hi all I was thinking (I know scary thought that I would actually have a thought) but here it go's I have a 30inch by 48inch n scale layout, now my n scale does not go near the edge so I was thinking can I fit an HO scale loop around the outside edge of my n scale??? and if I can would that look ok??? sorry I do not have a drawing of my layout for you to see yet but I am working on it. thanks Mike
well, personally, i dont think it would work, mainly because the smallest radius of curve you can buy for HO is 15" meaning that the centerline of the curves diameter is 30", so half of your track is hanging off the board. if you were going to run nothing but old style 0-4-0's and two axle cars you could probably push it down a little with flex track.... i would say the minimum for any HO layout, even a circle is 48"x48" any other takes on this? -Rob
I'm with Rob, Under 15" would be tight even 36' cars. You might do it with a HO trolley. But it would look awful funny running with your N scale!
hmm ok very interesting well it was a thought I wish I had more space so I could do this. I think I will stick to n scale. the only reason I wanted to use ho was because I have 4 very old ho loco's and railcars. I thought that might be cool to see run again I had a 4-10foot ho layout when I was a kid and they are from then. I wounder how much they might be worth or do older model railroad stuff do not go up in value I will post what I have when I get time.
You could always create a little diorama or shelf layout for the old HO stuff - more to put it on display than to run it. But it will be out for you and others to see... Andrew
another option, just to see them run, would be to build some type of extention around your N scale, maybe like on some 1x6's on the two thin sides, that will get you up to 42 inches, which is actually enough for an 18" radius curve. maybe even on a lower level, and then tunnel through each corner so thatyour N scale is slightly elevated, and your HO runs around the base of it. -Rob
I have them on a shelf display right now but I never thought to power the rail just to make a switching yard that might be very interesting I wounder If I could set it up to couple and uncouple automaticly? so it could go from 1 track and get cars and then take them to the other?? is that something that could be done or should I just make it go on 1 track?back and fourth.
definatly make it switch cars by itself.... if you use Kaydee magnetic couplers, you can use them for all of your HO items, and place these special magnets b/t the rails at certain places which will make cars uncouple if you stop over them (micro trains has the same thing for N scale, ill try to take some pictures and show you). then, you can push them back and drop them.... depending on the shelf you have, i'd say do a timesavers layout, and an ingelnook siding layout, those two tend to be some of the more challenging ones. ill find some pictures of each and post them later today. -rob
