice. And as irony would have it, the only active RR club near me is, yep - S gauge! One thing for sure, these are NOT my fathers old American flyer!

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I'm happy being primarily into "O", but I always had nostalgia for postwar Flyer with the link couplers. My best friend, back around 1950, had a Flyer K5 with green New Haven passenger cars, and I liked that set better than my Lionel 224 with freight cars. When I got back into trains in the early 1980s, I bought a set like his. I have it running on a simple 6x4 layout in my cellar.

I also have the Hudson, and the 4-piece metal Atlantic (which I think is one of the most under-valued engine on the market). Hate to admit it, but I love the whitewall drive wheels on these.

Mike; like others have said, it's not to late. My layout is primarily "O", but I did have to have a dogbone of "S" inside the other two loops. I have a Postwar Gilbert 283 that runs and smokes like crazy, but I've enjoyed running the newer "scale" Lionel Mikados & Pacifics + my re-issued MoPac passenger set. With S-Helper & American Models starting to recover from the Chinese melt-down, more and more good "S" products will be in the pipeline for our enjoyment. My S-Helper F-7 & SW1200 switcher are first-rate runners.

My new Legacy U-33C has been very enjoyable.

Larry D.

I have changed scales more times than I care to admit. I have no problem pulling the plug you can get 75%-90% return by selling on eBay depending on what you have. I would agree that perhaps buy one set and join the club. You may find out you like it even better than O or not, either way you had fun and met some new train buddies. good luck.

I always been in S in my in and out journey in the hobby and I still have my American Flyers that I had as a kid. But I have the opposite problem and keep getting tempted to go O gauge. If the store had a K Line circus train left when they first came out, the layout might have three rails.

 

The MTH EJ&E center cab transfer engine, even though not the correct engine for the J, is still tempting.

 

Maybe I should go in the basement run a train and it'll pass. And everyone is right regardless of scale it is a great hobby.

 

Originally Posted by Michael Hokkanen:
Originally Posted by Bob Bubeck:

Well, Michael, it is never too late.

 

Bob

Would that that were so Bob....I have too much invested in O now. And, it is a GREAT scale to work with. I'm just thinking about my measly 8'x8' space.......

 

No, just thinking out loud. Can't go back and change now.......


Michael, just to give a word of encouragement, I have recently liquidated a large O scale collection in order to switch scales.  I would say that between the B/S board and Ebay I was really surprised at how good the resale value of my stuff was, particularly on Ebay.  If you are serious about considering S scale, I would not let resale value hold you back.  

I have always like S and it goes beyond the the three rail versus two rail controversy. I have always like it's scale like appearance and all of it was to the same scale dimensions (except the cheap stuff Gilbert produced in the 60's). Modern S-scale looks good next to 40's era equipment.  I have HO but S has the right size and heft I like.  Modern O scale is great looking but I don't have the room for it.  Traditional O scale is anything but O scale it's a lot is closer to S scale. So forget about the rest go with the best S scale

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OGR Publishing, Inc., 1310 Eastside Centre Ct, Ste 6, Mountain Home, AR 72653
800-980-OGRR (6477)
www.ogaugerr.com

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