Many a newbie 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 appear easier to work with and just plain more fun they can also be a source of disappointment to the inexperienced. Here are some usual 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’ve got to understand that box cars and passenger automobiles are not the same length. If you’re recreating an 19th century freight route you could be ok but if you decide that instead you would like to run a modern Amtrak passenger train you could be plagued with derailments with such a small turning radius. Besides the functionality of too tiny a turn radius you also have the glaring fact that it just doesn’t look that pragmatic.
Are your inclines too steep? Most new model railroaders foresee some type 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 need an exceedingly long incline indeed particularly if you’ve made a long train to start with. You are not going to go from ground level to train clearing bridge height in only 2 feet. If you do not have big layout, a possible answer 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 not forget that in actuality 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 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 right scale.
Does your train match your track? Unlike Ho scale where everything just about works alongside everything else, O scale modeling can really 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 3 rail tracks there were some major discoveries that include two rail systems, more authentic O gauges and the choice of running O scale trains on narrow tracks. Do your research before purchasing even your first train set, because once you’ve chose a track, you are stuck with it or will be doing a major overall down the road.
Keep these usual mistakes under consideration when planning 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 american flyer model trains, visit http://www.modeltrainsguide-emil.com/g-scale-model-trains/.
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