I have never had the urge to model HO, my dad still models in HO and I have helped him on his layout. I also just finished detailing an HO locomotive for a UP engineer. What a pain! I superdetail N Scale engines all the time, because of my pickiness, the HO engines become a nightmare. The rivets are big enough to count! To each their own, I like mine in N. I've been with the scale since I was 8 and 28 years later I have no desire to change.
I started in HO and modeled in that for almost 10 years, belonged to a club, learned way too much about politics, never had enough space for the layout I wanted ant then switched to N scale. Now I model N scale and Fn3 (talk about extremes). ALL scales have their good points and bad points (which is why there are so many different scales).
I built a 4x6 "Christmas Tree" layout last year in HO. I used a lot of HO stuff that had been packed away for 20 yrs. (locos/rolling stock/Shinohara track/turnouts). It was much more user friendly for our grandkids (less fragile)--ages 1-6. I was also delighted that locos ran well with minor lubing, etc.. However, as much as I enjoyed the larger scale from a visual standpoint, it again reminded me of just how much room one needs for a decent layout in 1:87! I'm very happy with N scale for all the reasons that I switched over two decades ago, and there's a HUGE improvement with availability and quality and features as have been stated above. I am, however, tempted to build an "along the wall" point to point shelf railroad in HO at some point, limiting myself to road switchers, two bay covered hoppers and 40' box cars.
I'm pretty hard core n-scale. I think presently it is the best mix of every aspect of model railroading, with only a very few compromises from my perspective. I have followed what I figure is a fairly typical path for a life-long model railroader: O-27-->HO-->N-->HO-->N-->G-->HO-->N. But I've been back in N exclusively for close to 15 years now, and the last time I was in HO it was short lived (and before that the G-scale period was even shorter) and I no longer have ANY HO stuff (or any other scale) to speak of. I've considered Z-scale, S-scale and O-scale over the years. The ONLY benefit to moving to Z would be squeezing more into less space, and while that isn't insignificant, it is far outpaced by the negatives...primary one being I would go back to availability of product 25 years ago in n-scale. And same with S-scale...too large of a hill to climb. No major desire at the moment to go to HO...the benefits of additional products isn't as beneficial for me as it is some modelers. (I'm not into steam, and fortunate to have a large variety of appropriate models for my locale/era/prototype) I do think that onboard sound in HO is a huge advantage. I think HO is easier to attain smooth running with. But both of those CAN be mitigated in N. I run long trains with modern equipment and as has been mentioned, HO is just too much of a space hog for me to do what I currently want to do without buying a barn. I intend to move toward O-Scale (2-rail) eventually. I intend to have 2 more layouts in my lifetime past my current one. The first will be my "dream proto-specific n-scale layout" which will likely start in the next 5-8 years, and the second will be a small "protolanced" O-Scale layout, probably starting around retirement in 20-25 years. Obviously plans change, but that's how I'm approaching it for now. I have about 80-90% of the locos and other rolling stock I will need for my dream layout, and a good bit of the structures gathered. My focus now is detailing, weathering rolling stock, and building structures. (well, and finishing my current layout) If I can accomplish all that, I'll die happy.
