What Are The Everyday Errors With O Scale Model Trains
Many a amateur model railroader will decide that, instead of HO, they prefer to build their railroad empire using O scale model trains. While the bigger trains may seem easier to work with and just plain more fun they may also be a source of disappointment to the inexperienced. 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 twenty-four inches you have to realize that box cars and passenger vehicles aren’t the same length. If you are recreating an 19th century freight route you may be alright but if you decide that instead you’d like to run a modern Amtrak passenger train you could be tormented with derailments with such a tiny turning radius. Besides the functionality of too tiny a turn radius you also have the distinct fact that it just doesn’t look that pragmatic.
Are your inclines too steep? Most new model railroaders envision some type of tunnel or bridge in their layout where the trains will run underneath 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 an issue . Not so with O scale. Given the height required to clear another train track your O scale layout will need a very long incline indeed particularly if you’ve created a long train to begin with. You’re not going to go from ground level to train clearing bridge height in just two feet. If you don’t have large layout, a possible answer is to send your lower track a little underground so that your upper track does not need to rise as much.
Is your landscape out of scale? Although a locomotive is higher than an one story house we must remember that in the real world trees still tower over trains. No where is 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 proper scale.
Does your train match your track? Unlike Ho scale where everything pretty much works alongside the rest, O scale modeling can truly be confusing when it comes to matching the proper track to your train. Since the early days when these toy trains were run on shiny three rail tracks there have been some major discoveries that include 2 rail systems, more authentic O gauges and the option of running O scale trains on narrow tracks. Do the research before buying 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 typical 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 model railroad trains, visit http://www.modeltrainsguide-emil.com/ebook.html.
