Who are the model railroders and railfans ?

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Princess Valiant

Princess Valiant

A.K.A. Rainy Day Auto
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when I am not working cars....winter

I have the bug for my model railroading......again

years ago I had a set up which I sold to put a 4 speed in a duster at the time. At the time I thought it was smart to focus on one hobby only so I sold all my rail stuff. **regret city**

Over the years, I really missed it. So now for Christmas of 16, I bought an HO scale set. I was totally into this set because it came with a high nose GP-38. When I was younger I always ended up with the F9 warbonnet locomotives so they became old after awhile.

I am mainly into GEN1 and modern diesel, never been so much into steam because steam is way before my time, being a youth railfan in the early 2000s

Its a meager beginning but it's just that ......a beginning.

Who else is a rail fan ??

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So last week I got to thinking.

Maybe N scale would work better because of its ability to fit in smaller spaces.

As luck would have it, Hobby Lobby had their 40% off coupon in the paper last week soooooooo.........

In all it's N scale glory, I bought the "Thunder Valley" set

I am still undecided on HO or N scale.

On one hand, I have a sentimental connection to HO because that is what I grew up with in the early to mid 2000s. HO is also cheaper and more importantly....more common and easy to find cool accessories for.

On the other hand, N scale is handy for its size, but dang it's tiny. I am thinking some detail and effect might be washed out in the tininess of it.

N scale is very cute

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I work on a railroad. It don't wanna talk about it! LMAO
:rofl:
 
If you will send me your address, I have a few HO things I will send you. Since I model On30, I have no need for HO.
 
I need to dig my HO setup out of storage and set it back up......
 
My dad was a big HO guy in past days and he always regretted having so much in HO that he felt he couldn't make the switch to N so he could fit more into a layout. So from his regrets to your ear, pick N if you like layouts with a lot more features in the same size.

My brother used to own a hobby show in PA and it included the model RR clubs. Some of them had standardized table specs so you could go to a meet and plug your layout table into other's and then have fun running your trains on a much larger layout. There probably is a club like that near you.
 
i forget the exact conversion, but i believe HO is closest to 1/64 which is what hotwheels are
so even though you can fit a lot more in an N scale layout, you may be able to fit more of what you allready have in a HO layout

plus...and you may really like this one...most slot car tracks are HO, so you could incorporate a dragstrip or speedway in the layout
 
diymirage said:
i forget the exact conversion, but i believe HO is closest to 1/64 which is what hotwheels are
so even though you can fit a lot more in an N scale layout, you may be able to fit more of what you allready have in a HO layout

plus...and you may really like this one...most slot car tracks are HO, so you could incorporate a dragstrip or speedway in the layout
Click to expand...


HO = 1:87
Hotwheels 1:64
N scale 1:160

its close enough, but hotwheels are a little big in the HO world.

You bring up a good point about slot cars because that is another love that could meld itself with HO scale.

Hotwheels on an HO scale layout is almost like a Canadian in America....they look the part, act the same and blend in well but there is just something slightly different :poke: :D
 
I love HO.

I haven't set mine up in a couple years because when we had the basement finished, I had to move move my sheet of plywood with track to my detached garage. Unfortunately the track was broken when one of us pushed the yard trailer into it. I'll fix it this fall.

I also have a racetrack with a train track that runs through it. I haven't had that one set up in decades.

Thanks for posting pics Rani. Hopefully that will motivate me to get mine out after the Barracuda is on the road.
 
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I do have O gauge Lionel trains and MTH, Mikes Train House..Wish I had a place to set them up...[/QUOTE]

I set my trains up near the ceiling....
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i actually have a somewhat decent HO slot car track mounted on a 8X4 piece of plywood...i need to decide if im taking it with to the new house or not
 
Screw a handle to it! LOL
Instant carry, stand up in corner For Later.
 
Rainy Day Auto said:
HO = 1:87
Hotwheels 1:64
N scale 1:160

its close enough, but hotwheels are a little big in the HO world.

You bring up a good point about slot cars because that is another love that could meld itself with HO scale.

Hotwheels on an HO scale layout is almost like a Canadian in America....they look the part, act the same and blend in well but there is just something slightly different :poke: :D
Click to expand...
I agree Rani.
All Canadians are HO's in the U.S..........
 
diymirage said:
i forget the exact conversion, but i believe HO is closest to 1/64 which is what hotwheels are
so even though you can fit a lot more in an N scale layout, you may be able to fit more of what you allready have in a HO layout

plus...and you may really like this one...most slot car tracks are HO, so you could incorporate a dragstrip or speedway in the layout
Click to expand...

Negative. S scale is 1/64. S scale is between HO and O scale.
 
You want real fun, plug your HO power pack on to your slot car track, MORE POWER !!
 
My dad infected me with the railfan disease. He has a ton of HO rolling stock stashed away in his basement. I won't see it for a long time then it's going to take a long time to go through it all and sell it. I have a ton of 1:25 model cars and semis so I don't so both, but I love trains. My dad has a wall that folds down and it had some track on it for a while, but my folks put an addition on their house years ago, with a large room in the basement for a three tiered layout, the plans sounded awesome! But dad got laid off, and slowly filled the room up with crap from garage sales. I have no idea where anything is anymore. So now I just look at the real things as they pass by. Kinda sad I get excited when the local is pulled by older engines I can identify vs the new ones that all look alike. I always try to make excursion runs if I can, nothing beats riding in an old train!
 
I was just down to Florida to clear a bunch of my crap stored at my moms house. I threw away most of my buildings, but kept the rolling stock. I had a 20X8 foot HO layout in our basement in the late 70's. I was figuring on doing something like 64/65 did.
 
RogerRamRod said:
I was just down to Florida to clear a bunch of my crap stored at my moms house. I threw away most of my buildings, but kept the rolling stock. I had a 20X8 foot HO layout in our basement in the late 70's. I was figuring on doing something like 64/65 did.
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peyote, can you pm me on this train stuff? I believe we can do some business.
 
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