Are you a modelrailroader?

Question

So, are you a modelrailroader? If so, what scale do you model in? I myself am into H.O. scale.

Answer 1

Yes, I am. I'm an HO scale model railroader. I like HO scale because it's pretty much the perfect size, if you go smaller, like N or Z scale, the locomotives & cars are too small to really see the details & stuff, & if you go too much larger, like O scale or G gauge, the stuff gets so big that it's hard to fit a nice layout somewhere without taking up half the house, plus the prices for O & G scale stuff is extremely expensive, so therefor I say HO is the best- not too small, not too large, & not too expensive (eventhough HO stuff can get kinda expensive at times). I have a small 4x8' layout in the basement of my house, although someday when I get my own house I hope to make a large & fancier HO layout.

BTW, do you know what HO means? It's called HO scale because it's 1/2 of of O scale (H stands for half & O stands for O scale.) Just an interesting side fact that I thought I'd include.

Answer 2

Yeppers !!  I work in N-scale at home, and do some HO landscaping for a local club.

I started just last year after doing a Xmas window display (HO-Candy-Train) for a friend's Candy Shop.  I live in a one-bedroom apartment, and did some sketches and realized I would have to go N-scale to get any action.

I'm in Northern California, and ended up freelancing alittle current-period rail for CALTRAIN and ACE Commuter lines with some Union Pacific trackage also.  It is a 10 x 12 foot Shelf layout.

I just installed the DCC system yesterday and will spend today wiring the below-table switch machines

Answer 3

I am into G scale or garden railroading. Why I like it is that you build it outside the plants are real, drainage is real. The water features are real. You can make your own world outside in your back yard. Sometimes you have alot of the same problems as a real railroad..washouts, critters on the track etc It keeps me from going crazy with the REAL world.

Answer 4

yes i just started to get a garden railroad going. Sense i was 2 i have been have a ho layout going. Of course my father helped me out but i am now on my own and have my own back yard to build a bigger railway.

Answer 5

uuummmm no .. but I've seen them out at malls and other places before and they looked really cool. I couldn't get over how real some of them looked ... pretty awesome stuff if ya ask me!

Answer 6

Yes indeed, Mike.

I've been collecting HO equipment for years, and the lumber to begin the bench work is sitting out in the shop waiting for construction to begin, hopefully next week.

Of course, my wife isn't able to understand why, after spending many years pounding up and down the rails, I still want to 'play with toy trains'.  I told her when you spend $100 for a circle of track and an engine and a couple of cars to run around the Christmas tree, it's a toy.  When you spend up to $5,000 for a single engine, it's a scale model.

But, she's pretty much OK with it.  It keeps me out of the house.

I am modeling SP, ATSF and GN during the transition period, opening the door for both steam and diesel-electric traction modeling.  It is a relaxing hobby, to me, and I would recommend it to anyone.  It can get expensive, when dealing with brass equipment, but there are many finely detailed models made of plastics that are much more affordable.  Even so, in this genre, locomotives can top out at $700.

I have 51 locomotives on the power roster, and a couple hundred cars.  Like I say, though, I have been collecting them for about 25 years.  I don't know too many people who could go out and purchase this amount of equipment all at once, though over the last three years I have added many DCC equipped locos.

Best of all though, when having a running session, there isn't a cement head dispatcher puttin' a kink into any of your plans......

Answer 7

Unfortunately no, due to money and space constraints. If neither was an issue. I would definitely be a model railroader! I wouls go for the larger scale, to see greater detail, plus have sound, to boot!