My OO layout build thread

I'm a little confused.   I'm not very familiar with the OO gauge but I always understood OO guage to be HO gauge track with rolling stock/engines that were a percentage bigger, like 10-20 percent larger.   

Is this like Marklin 3 rail track? 

@bobotech posted:

I'm a little confused.   I'm not very familiar with the OO gauge but I always understood OO guage to be HO gauge track with rolling stock/engines that were a percentage bigger, like 10-20 percent larger.   

Is this like Marklin 3 rail track? 

Stud center rail?  No; there is normal 3r HO/OO.  It is actually round top tubular track sometimes too (vs solid T rail).  My vintage Junior 3r 00 is plastic roadbed and I think it is 0-27 to add to contusions..... and spellwreck makes another funny

I'm curious. Does Mianne come with a top, or is it just the frame pieces? Their product is very nice, but you could literally build the equivalent benchwork for about $50-75 if you were at all handy. Save you some money for those Hudsons.

A little confused. is your layout OO or 027? I saw 27" D and didn't know what radius OO track is. 

A lot more work to make it, maybe way more time in mistakes for those less handy.   Clean up too

But it's kinda what you pay for; pre-cut, pre-drilled, easy assembly.

I don't know if includes the tops; kinda doubt shipping it would be as economical really.

If you already bought that Kreg Joint jig, you know what to do

No top on the Mianna benchwork, and much nicer looking that anything I have manged to build.  Lionel OO is true OO, where the UK stuff is a combination of OO scale bodies on HO scale track.  HO track is narrower, see pic below I took of 2 rail Lionel OO track(they made both 3 and 2 rail track for OO).  The scale is 1:76 running on 3/4" track.  AD

Till my friend gets the new 3x8 table done to replace what you see in the first pic.  I am buying enough track to put a folded dog bone loop on this exhisting table so I can run some trains.  After I switch over the new narrow layout, the extra track will be used for my recreated 1938 dealer layout.  Should be the perfect size to fit in the back seat of our Jeep Wrangler TJ or YJ to take to shows.  The go in my bay window with a small fiber optic xmas tree in the middle during the holidays.   First pic is where there soon will be lots more track, and second is what I plan to recreate.   AD

Time for the fun to begin! 

And in circles we are now going.  Had some big sparks from the pilot truck/cross head guide area.  Found a wheel loose on the axle, so I swapped the whole truck for the one from my parts engine.   No more sparks there.  I polished the tender wheels as best I can with a track polishing pad.  Need a new brass wire wheel for my dremel to get a better shine on them.  That or lots of running.  Since this is 2 rail, the sparking you would see on the center rollers, happens on the wheels instead.  Running without the black 2 bay hopper car as the rear right corner is jacked up on this old table so the Hudson slips out with all the cars in the train.  The new table will fix this issue.  I am hunting for a 3 rail Hudson, would swap my 003 full scale and 004 parts engines for a 3 rail 001 full detailed engine/ with 003w whistle tender.    Here is the video link:   

Definitely different from my 3r OO track.

You might try a metal polish and cloth wheel vs wire wheel. A wire wheel removes way more material. If chemical based/enhanced, pits get cleaned too.  Polished, they should stay clean longer to boot.

Wire wheel for the tender wheels, not the track.  I polished the track with a track polishing pad.  Its nice and shiny!  Its the tender wheels that are not the prettiest.   This is the 1939 thru 1942 track.  The 1938 version of the 3 rail has spring clips at the end of each section.  The track has the open space under the road bed in the middle, but sitting on my carpet"grass", you cannot see that very well.     AD

Several have asked in various places about the size of American OO vs another scale.  Here is my Lionel OO Hudson next to a Lionel 2243 postwar F3(custom painted).   And, here is another video of the train running after some more tuning and fastening down the track.   AD

Runs nice.  Is that the one you sent to Arizona?

No, that one came to me in nice straight condition(probably because the offending screw down the smoke stack was missing), but lacked a motor/E unit.  I swiped the motor, E unit and whistle tender guts and put them in the full scale detailed loco/tender.  Once the frame returns from Arizona, I will track down a junker engine to get the parts or get the second engine going.  UNLESS, I trade them off.  With the 3 rail track and now I have bought 3 rail turnouts and that will require either changing these to 3 rail power pickup or trading them and getting the 3 rail versions Lionel offered(001 and 002).  Mine are the 003 and 004 two rail Hudsons.    

I considered the two rail OO as well.  But, having run American Flyer S Gauge with all the pitfalls of two rail operation, I'm glad I got the three rail version of the OO Gauge.  I have plenty of track, but always on the lookout for more, I plan to build a nice size OO layout once I'm settled in my new home.  My layout will be a combo of Standard Gauge, O gauge, S gauge and OO gauge, although I may leave the Standard Gauge out.  It all depends on the size of layout I end up building.

I am amazed how hard it is right now to buy a 3 rail Hudson.  Plenty of 2 rail ones(I have both versions of the 2 rail Hudson). Since the shell on my 003 is modified, I am working on picking up the parts from a junker engine to convert it to 3 rail operation.  I also picked up a pair of switches.     AD  

I would love to know the sales figures of the 2 rail vs. the 3 rail sets.  You are right, there seems to be more 2 rail out there than 3 rail and from my observations prices seem higher for the 2 rail hudsons.

Not lately, I can pick up 2 rail Hudsons way cheaper than any 3 rail that pops up on ebay.  I watched the last couple and they became bidding wars, where as the 2 rail ones just sit without buyers.  I am only looking for the 001 full scale detailed one.   AD

How's the layout build going?  Have you found a 3 rail Hudson yet?

Glad to see more interest in Lionel OO gauge.  Over the years, I have acquired four two rail and one three rail Hudsons and all the car variation as well as a nice few shelve fulls of Scale Craft cars.  Here is a small three rail layout I built in below my main layout.

Very nice videos!   I converted my 003 that I built up from parts and pieces over to 3 rail(other than the insulated drivers, which I will swap eventually), I also picked up a pair of 3 rail switches.   Had to go thru them as all the contacts were corroded.  They both work now.  I know the common issue with the Bakelite roadbed 2 rail track.  All of mine is warped, but does flatten out ok if its screwed down to a firm wood surface.  I have actually put my 004/004W set with that track up for sale.   I still hope to eventually pick up a genuine 001/001W Hudson.   Here is a new video of my layout running.