What Are The Regular Mistakes With O Scale Model Trains
Many a newbie model railroader will decide that, rather than HO, they wish to build their railroad empire using O scale model trains. While the bigger trains may appear easier to work with and just plain more fun they can also be a source of disappointment to the green. Here are some common 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 are not the same length. If you’re recreating an 19th century freight route you might be ok but if you decide that instead you’d like to run a modern Amtrak passenger train you may be plagued with derailments with such a tiny turning radius. Besides the functionality of too little a turn radius you also have the glaring fact that it just doesn’t look that practical.
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’re working in smaller scale where you have room to build long inclines this isn’t sometimes a problem. Not so with O scale. Given the height needed to clear another train track your O scale layout will require an exceedingly long incline indeed particularly if you have made a long train to start with. You’re not going to go from ground level to coach clearing bridge height in only 2 feet. If you do not have huge layout, one solution is to send your lower track a touch 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 recollect 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 folks. When purchasing 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 correct scale.
Does your train match your track? Unlike Ho scale where everything just about works alongside the rest, O scale modeling can truly be confusing when it comes to matching the proper track to your train. Way back to the early days when these toy trains were run on shiny 3 rail tracks there have been some major discoveries that include two rail systems, more authentic O gauges and the option of running O scale trains on narrow tracks. Do your analysis before purchasing even your first train set, because once you’ve selected a track, you are stuck with it or will be doing a major overall down the road.
Keep these common mistakes under consideration when planning your layout and it should make building your O scale train layout much more enjoyable.
Emil Sudhakaran is a model train expert. For more great information on lionel model train, visit http://www.modeltrainsguide-emil.com/bachmann-model-trains/.