Hey guys, I am wondering what the die-hard third (and two) railers think about the On30 stuff? Is it a breath of fresh air to the scale, or is it a plaque sent down upon us by the evil Railroad Gods?? I mean, this stuff gets all the hype, all the press. What of Lionel? Let me know what you think. John
Whether the O scalers like it or not, it does offer one thing. It draws more people to that scale and has probably expanded the market for layout details that didn't exist before. I'll wait to see if the O scalers agree on this point though.
Yep, c'mon guys don't be shy... Here is one note. Some friends salvaged an old Lionel from a bar fire in Grand Junction Co. If I had not gone to O, these beauties may never have seen the light of day. They may never run on my On30, but BET that they will be displayed... John
IMHO On30 has been a blessing to O and model railroading in general. I have some On30 equipment and I’ve been modeling in S and O for many years. The number of buildings and scenery details for O has sky rocketed due to the On30. While we see a lot of stuff for turn of the century being offered, a lot can be used for any era layout. Also, I know of some people who take the Bachmann freight equipment and convert it to S by adding S gauge trucks and couplers. I’ve seen some of the passenger cars narrowed and made into S passenger cars to pull behind the American Flyer Franklin sets. Many of the On30 crowed that I talk with like to kit bash and scratch build. They are keeping that part of the hobby alive. Another thing I like about the On30 people is the fact most of them aren’t rivet counters. If you do want to count rivets, there are plenty of 30” narrow gauge railroads around the world to count rivets on and model. I know that if Bachmann had brought out their On30 stuff when I was in high school I wouldn’t be modeling the 70’s on O scale or S but narrow gauge empires from the turn of the century. Cheers, Greg
Thanks Greg...that is sort of how I view things too. As I have said in the Narrow Guage forum, I have modeled just about every scale and though I never saw myself in O, I simply cannot believe how much fun the On30 stuff is. Scratch building? Yeah man that is the ticket! I have scratch built in N and HO but there is nothing like building something in On30. I can do detail I never thought possible (I don't count rivets, but you can bet I ADD them now!). My sons and I have built two water towers, a station, a coaling bin and some rolling stock. All of this with materials at hand that just happen to be in scale. Wow, too much fun. As I type this my other hand is carving a stone wall for the round house from foam board... John
I've seen discussions where some O scalers grumble. However, by far and away, have also seen more O scalers who have tried On30. And then switched, or added it to their empire. Boxcab E50
That would really be something...to see say a 1950s era Lionel layout with an On30 line added as a branch! Too cool. I would think that there are a few die-hard folks who don't like the On30 concept though. Still, it is keeping the scale alive (and adding a bunch of new accessories, kits etc) for everyone to enjoy. I have noticed that there are as many Lionel O scale train sets on shelves of local hobby dealers as there are HO and N. This was not the case before the advent of On30. Thus, if I can get a Lionel set in Podunk USA the O scale market must be doing well. John
Bachmann sells their On30 trucks separately so any thing in On3 can be retrucked easily. I bought some Industrial Rail wooden ore cars and put Bachmann trucks under them. Quick and cheap wooden ore cars. If you added the Bachmann On30 to a traditional 50's Lionel layout, the details would out shine the Lionel IMHO. Now add it to the 3 rail layouts using the new stuff from Atlas and it would be a natural fit. I also bought some Grandt Line caboose windows, doors and details to scratch build a Mexican caboose. Grandt Line narrow gauge detail parts are relatively cheap, glue easily and add a lot to models. There are a lot of cottage industry type companies that sell stuff for On30 too. The Bachmann stuff kit bashes easy and runs great. Two thumbs up for On30. Greg
Thanks Greg, that brings up a good point. I think because the Bachmann stuff (and some other On30 manufactures foillow this as well) is "generic" and simple it can be super detailed or looks fine as is. This is nice...a baseline to start from. I woiuld like to see my Lionel O caboose run on the On30 as a lasting tribute to the guys who had the layout in the business before it burned down. Any advice on how to remove the Lionel trucks? BTW I use HO scale wheelsets on the Bachmann rolling stock...looks a lot better. John
