Scale Opinion

I call myself 'Semi-Scale' as I have some scale trains but have a decent amount of traditional. I have gotten rid of most really small traditional size items....or save them for the grandkids to run. But many 'traditional' size items, like Rail King N&W J  611, look fine with full scale passenger cars.  When my layout is complete I will more than likely have scale days and traditional days on the pike!! 

Silly question, but how do you know something is scale?  Just by observation or are there some brands/lines that are scale only?

Larry

MTH Premier line is scale, but some of the items in their other lines are also scale (just lower level of detail).

Lionel Standard O line is scale.  I just wish they would somehow make the difference between this and their non-scale Traditional line easily distinguisable on the boxes like MTH does (Premier line comes in purple boxes).

Atlas Master and Trainman lines are both scale, but Trainman line is less detailed.

Brass manufacturers, like 3rd Rail or SMR Trains are all scale.

Back to the original topic, I mostly buy scale, but I also buy certain types of traditional sized stuff, and  dabble a little in tinplate, as well.  Running with a modular club certainly justifies my scale habits, but I run and enjoy anything and everything I have at some time or another.

Andy

Andy summed it up well.  Here's another thread on the "Scale?" topic which provides some info (just to confuse you!) - https://ogrforum.com/d...61#12411751686083661

As for the original question, I'm mostly traditional.  Other than reasons already noted (size, space available, price, what I already had from my "kid" days), a big factor in my case was the fact I had three little kids that I'd be sharing the trains with.  In general, the traditional size stuff is a little more kid friendly in two ways:  (1)  More durable (i.e., less detailed / fragile) and (2) more "kid fun" (operating cars, theme cars, etc.).

I do have some scale stuff though... stuff I just really liked & wanted.  These come out on occassion, & the kids get to play with them (with a little more supervision from Dad!). 

Sure it is.

I have both.....more scale sized equipment than traditional, but I love both!

I run the scale stuff separately from the traditional trains. I'm lucky to have the space for a large layout so I'm not limited. 

But go with what you really like......I've seen O scale switching layouts no wider than a bookshelf! If you really prefer the 1/48 scale size, heft, and detail.....go for it! It's all your preference! Which ever way you go, you will find lots of help here. This  forum is the BEST feature of modeling O Scale trains(along with OGR).....the community of support, knowledge, and friendship is very sincere, and I check in at least twice each and every day to read, comment, and mostly become inspired to try new things.

Right now I'm taking a short break from custom painting some coke racks for the Union Railroad. I've learned so much from friends like King Mouse, Kurt, Brother-Love, and Lynn, that I'm not afraid to tackle some projects that I never would have attempted when I got "back" into trains in the early 1980s. You don't have to have 50 locos and 500 cars to have fun.....that is collecting.....another part of this addiction.....er......hobby.   Tom in PGH

I said much earlier in this thread I love only scale anymore, but there is one exception and an example of the difficulties in defining "traditional."  Iposted on another thread with a similar theme this morning, the photo below. 

 This is a "traditional" Lionel F3 (left) and a scale Premier F3 (right).  I've had so many people remind me my Lionel F3s (the two shown and five more) are not truly scale, and I realize strictly speaking they aren't, but I always treat them as if they are.  This is one example to me where the difference doesn't matter -- they are so similar (12.5 vs 12.625 body length, 3 3/8 versus 3 5/8 in height, nearly dientical width, that I make an exception and run these puppies a lot. 

When I got back into the hobby I was blown away by all the new scale pieces that had been coming out over the years. Like you, I broke out my original collection from when i was a kid of all traditional sized MPC and Postwar. At the time i didn't have any money to buy the scale trains that i was falling in love with.

Over a span of about 6 years I began picking up scale pieces one by one until I had a nice consist of mixed freight. At that point, my finances changed and I had become a member of a club with a huge layout with plenty of room to run long scale trains.

As my collection began to be about half scale and half traditional, I started to sell off a lot of my traditional pieces and use the money toward new scale stuff. Now I would say my collection is 90% scale.

Well, I do 1:48 scale; I mean, I've got a Lionel 2-8-8-4 AC-9 (best articulated

model ever), for Pete's sake. I've got Niagaras and 1:48 J3a's. And so on.

So, I do scale. Unless I don't. If the item charms me (Burro crane - too big), or can play with the big boys (uh, not "Big Boys") like the RK Imperial Triplex can, it comes home

with me. (MTH RK Imperial Triplex: most plausible sub-scale loco ever - have one; Lionmaster Challenger - darn good, too - don't have one.)

So, I'm a Hi-railer - not a "3-Rail scale" type. I accept the couplers, and on big equipment

they look OK. Well done sub-scale equipment sneaks in the door from time to time,

if it looks nice. I know that it's "your railroad", but that doesn't mean that it should look

silly and hodge-podge; it's just that absolutism and ideology are fool's errands.

The sub-scale shorty diesels though (Lionmaster and certain RK), I do not care for at all.