Dad - Mad Me - Glad

railroadryan14

New Member
I am 14 i knwo you all probly will ignore this thread because im a teen but for the ones that read it im stuck i currently have a O-27 gauge railroad on 4 4x8 peice og pl;y wood shaped likea U in my basement i want to convert to HO and my dad is furious my reason- HO is much smaller and less expensive and my layout would be very big witha h/o layout my O-27 gauge layout has three trainc that run on it i do not use DCC and do nto play to use DCC i was planning to run itleast 4-5 trains on my layout- nuthing major- and i allready have a few h/o scale trains around my christmas tree i need help on convincing my father to let me switch i want to sell my O-27 but he wont let me becuase he says it valuable becuase its all linel stuff and i have alot tied into it so i was going to pack it up and save it. I would also like to knwo the website to athearn and know what u guys thjink the best h/o maker is i curerently have all bachmann stuff and thats the kind of track i was planning to lyout on this set. One last thing LOL i would like track plans if anybodfy got sum i have a U shaped board on 4x8 and the top and left side are about 5 inches lower that the right thankyou by by
 

TrainClown

Member
Hi railroadryan.:wave: Welcome to the Gauge. Believe it or not, there is the odd teeny-bopper hangin' around here,:p goin' nuts on the train thing.:eek:

What to do with your set of trains??????? HHmmmmmmmm?:confused: :confused: :confused: I guess it's up to you, but if it was me, I would box it up and save it if I could. Of course I would have to consider the storage conditions and availability of storage area, you know, how much is available. Anyway, it would be great to open those boxes some years in the future. You would be glad you saved them. Even if you wind up selling them then, they would be worth a lot more than they are today. They are probably still quite valuable right now. You should research on the internet and ask some of the guys here on the Gauge and get the best price you can if you are going to sell them. A lot of fellas deal with EBAY, but you best let your dad handle that sort of dealings. Easy to get taken with internet dealings, so be wary and careful if you go to sell yer stuff.

That said, lots of guys here on the Gauge have many different gauges of trains in there collection. N scale, HO, HOn30, S, O, O-27, On30 and G scale. It can be a lot of fun to collect them all, if you can.:rolleyes:

Read lots here. Check out "The Academy" for some of the best.:thumb:
http://http://www.the-gauge.com/forum28-the-academy.html

TrainClown ;) :D
 

railroadryan14

New Member
thanks trainclown i am goign to keep my trains for sure do you know aetherns website? and do you think bachmann makes good trains? the layout i am goign to make is going to have bachmann easy track. I havea track plan drawn out using my paint system on my comp but i cant post it much help if you can help me thanks
 

jim currie

Active Member
:wave: welcome to the gauge :wave:
went from O27 to HO when i was 10 been a HO nut ever since(twas a long time ago) my only advice stay away from bachmann unless its the spectrum line the same for life like unless its the proto line .
 

Ralph

Remember...it's for fun!
Welcome aboard! Glad you could join us. I'm with TC on keeping that 0-27 stuff as collectables. Best wishes on gaining your Dad's favor for the switch to HO! Is he a rail fan? Maybe you could get him invovled?
 

railroadryan14

New Member
yeah hew is a rail fan he had a h/o when he was little but he seas ther built junky and he help build my O 27 gauge he says that the laylout i got now is much better than he ever had and he loves it but it just sint enough for me and i want to amke the switchy to h/o becuase is much smaller whsih would make the table i got set up be a hole layout instead of 3 trains running in same thing over and over plus h/o is much less expensive
 

ausien

Active Member
Hi Ryan, and welcome to the gauge, there`s many a great modeler here only to glad to help out when needed, so ask all the questions you need to.
As help with changing your dads mind, well thats up to you, if it were my kids, they would try to put all the facts together that they could, argue a lot, go away with the hump, and if all that failed, they would inlist there mother`s perswaysive power of veto...I wish you luck Ryan, hope you do make the switch that you want....have a good one.. steve
 

