How Many here have multi scales in model trains ? How did/do you run all your trains ?

Trains are more important than TV watching. I am assuming that there is more than one TV in the house, so why can't it be watched somewhere else? Unless you are taking over the whole house with your trains, she is being unreasonable. It's just my opinion, but you have to have your space, too.

I would not put up with that kind of dominatrix, but that's just one reason I am single.

I have HO, N, O and G. 

I only have an O Gauge layout. I have not run any of the HO, N or G Gauge trains I have in years and years. I have no intention to run them again. 

I would like to get a few LGB European pieces but space to store/display them is lacking and I really struggle to justify the cost for display only items that may run once a decade. 

I gave up all other scales to be in 3 rail O, more than 30 years ago. Best train decision I ever made. Every once in a while I get a twinge of "HO envy", but given my eyesight and lack of feeling in my hands, that quickly passes.

I'm of the opinion that you pick one and stick with it. Your wallet will thank you, and so will your layout.

I have O 3-rail, O 2-rail, HO, and G gauge trains.  My small home layout is O 3-rail and is based on the New Haven RR and is in the attic.  Most of us in CA don't have basements.  The wife and dogs have the rest of the house. 

I run the rest of my trains at the train clubs that I belong to or on friends layouts.  Most of my train running is done at various local model railroad clubs.  I find that running trains with others is the most enjoyable part of the hobby for me.  Participating in club activities is a wonderful way to enjoy the hobby.  

I seem to recall that there was a recent article in OGR where someone built their TV and bar into the layout.  The photos showed a nicely furnished family train that was used for trains, TV, family activities, and parties.  I toured a home layout where a fellow had a large 3-rail layout in his family room.  Perhaps this could be an option?

NH Joe

Family Room Layout:

I run, build, paint and generally "mess with" only 3RO. On the odd shelf (or in a box) here and there I have a few pieces of 2-rail O, 1 MTH 1:32 NYC J3a Hudson, AF S Hudson and PRR K5 Pacific, an N piece, one TT, one OO Lionel Hudson, 2 or 3 pieces of HO, 2 or 3 pieces of Standard Gauge, a piece or 3 of On30.

But - 3RO is 95% of what I have and all that I use. I have never liked mixing scales on a layout (or in a room). Even for forced perspective, which is seldom successful, anyway. Mixing looks funny to me, and having 2 layouts (for example) in 2 scales...can't see that either. No focus.

Even On30 does not go with 3RO (it would with 2-rail O, in appropriate narrow-gauge scenes/interactions)

Why? The 2-rail On30 track just really calls attention to the middle rail in 3RO - and not in a good way. With nothing for comparison, I can almost forget it. Almost.

I have a little Marklin HO from years ago but I rarely run it. No permanent layout, at least for now. It's wonderful stuff but it seems small to me now. I have more Lionel and MTH O gauge, but no permanent layout for this either. I also have LGB and Bachmann Spectrum G gauge from years ago. It's all analog and only one locomotive has sound but I really love the big engines. I run it inside on the same benchwork I use for O and HO, in a 9' x 16' room. Not much room for G but it's a lot of fun. The new O gauge stuff has all the digital bells and whistles but there's something satisfying about pushing the throttle lever on my Lionel ZW-L. To use the transformer with LGB, I use a couple of AC-DC converters that Lionel made years ago.

I have O scale and N scale!!

My interests are in O gauge/scale in all eras 3 rail and some 2 rail. I have collections of vintage 1950's-60's American (Marx,Gilbert,Mantua,Lionel,Varney) and European HO (Maerklin,Fleischmann,Trix). I also have Standard gauge (My main interest now) and a few pieces of 1 gauge. My layout is a combination of O gauge and standard. (Still a work in progress and too ugly for photos).I no longer use DCS or TMCC. Just simple AC power.

Thanks for your ideas Guys ! 

My basement is a L shape .

I have 3 major areas .  

