Lionel OO Gauge Trains

OO two rail track is available in Britain, but it's 16.5mm (0.65") gauge and Lionel track was 0.75". You might be able to use On3 track which 0.75 gauge.

You may find what you are looking for at York. From time to time I have had an interest in OO Gauge.

According to NMRA, On3 track is the correct gauge

Brendan

I see On3 track is available in 2-Rail, but what about 3-Rail?

If you want a third rail for On3 you will have to lay the center rail yourself. Not that hard really. Sets with carrying cases will be very expensive. They were used by salesmen to demonstrate the product. 

It would be simpler to look for a two rail engine and go with On3 track. Also consider since the Hudson was a passenger engine look for some Scalecraft passenger cars. They are very detailed given the era they were made in.

Pete

Those cars look really nice!

Come to think as well, I see the 2-Rail models pop up on the bay slightly more than the 3-Rail models recently. Not sure why...

Gargraves makes OO track

here  is a video of my Lionel OO layout I have built, I had for several years taken it to Trainfest in Milwaukee Wisconsin, even won an award for the layout when Classic Toy Trains editor told the show what they had on display, I would love to take it to York and have it running, but would need some help taking it out their to have it running for the show.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jeh6disGHM

My first venture into model railroading was with Lionel OO Gauge Trains in 2-rail and 3-rail. I also had Scalecraft passenger cars, and a GG1 I believe was made by scale modeller unknown to me. My Hudsons were the super detailed ones.

Track was Lionel sectional track and wood Truecale roadbed with had laid brass rail.

I just noticed on Gargraves’ website the 3-Rail OO they have, which looks quite nice. 

The real question is did anyone other than Lionel offer any OO gauge equipment that operated on 3-Rail? This probably would be the real deciding factor to go either 2 or 3-Rail, unless the 3-Rail is more reliable operation (AC) over 2-Rail.

Tom, the Gargraves track is reasonably priced but is very high rail. Like they used the rail they use for their S gauge track to make it. OK if you want to just run trains  but not ideal if you want to run in a scale setting. On3 would be much better for that.

The baggage car pictured above is on Gargraves OO track.

Pete

Here's the best source for information about American prototype OO scale trains:

http://americanoo.blogspot.com/

John Ericson models in OO and has an excellent series of postings about the history of American OO manufacturers. As to the GG-1 manufacturer, that would have been Famoco (Famous Model Company):

http://americanoo.blogspot.com/search?q=gg-1

Those Lionel OO freight cars were essentially Scalecraft-designed cars made by Lionel. Those beautiful Hudsons were 100% Lionel products. And NO Scalecraft passenger cars were offered by Lionel. Pity!

Anyone out there know a good source for Lionel OO Gauge parts?

Gargraves sells both 3-rail and 2-rail OO Gauge track.

If Lionel still has any of the tooling, maybe they could start production of OO. 

Thanks, Phil 

george posted:

Anyone out there know a good source for Lionel OO Gauge parts?

I see parts pop up once in awhile on the bay, but I have yet to see anyone specialize in OO parts. At least the motors are the same as the 38 water tower and 182 magnetic crane, so motor parts aren’t too difficult to come around.

Just to muddify things, here's the British EM Gauge Society (Eighteen Millimetre gauge, to correct the OO/HO track discrepancy) It's more on the finescale side, but you may find something useful. There's also a Facebook group on American 00.

https://www.emgs.org/about-em/

Gonna revive this thread as I also modeling in OO with a mix of Lionel and Scale Craft items.  I first started with 3 rail stuff as the 3 rail track better fits on my 4x7 layout.  But, the tight curves really restrict what you can run, especially passenger cars.  Yes track prices are high and 2 rail Lionel track is harder to find and is the one thats really prone to warpage.  Unless the 3 rail has been screwed down to tight on a past layout, its seldom warped but highly prone to chips and cracks in the brittle roadbed.  I did have some rails that were warped upwards at each end, but once the track was set up on a firm surface, a bit of pressure with a wood block seated the rails at the joint flat and eliminated the "warpage" it sort of had.   Gargraves is very much Hi rail in look and no switches are made that will mate with in.  On3 track for 2 rail works, or you can hunt for the older 2 rail track made by companies like Midlin, Tru-Scale, Mantua and Lionel.  I believe 2 rail switches from Tru Scale can be adapted to mate with Lionel 2 rail track, as could On3 with a wood roadbed under it.   Track is the huge hold up for many that want to model in OO, faster 3d printing in the future might fix this, making the ability to make tie strips quickly and fitting them with common code 100 or 125 rail.  The hope for any type of sectional track is hopeless at this time.   Did you ever get a start on a layout?    AD