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To your knowledge has anyone ever done an Outdoor HO scale layout?
Not on a table, but just like a LGB layout.
A friend contacted me & asked & I checked all over the internet & couldn't find anything. To me it seems not a good idea, especially for the Florida climate.
I gotta tell ya Larry. We lived in Florida for 4 years and the last place I would want to spend my long days was outside. No offense. Just too darned hot. One more good reason we moved way up here!!
Just noticed you live in Arcadia. Neat. We honeymooned there for two weeks a few years back. We borrowed a friends house in town and made day trips to the different beaches on both coasts. Nice area!!
I know it has been done although I can't find the link right now, Larry. The layout was up north where it didn't get too hot in the summer. The owner covered the track with visqueen and some rock ballast to winter proof the roadbed and it seemed to do OK in the snow and cold except for a few frost heaves that had to repaired each spring.
Assuming that Arcadia is like Alabama in the summer, I think that would present a major problem. You'd almost have to use handlaid tracks with wood ties since I know plastic ties will not hold up to our summer sun. Because of the extreme heat, you'd have to really plan for expansion and contraction at the joints. With the intense rainfall we get from tropical storms, you'd have to do some careful planning for grades and drainage. It could be done but it would be a lot easier in large scale.
Yep and it was published. As I recall the outside trackage (layout) was an extension of the basement layout. I don't recall how the outside was protected in inclement weather but it was. Darned if I can recall when and where I read about it but it wasn't for the faint of heart.
Yeah, that was it, Willis. He had it set up to run from an opening in the basement wall in the summer to a big outdoor layout from his fairly large basement layout. He closed off the opening in the winter and just ran his indoor layout. I think this was sometime in the early to mid 60's and for some reason I think it was in RMC. I imagine the modeler has probably gone to that great train room in the sky by now so there's no web site. I do remember, just like you, thinking this guy had was bigger ones than me to try such a project but it looked good in the pictures.
The guy that was wanting to do it has a G scale layout now that he put inside a building because of the heat & the wear & tare on his buildings & track. I tried to tell him it would be worse in HO, but, he said he had never seen one, so, he thought he would try it. DUH!!!!
The guy that was wanting to do it has a G scale layout now that he put inside a building because of the heat & the wear & tare on his buildings & track. I tried to tell him it would be worse in HO, but, he said he had never seen one, so, he thought he would try it. DUH!!!!
I've seen layout's on a covered and screened in patio's! You have to over build the bench work to deal with warping but can be done.......I had my sons HO slot car layout on the patio for 6 months....Held up well HO out doors though? the florida sugar sand will kill the gears faster than the G scale stuff! JMO HO Out doors Bad Idea!!!!! Now I have seen O scale stuff out doors though!!!!!!!
I remember seeing that about a year ago and was blown away that it actually worked. Im sure some tweaking with the blades and how the snow is pulled back and thrown out the shoot and it would be perfect. Now if someone would model a working one that would be kick ass.
Dang, that rotary plow is fantastic. Of course, it's G scale, so the bulk helps compared to trying this in HO. On the real railroad, the rotary would be followed by a flanger to dress the edges of the track the rotary misses.
The poor wedge plow was at a disadvantage compared to how it's done in real life though. The Virginia and Truckee had to battle snow almost every year and sometimes had some huge snow blockades. They only had a big wedge plow but they'd line up six or seven engines behind it and sand the track like crazy. They'd make a running start and then buck the snow until the wedge plow couldn't go any further. They'd then back up and do it all over again. There would always be a crew of about 30 laborers who would hand shovel really deep drifts until the snow got down to the point that the wedge plow could handle it. It might take three days of this to open the 31 mile route from Carson City to Reno but The V&T was proud of the fact that only had to ask for help from SP rotary plow once in ts whole history.
Nice find, Bob. If he had a few more locomotives and a few more rock hoppers for ballast, it would look just like the real thing. My uncle worked as a fireman for the UP in his younger days in Nebraska. He had lots of pictures of when he was on snow duty. "Back 'em, crank 'em, and buck 'em" for 12 hours a day with six F units and a monster wedge plow. He said sometimes it would snow so hard that they'd have put a flanger on the back of the snow train to clear all the snow that had fallen since the plow went through and they had to back 'em again. Real railraoding could be a tough business.
HO out doors though? the florida sugar sand will kill the gears faster than the G scale stuff! JMO HO Out doors Bad Idea!!!!! Now I have seen O scale stuff out doors though!!!!!!!
