My Small World

[T&L Rail Co]

I live in a small world ,but I like to play with the Big Kids.
My layout is 40 inches x 144 inches. This would be a great z
layout but I like to play with O gauge Lionel. Please tell me
how your 12 x 40 layout is small. I see this in so many
articles in magazines. I have to take pause to think about it.

 

[Bill Nelson]

O scale needs room

Years ago several of my friends got out of HO and HOn3 for the lure of ON3, wowed by the possible detail, and improved running capabilities HON3 locomotives didn't run well back then.


Those guys haven't built a single railroad between them in the last 30 years due to space concerns. I have aquired an On3 2 cylinder shay that is less than 5 inches long, and was going to make a small layout, but it requires a 19 inch minimum radius. my little switching layouts end up too big to build.

I used to have a massive prejudice against the 3 rail, but the 3 rail stuff keeps getting better detail, it will go around curves, and it runs well out of the box, which is why it is still here, and gaining on O scale two rail, which is rarer now than it was thirty years ago, and increasingly expensive.

Good luck with your small space, view it as an opportunity to take the extra time to make every square inch look a good as possible.


Bill Nelson

 

[S class]

I cannot, for the life of me get my head around three rail O scale, I know much of what we do is unrealistic but the three rail is like announcing you want people to think your an overgrown kid and not an artist or historian. I've seen some amazing scenic work in O scale but the three rail screams at me.

but that's just me if you use it and think it's great it's not my place to tell you what you can and can't run, it's your railroad and it's your wallet so enjoy

 

[Bill Nelson]

it is an issue of looks versus operation

I used to be of a similar mind, the third rail was such a deal beaker for me that I could not understand anyone who could make that ugly compromise.

My Dad abandoned his LGB G scale layout, and built a layout using his old #1 gauge tinplate collection . Now I could understand the nostalgia involved, but dad built a decent looking railroad, using the buildings and details he had built and or collected for his G scale layout.


There was much less maintenance involved, the sounds and even smells of the heavier equipment was satisfying. Not a compromise I'm about to make, the track is a model too, after all, but I can understand i now.

Bill Nelson

 

[T&L Rail Co]

I live in Tennessee and can not find attractive S product to run.
I like to touch and look before I buy. That is why lionel has such
appeal. A bonus is that Lionel has complete sets that has value
and does not cost a empire to buy.

The Chairman
T&L Rail Co.

 

[Bill Nelson]

lack of a LHS

I have had to get over the lack of a local hobby shop. Since I model in HO, but on obscure niches thereof (HOn3, and logging) the local hobby shop that I don't have likely wouldn't carry much I need anyway, so I have gotten used to mail order. It is a pain in ways, but no shp anywhere near here (Clarksville TN. ), is likely to cary supplies for hand laying HO track, as I'm the only person around here who does such things.


There is one advantage though to not having a LHS, and that is, in an environment where the train budget is never enough, One has fewer impulse purchases when doing mail order, and tend to buy what you need to complete specific projects, rather than the neat stuff that is in stock at the local LHS, that may or may not suit your actual needs or the vision of your model empire.


Bill Nelson