This is my first ever O Scale loco. Started in HO Scale in 1978, switched to N Scale in 1999, switched back to HO scale in 2009. Hobby was paused from 2013 until I started building my roster again in May 2020. Now I am multi-scale between O Scale and HO. It is my wife's fault and all started with us deciding if we wanted the HO Scale, S Scale, or O Scale Polar Express for Christmas. We loved the O scale....which got my juices going...and next thing you know.......BOOM, my 1st O scale loco. My O scale shelf layout will really be mainline railfanning with the old Hill Lines (Great Northern, Northern Pacific, and Burlington). The detail on this thing blew me away.
I posted the O Scale Track Plan in the Layout Discussion thread, but thought I would post it here as well. The purpose of the O Scale layout is really for railfanning mainline trains set loosely in the 1940's with some overlap into the 1960's mainly so that I can have the option to run some the later Great Northern, Northern Pacific, and CB&Q locos. But mostly the era will focus on Steam with the same roads. The shelf layout will consist of two mainline tracks with a third passing siding track. I am planning on Legacy Control and will probably not venture into MTH world (with MTH closing). I have however thought about using the MTH TCU (Track Control Unit) with Lionel Power House units and then Legacy tied into the the respective track blocks from the TCU......But, since I am just starting, I keep trying to apply the KISS principle and just stick with Lionel locos and Legacy. If I get the fancy to do something more advanced down the line, well then that will be an option. Right now, I only have my beast loco posted at the start of this thread (a great start) and that's it. The O-Scale Polar Express is enroute but that is the property of my wife....she wanted the O scale and as stated got my bug started in O scale.....plus how cool is it that my wife wanted a train of her own . The basement train room will host my son's starter HO Layout (currently he has an 4x8 plywood table with a loop of HO and a Pixar slot car track) and the O Scale Layout around the walls. In the far future, this space will host my second HO layout along with the O scale layout (I am hoping my son stays train bitten and we build something together). The O scale layout will be 65" from the floor which for me is a little below eye level with narrow shelves allowing very basic scenery and a few building flats on the backdrop. The first picture is the overall train room with my son's layout in the upper right corner (and partly beneath the O scale layout): The Second Picture is the planned O Scale Shelf Layout:
