Why switch to O Scale?

I have been a rubber-gauger all my life. Part of me likes to run trains... any type of trains. Lego trains, toy trains, scale models, it just doesn't matter. I want to see them go round and round. I enjoy the noise and the lights and the smoke. My first electric train was a Bachmann HO scale diesel powered set. That led to a nice 4x8 layout built by my parents. A couple of year later and I was given the Lionel DC powered "Cannonball Express" for Christmas. According to my dad, I wasn't very happy with the Christmas gifts I received that year (1987) so the next day we went to Kiddie City and bought this set. I still have it and love it. I could only set it up temporarily on the floor but I did add a pair of switches. Round and round it went. 

My grandfather also had a Lionel train in his basement that he would set up just for me to play with, and I ran it for hours and hours each day when I went to visit. Here I am, all of 5 years old, left alone to run it. What times!

In high school I modeled in HO scale, mostly focusing on the local railroad around my Rochester hometown: Conrail. HO scale was what I was given as gifts by family and friends, and it was quite affordable to purchase Athearn "Blue Box" kits. 

After moving into a small apartment in another town for law school, I had to put my HO trains on hold. I built several small N scale layouts around 2x3 feet in dimension and sold much of my HO equipment to fund my new N scale purchases. During the mid-2000s, DCC was not standard in locomotives so I had to send many of mine out to have their frames milled for decoders. Installing Micro-train couplers on them also was out of my skillset. The costs added up. I love building kits but in N scale there wasn't a lot out there and details were lost in the small scale. Finally, keeping the trains moving smoothly in N scale was just too difficult.

I then began collecting HO scale again around 2011 with the thought that eventually I would have a basement to build a proper HO scale layout. It started with a simple gondola kit, and led to boxes and boxes of cars and a dozen or more engines. Everything was customized and weathered, and I really enjoyed the process. My layout progressed rapidly due to my urge to complete my NMRA Master Model Railroader requirements, and I enjoyed the research and scratchbuilding associated with modeling a specific prototype. But the layout didn't work out as I intended.

All the same, my love for Lionel trains has been in the back of my mind all along. When I was young I was a junior member of Rochester's Edgerton Model Railroad Club. It has been featured several times in Classic Toy Trains magazine (June and August 1991 issues) and O Scale Railroading magazine (October 1989, Run 107). It also celebrated its 70th Anniversary in 2020. My father shared that interest with me, and at one time he was their Recording Secretary. If you read the articles, you will not see him in the pictures as he missed the day the photographers stopped by. But he is mentioned on page 52 of the August 1991 Classic Toy Trains magazine. Sadly, I cannot find a single picture I took of the Edgerton train club over the years. I should go back with Harrison sometime.

The picture below taken on a trip to my friend John's house shows what I am talking about. And O scale (and standard gauge) trains are fun and exciting! 

But another part of me likes to build scale models, and carefully craft scenes that match the prototype, and weather everything realistically. On occasion those two different areas of the hobby can overlap, but frequently they don't. Here is a scene from my friend Rocky's layout showing a blend of toy train heritage and nice scenery. This type of modeling is now called "hi-rail".

I have considered building a three-rail layout since at least 2005, when I asked online for some advice. My first real exposure to a "hi-rail" layout was Neal Schorr's magnificent Pennsylvania Railroad layout shown in the 2007 Model Railroad Planning magazine. Wow! I didn't realize hi-rail meant more than gluing extra ties under tubular track. I remember visiting a couple NMRA Division member's layouts that were built in O scale: Jack Smolik's "Not So Great Eastern" (picture below) and Don Klose's Bellevue and Schenectady Railroad. I thought they were a nice combination of scale appearance and three-rail reliability. 

Here is a shot from Don's layout, where he expertly build a rich cityscape representing Schenectady, NY.

Around 2016 I purchased a Lionel Hogwarts Express train set for "under the Christmas tree" because I enjoyed the movies and love British trains. I found this was a slippery slope and soon started buying more O gauge trains cheaply at train shows. 

Finally, perhaps in part due my impending mid-life crisis, in May 2021 I took the plunge and joined the Toy Train Operating Society (TTOS) because they had an active local chapter (the Empire and Eastern) where I could meet up with people and learn stuff. I also started subscribing to O Gauge Railroading magazine around the same time, which I found more helpful than Classic Toy Trains magazine. One guy I met on the OGR forum was Bill, who has invited me to his house several times to run trains. Just get a load of all that smoke from the engine!

Wanting to learn more, I even drove 12 hours round trip to meet a wonderful guy named Frank, whose many layouts have been featured numerous times in the major magazines. His current one has nice scenery and long stretches to let the trains run. Also, like many other O gaugers, his walls are filled with shelves displaying wonderful trains.

As an aside, I have a passion for the Maine two-foot narrow gauges trains too. After several visits to ride some of the trains and see some of the sights there (here, here, here, and here), I started collecting a few pieces of On30 rolling stock based on WW&F equipment. It might be nice to have a future part of the layout also incorporate this scale, but I am getting way ahead of myself. 

What this all means is that I have really tried to learn and visit as many types of O gauge layouts as possible over the past couple of years to figure out what I want in my layout and what I hope it will look like. O scale is calling to me, and the large size and reliability are what I am looking for right now. It just feels right... even with the unrealistic third rail!