John, Which caboose are you planning on converting? There was an SP cupola caboose, a Pennsy center cupola caboose and work caboose. If it is the older SP caboose with the metal floor I'd build a plastic floor with new bolsters for the Bachmann trucks and space the Kadee couplers to match the engine pulling it. I believe the steps on the Lionel SP caboose wouldn't be an issue but the width may. I'll have to check one of mine. It certainly would be different and a nice tribute. Greg
I had to fish it put and am looking at it as I write. It is a "steel" caboose, Pennsylvania RR. Says BLT 1-89 Lionel in the builders location. The trucks appear to be "rveted" in place. The caboose is of course entirely the wrong era for our layout, but again I would like to see it as a trinute to the buned up line. The caboose has a slightly warped roof and is covered in soot from the fire, but is otherwise in good condition. John
John, Does it have square corners on the roof and sides? Is the cupola rectangular or semi streamlined. Being it was built in 1989, I'd take a dremel tool and grind the rivet head off to release the truck. I'm assuming it has a plastic floor. New plastic bolsters would be easy to glue on. It should have the end railing detail as a seperate piece which makes it easier than the metal framed caboose. I measured my SP style caboose and it measures 8' wide which would be ok to run with the Bachmann freight cars IMO. Greg
Yep, square corners and semi-streamlined. It is a scale 8' wide. The plastic floor appears to be removal via tabs that attach to the end walls. Maybe "rivet" is not the right term here. The fastener would have to be drilled out if I go from underneath. I have not removed the body yet to see what it does on the inside... John
So it sounds like the PRR type with round porthole windows on the side. Once you get the body off, the rivets look more like donuts on the inside IIRC and are easier to grind off with dermal tool. If some plastic get removed it will be on the inside. We used that method to remove the rivet when we changed trucks on cabooses. Lionel for a while was putting only one coupler on some of their cheaper cabooses so we removed the non coupler equipped truck and replace it with one that had a coupler. We used a hodge podge of nuts and bolts to attach the trucks. I've had good success with brass wood screws that have the shoulder to attach trucks. I just drill a hole smaller than the screw and let the threads cut into the plastic. Greg
Well, the windows are square, but the set up sounds right. The floor tabs, on closer inspection, are for the end detail (ladder/brake etc). Anyway, I think I will photo this thing as it is and then do an after shot. i won't change much, just the trucks (keep it on PRR and not back date it in any way). John
Neat John. I look forward to seeing the pictures. Kadee #5 couplers should be fairly easy to mount too. Greg
There was a post a while back in the N scale forum worth digging up if anybody has the time to do so. I have the link form the Atlas forum side of the world, jsut not the link to the Trainboard topic. But the basic point is, there was a really good picture int here showing the differnece between standard guage and narrow guage that most peopel don't ever really consider. http://forum.atlasrr.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=28145 This may make it Hard to use standard guage lionel in these purposes - UNLESS, of course, you're modeling South american Narrowgauge operations...which indeed use larger sized equipment! You will be on your own though, making the D-D trucks and BB-BB trucks!! Aha! EDIT! FOUND IT!! http://www.trainboard.com/grapevine/showthread.php?t=76618
Interesting thread Benny. I think John is working here on a non-prototypical application. First it’s to commemorate the trains from a previous owner and layout. Second the caboose is an O27 car and does measure out to 8’ wide which is about a 1/16th of an inch wider than the Bachmann caboose. Some of Lionel’s O27 cars aren’t full O scale for standard gauge but not bad for later era narrow gauge equipment. So while it’s not prototypical it won’t be that big of a stretch running it either. Greg
Thanks Benny! Interesting stuff!! Really Greg has summed it up. Although my layout will be a prototypical run of the Colorado and Souther, I have these cars that were salvaged from a business that burned down. Instead of throwing the lot away, I thought I caould modify the caboose and run it as a tribute to the lost layout. The caboose actually is closer to narrow guage in size than standard guage. John