1 bar area , 2 Laundry area, and 3 Oil tank area .

She said on trip to her sisters , she may take oil tank area for tv area instead .  9x18 area approx. size .

my bar area is  L shape as well .  9 x 20 & 9 x 10 .   Started to repaint bar area in 2012 but stopped when dad got sick & went heaven in 2013 . I got lazy from 2014  until this year.   

Here are pics of current today 

First three photos are of oil tank room 

the rest are bar area.

I reciently added up from my records how much 3 rail I have and I could buy a new Accord coupe V6  6 speed with it.

I also have a bunch of HO now long stored, it's good stuff but now somewhat obsolete. 

I am just now getting started with slot cars, this is a hobby you sure don't hear about anymore but is quite active on the internet. Completely separate from my trains.

I have O and HO. I started with O (all scale 3 rail equipment) and still have a lot left after the layout. Recently I joined a local HO club here in Fremont Ca. and have a good collection of HO equipment with all Kato power as they run so smooooth! Hope to get back into O soon!

The only permanent layout I have right now is a small 3 rail 0 gauge one in the basement. The weather here in Boston is too crummy to put the LGB trains outside, but I keep them boxed up in case we ever move to a warmer climate. Most of the shelves in the living room are filled with pre-war standard gauge and once in a while I'll put down a temporary standard gauge loop to see them run.

I have O and N scale. My wife has HO, which she does not use anymore.

Running 3 Rail O and Standard (two separate layouts). Have a mess of HO (had previous layouts), and some scale O from my dad. And a little G, but only test track for it - all may go to the grandkids (4 year old got the 'James' engine and cars, and most of my old LGB track at Christmas).

I have 3 G scale loops in my yard. I have a large O scale layout that runs 8 trains, I have one large Standard scale loop (no layout), I have a small HO layout running 1 train and a small N gauge that runs 2 trains.

I'm a multi-scale guy.   I operate an 8x20 O gauge layout, a 4x8 S gauge layout, a small 3x4 all tinplate 0 gauge layout and a 6x12 Standard gauge Christmas layout.

I run Standard-Gauge and O-Gauge together on the same layout. Being a tinplate guy (although I do run a limited amount of modern-era and postwar equipment), scale proportions don't matter to me. 

John

Over the years, I've had 3 rail "O", HO, and "S". I presently have a layout with 3 rail "O" and "S" running in similar real estate.

I still have some HO boxed up from my youth and young adult-hood. I managed to sell my six HO brass engines with the help of the late Caboose Hobbies in Denver.

My "O" & "S" are both powered by Lionel Legacy with the aid of two TPCs and Powerhouse bricks.

I have limited myself to O, On30, HO, HOn3,  N and G scales........other than that.......

Grew up on HO, still have it packed away in my parents attic along with my dad's old pre-war tinplates.  Started on O last year and build a small 4X8 layout. I have a couple of Rivarossi HO locos (Mallet and Hudson) that I've had since I was  kid. They come out at Christmas along with my PE set.

My layout is O, but I have rolling stock in N, HO, S, O, L, and 7.5" gauges.  I want to get some standard and G gauge trains at some point, but they aren't high priority, nor will make the to do list until after the O layout is finished, and I get small N layouts built for my oldest son (Has O and N, but wants a N layout of his own.) and maybe the wife (She has N, but hasn't decided if she wants a layout or not yet.).

Run N, O, Standard Gauge and G scales.

I have both 0 scale (3 rail) and G scale. I have had 0 scale since I was 7 years old with my first Lionel set and over the years I have added to it and now have a 12' by 9' set up in the basement.  About 8 years ago my wife bought me a g-scale set by accident. She mixed up what train size I had (at the time my 0 scale stuff was in boxes in the attic). I set up G scale track in the back yard (about a 6' by 18' area) so my G scale stuff is strictly for outdoors.

