Which scale is right for me? HO/N and what advise do you have?


Mr. Ron

New Member
This may seem like a pretty straight forward question and the obvious answers are; amount of room, level of experience, rent or own, stationary or mobile. My question concerns the reliability of each scale. I am 86 and have been interested in model railroading since the early 50's with breaks for career reasons; but recently have gotten the bug again and started a model railroad in a 12' x 12' space. My hands are a bit shaky and my eyesight, good, but not perfect. At my age, you think you can do things like you used to do, but soon find out that is no longer the case. I can still get around pretty good, but crawling under a layout is not possible. I have had to work around layout building areas and try to invent new ways to achieve what would be easy 60 years ago. My first concern was how reliable are the different scales as far as power distribution, engine running goes. I started recently choosing Marklin HO because I thought it was very reliable running. To me there is nothing worse than having a train derail or quit running in a hidden area of the layout. I have been reading up on track cleaning and track geometry trying to discover the reliability I'm looking for. Marklin, I found is not as reliable as I first thought. I have a large amount of track already laid, but considering switching to 2- rail HO or even N. I haven't had much experience with N trains, and wonder, due to it's size if it is a reliable running system. I prefer HO because it is larger, but wonder about it's reliability over the long run. Bottom line is: I want a train that will run and run without a lot of fussing around like re-railing, looking for shorts, etc. I remember back in the 50's, model trains were not too reliable, but a lot has transpired since. Have the "bugs" that 50's trains had been resolved in the 20's? I am currently in the process of making catenary components that I want to install later.
 
Hi Ron!
I'm not quite awake but I’ll see if I can help...
The list of advancements since the 50’s is a long one but some of the best in my opinion would be improved motor performance, keep alive circuits, radio control, and the amount detail. N scale has really come a long way (even since my youth) but my personal preference is HO. 0n30 has a lot of possibilities too as does 0 scale two or three rail.
As for what’s best for you, well that depends on what type of operations you’re looking for like switching, long runs, or a combination of the two.
Im sure others will jump in with more info, meanwhile have yourself a coffee and dig around you’ll get a better picture of which direction to go.
 
I started in HO scale over 60 years ago, so I have a bit of experience with the things that aging can cause. (I turn 79 day-after-tomorrow.) Although my hands are pretty steady, I do need reading glasses for close work. I would recommend going with HO scale, unless you have a fair amount of room for O-scale, whether On30 (O-scale running on HO gage track), or perhaps S-scale, as they are larger. As far as reliability is concerned, HO scale is very reliable, although derailments will generally depend on how well you lay the track. But that will obtain for all of the scales.
Best wishes.
 
Ron, you're describing a model railroad world that just doesn't exist naturally. Reliable track were your trains don't ever derail or run out of electrical contact only occurs were you actually create it. You're not going to be able to reliably run a Big Boy on 22" radius snap track or number 4 turnouts. You're not going to have reliable track when ya build your empire on 1/8" plywood because it's cheaper than 3/4".
Bottom line, go cheap, be disappointed.
Learn what transitions are in curves. Study what the components of a grade are before laying track. Study the importance of higher number turnouts and how they enhance the appearance of your empire and add reliability to it. Count the cost of buying enough wire to effectively wire your layout so every rail has a solid soldered connection instead of track clips or suitcase connectors. Thoroughly understand the importance of preplanned road bed and track laying procedures before buying your material.
If ya want to sidestep all this, plan to give up at the plywood world stage and turn it over to the kiddies to play demolition trains with.
 
I started recently choosing Marklin HO because I thought it was very reliable running. To me there is nothing worse than having a train derail or quit running in a hidden area of the layout. I have been reading up on track cleaning and track geometry trying to discover the reliability I'm looking for. Marklin, I found is not as reliable as I first thought. I have a large amount of track already laid, but ...
So what is the pain point with the Marklin? Reliability is not just the brand but the track, the locos, and the rolling stock all have to be in gauge and tuned. Wheels can be too wide or narrow. Trucks might not pivot freely. Track can have humps and bumps as well as out of gauge portions. The layout at the museum is HO and nearly flawless, but we have spent 10 years tuning on it. Any volunteer who wants to run their equipment there must have it go through and pass an intensive inspection process or it doesn't hit the rails.

I've not had N-scale since the early 1980s. Other than locomotive smoothness it was pretty reliable with the huge Rapido couplers and huge wheel flanges. I don't know how it is now with the smaller track and more scale wheels. I abandon N-scale because I wanted better looking equipment than was available at the time. Funny how good something looks until you poke a camera in on it close up.

This is true of any track save maybe O-gauge where everything is designed to need low tolerances (super tall track, huge wheel flanges, wide tires, etc.).
 
Mr. Ron, based on your post, and all things considered in what you have said....................
I would highly consider going with 3-rail O-gauge if I were you. ALL scales have advanced since the 1950's, and Lionel trains, along with MTH and some others O-gauge brands that have come & gone in just the last 20~30 years are no different. They're all much more reliable than they were 50/60/70 years ago. And there's a ton of O-gauge stuff available on the secondary market to boot. A lot of it a super-reasonable prices.

Lionel FasTrack is a good looking track system, with molded plastic roadbed. Track sections snap together. A nice variety of curve sizes and turnout sizes are available. MTH is another brand that offers a nice track system, RealTrax, with molded plastic roadbed. A variety of curves and turnout sizes also compliment it. GarGraves and Ross make 3-rail track and turnouts here in America. Their stuff is top notch, and looks really great.

If you can lay your track down nice and smooth, with no kinks or other unwanted bends, then you pretty much have the reliability problem whipped. The larger size of O-gauge will be much easier for you to see and handle. As far as realism goes, these days O-gauge offers some pretty nice, prototypically accurate stuff (and they still offer out-of-scale fantasy stuff too, if that's your bag).
 
After reading the replies and pondering upon them, I think I will stick with Marklin. I'll check to make sure all my track joints are well connected. Marklin has been around for over 100 years. I hear that some Marklin modelers have locomotives 60+ years old that are still running like new on their layouts. Lionel also is one of those old companies that make reliable running trains, but I dont have enough space for O gauge trains; besides, I have over $1000 invested in Marklin
 



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