sumpter250

multiscale modelbuilder
Ryan,
Welcome to the gauge! Athearn is an excellent choice to start with. They have always been the "best bang for the buck", being reliable, and reasonably priced, while not being too finely detailed. They survive well. Walthers trainline is on a par with Athearn. LifeLike Proto 1000/Proto 2000 (P1K/P2K) are, as Jim metioned, the only Life Like to use. The straight Lifelike line is low quality, and primarily is a low cost toy train set product, as is the regular Bachmann line. The Bachmann Spectrum line, is good quality, highly detailed stuff. Spectrum, and P2K, are much more expensive.
Take some time to browse through the gauge. There's all kinds of hints, how-to's, and discussions to learn from. You will also find the people here are willing to help when they can. There's not a whole lot in model railroading the isn't known by someone here.
Pete
 
hey ryan, :wave:
believe it or not i am also 14 and i like the sound of the size you have to work with i wish i had that much space. there are a lot of great people here they helped me get started with my railroad. although i had to put it on hold due to school and hockey starting i hope to get on it in a few weeks. i know there is someone around here who can help you out :wave:
 

railroadryan14

New Member
awsome!! im not the only one...... yeah how big of a layout do u have? and what are u planning it out on? MIne is going to be Union Pacific
 

Russ Bellinis

Active Member
I think Bachmann may have changed. I was looking at a regular Bachmann f7 unit at my local hobby shop and my buddy who works there and I thought they were the old style cheap Bachmann toys. Imagine our surprise when we took one out of the box and found it was heavy and had all eight wheels powered. I also haven't seen any Bachmann plus recently. It makes me think that they have dropped the old Bachmann, and upgraded the standard Bachmann to Bachmann plus quality.
 

railroadryan14

New Member
yeah i have 2 bachmann F7 and one came with a set needless to say the one that came with the set isnt all powered... but the onw i bought at the hobby shop is. And i run them together around my christmas tree till i can get my ad to give in and let me switch.
 

pgandw

Active Member
Let me throw out an idea - use it or not as you desire. Try adding some On30 narrow gauge to your O27. Runs on HO track, but is about the same scale as your O27, just smaller narrow gauge prototype. The Bachmann On30 runs well and is reasonably priced, too. Then when you feel like it, you can run your Lionel, and the On30 and/or the HO, all on the same layout. You can demonstrate to your father your reasons for switching without having to tear up his investment in your life - which is probably the real reason he is against switching scales.

Last point - I don't see the prices of used Lionel climbing any more, especially after considering inflation. This is in general, specific highly sought after models will do better. In fact, I think today's prices are generally less than they were 5-10 years ago for most items. Basically, too much stuff flooding the market, both new and used, as us OF&S (old, fat, and slow) modelers lose their health, die, or otherwise give up the hobby. If you keep your Lionel/O27, keep it because you think you might want to use it again some day, not as an investment.

yours in training
 

wickman

Member
Hi Ryan
I'm new to this forum although I've been around others and don't want to step on any toes here. I've been working on my HO layout since May this year along with my 14 yr old son and we've found great enjoyment in it . Depnding how much is completed on your layout like scenery structures etc. may support what your dad expresses. But then again many RR modelers will at short notice tear apart there layout and begin something new learning from the previous layout and then recreating a new and improved idea after all we are always learning new techniques I find I really don't know exactley what I want to achieve until I complete what I was just working on and say ok lets try doing it this way now. LOL
Do you have any pics of your layout that we may see?
wave.gif

Lynn
 

railroadryan14

New Member
Sorry i have pics of my lay out -which is quite a mess and tore up- but i cant get them to come to this website... there to big i i dont knwo how to shrink em......AI stil would post the pic so u guys could see what im working with
 
welcome to the gauge ryan as you can see age is not a factor here anyhow as ausien said get the facts together. perhaps get him to go to a local hobby shop and have him first hand look at these models being born in 1978 this hobby has awed me as to there real life counterparts. my best locos i run are athearn atlas and lifelike (walthers). even try and have your dad explore this site as well in the photography section (very nice work people).
 

railroadryan14

New Member
thanks for the advice railroader..... Does anyone know how to shrink a pick because i cannot postr a pik of my layout because its to big to fit on this W.S
 
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