JohnF

I have a 7 1/2' X 8' layout (really an operating display) in a spare bedroom in our town home. I operate two standard gauge ovals O42 & O72 plus an LGB R2 oval in between the two SG loops. Have about eight tinplate accessories. I have a 4 tier open frame display rack for my Blue Comet and State sets and for my two 400E's and two 408E's plus a Lionel Classics Fireball Express set. Have a small desk for my laptop and some more SG engines on display. A swivel office chair and a Z4000 power center plus a power supply for the LGB is beside the chair. Also have a bookcase for my extensive collection for model train books and railroad history books. I have a couple of O gauge models on display in acrylic display cases on top of the bookcase. A closet allows additional storage of cartons and other trains. Works for me and my spouse of 46 years! :-)

Until recently disposing of my collection I owned Z, N, TT, HO, S, 027, On30, O, standard and G.  If it ran on two or three rails, I liked it.  The layout had two tracks for O/027 and one for American Flyer.

I have 3rO in the basement and LGB in the room over the garage.

built the G scale layout in 89 and started the O scale in 09.

I am lucky to have the space for both without them crowding the family

Started in America Flyer as a boy and moved briefly to HO before middle teen years. Came back into the hobby through having a retail hobby shop in the late 1980s. Hadn't thought about trains in many years but was approached by a man wanting to be a Lionel Service Station. Next thing I knew, I was a 'train store' too with a couple of walls of shelves and a decent collection in all scales.

At present, I still have my Gilbert Flyer PRR No. 310 K5 Pacific, a few large scale locomotives, some nice HO locomotives & cars but mostly 3R O...

I have HO with my dad at his house, 3 Rail O at my house and my uncles and N scale at my house. I'm just starting to move into 2 Rail O that I'll run at the museum

I have O and N, but I only run O.  I don't have a layout for N.  I was planning on an N scale layout when my wife released a bunch of real estate in the basement.  Now I will be planning a larger O layout (11 x 23) and then building it for the foreseeable future. My N adventure is on indefinite hold.

That's a nice question that got me thinking as I've enjoyed reading the replies. I run mostly MTH  O gauge. Lately I've built a 4x4 N scale layout in the basement also.

62 years ago I went to my then new friend's house and saw electric trains run for the first time. I was awestruck and completely hooked. I just loved watching the trains run. To this day, the feeling is still there. About a year ago, someone gave me a bunch of N scale and HO trains. I pulled them out not too long ago to see if they would run. To my surprise, I enjoyed tinkering with them. I built the N scale layout near the O gauge layout and sometimes I'll just have them both going and just unwind while I watch them run. 

Our trains have given most of us, in some cases, a lifetime of joy. To that point, my friend from 62 years ago will be coming over this week to "play trains ".

Ed Kazarian

In the house: 0 gauge 2-rail and 3-rail,  H0 Gauge 2-rail and 3-rail,  S gauge and N gauge:

In the garden: 1 gauge 2-rail and 3-rail, 0 gauge 2-rail and 3-rail and S gauge:

Regards

Fred

I would consider a larger island table. The walk-around is nice in a multi-use room.

Here is an 8 x 8 concept that I developed some time ago for someone. I alternated the scales, used radius that would create a concentric look. O, S, HO , N

I envisioned the S on an open elevated line and the N on a closed- in mountain.

The HO line would have buildings and scenery and be viewable through/under the S line. The smaller size would provide a distance perspective for the O on the outside main level.

The N on the mountain would have scenery and provide depth perspective for the elevated S on the outside at the elevated level.

The S is at 5" height and the N is at 9" height. That could be adjusted with a mock-up to achieve the desired perspective. I would set the main table at 42" to keep everything at a good viewing height when standing.

Substitute On30 for the S line.

I don't know what the individual ended up building.

O and On30 on my main layout. Also have a N layout.

Used to have a HO layout, but that's all packed away. Lost interest in HO.

I always like seeing people's layouts with multiple gauges. I have a point-to-point switching section of On30 to play with. Just an excuse to customize engines.