What Are The General Errors With O Scale Model Trains
Many a beginner model railroader will decide that, instead of HO, they like to build their railroad empire using O scale model trains. While the bigger trains may appear simpler to work with and just plain more fun they can also be a source of disappointment to the inexperienced. These are some typical mistakes made with O scale trains.
Is your turning radius too tight? While the minimum turning radius for an O scale train is 24 inches you have to notice that box automobiles and passenger vehicles aren’t the same length. If you’re recreating an 19th century freight route you may be ok but if you decide that instead you’d like to run a modern Amtrak passenger train you could be troubled with derailments with such a little turning radius. Besides the functionality of too little a turn radius you also have the glaring fact that it just doesn’t look that realistic.
Are your inclines too steep? Most new model railroaders envision some kind of tunnel or bridge in their layout where the trains will run beneath its own track or up over the roads the cars travel. When you are working in smaller scale where you have room to build long inclines this is not sometimes a problem. Not so with O scale. Given the height required to clear another train track your O scale layout will require a long incline indeed particularly if you have made a long train to start with. You are not going to go from ground level to train clearing bridge height in only two feet. If you don’t have huge layout, a possible solution is to send your lower track a little underground so that your higher track does not need to rise as much.
Is your landscape out of scale? Even though a locomotive is higher than an one story house we must not forget that in the real world trees still tower over trains. No where’s this single mistake made more than with O scale train layouts. The same scaling mistake is common with outbuildings and folk. When buying any accessories or buildings for your layout make sure that you know it is to scale and not that it just looks to be the proper scale.
Does your train match your track? Unlike Ho scale where everything pretty much works alongside everything else, O scale modeling can actually be confusing when it comes to matching the correct track to your train. Way back to the early days when these toy trains were run on glossy three rail tracks there have been some major breakthroughs that include 2 rail systems, more authentic O gauges and the option of running O scale trains on narrow tracks. Do your research before buying even your first train set, because once you have selected a track, you’re stuck with it or will be doing a major overall down the line.
Keep these usual mistakes under consideration when making plans for your layout and it should make building your O scale train layout much more delightful.
Emil Sudhakaran is a model train expert. For more great information on ho scale model train, visit http://www.modeltrainsguide-emil.com/model-railroading-got-started/.