On30/house

There is a 100+ page thread on On30. Use the search feature in the top right corner and you ought to find it it.

About running an On30 train through your house. Sounds like fun. A whole lot of questions though. How many rooms are you talking about? How big is your house? and what rooms are allowed vs being off limits.

A bit of info about On30. Best radius is at least 24" for most locos. Some can handle sharper. Most Bachman stuff is ok. What's not is the older shays unless they have been regeared. All versions up until the last run of them a year ago had plastic gears on the trucks and they broke fairly soon. Their climax had issues also and I am not sure that has been fixed.

House corners...Inside corners will look ok from the floor. Outside corners may require coming out from the wall aways so some experimenting might be worth while.

Want to add scenery? Could become a real conversation piece if you do. That would affect how wide your shelf roadbed would be.

Jack

Are you going to be digging

Are you going to be digging tunnels through walls to get from room to room? 

Size of O vs On30

On30 trains are narrow gauge and as such they are close to the size of S scale standard gauge trains.  If you really want big O scale trains stay with O scale standard gauge.

Also, even though On30 trains are smaller, the buildings are still O scale and take up lots of room - almost 4 times what the same HO building requires.

Also, On30 is very much old time steam railroading mostly in the 1900 era - truss rod cars, open platform passenger cars, etc.  If you like newer stuff like steel boxcars, F3 diesels, etc. you won't find these.

All of which is not to say that On30 can't be fun, it is.  It's just not the same as O scale standard gauge but with  HO track.

Paul

On30

On30 is a great choice if you want to build O scale size and level of detail structures and scenes, but not take up as much space.  But as Paul says the trains themselves don’t “feel” much bigger than HO std gauge.  All depends on what you want.

Silly me

I thought you had asked for her hand in marriage!  

Little did I know that you were further down the road and just getting to the really tough questions.

I dunno

 I'd be very careful.  Do you figure you'll be on a ladder much?  How good are you with electrical?  Does she know the answers to any of these questions already?  Might be worth a thought first. But if its all clear.. then enjoy my friend..   Very cool...          

The first question is easy. The rest...

The other questions, no so much

Looking forward to update posts

Oh no.. You say oh no like

doh, necro topic - never mind. 

Necrobump

I don't think I've seen any posts by the OP after his first and only post that started this thread six months ago. 

A suspicious-minded type might even wonder if the thread was a troll post all along, but I'm assuming, until proven otherwise, that she changed her mind. 

Women changing their mind?

I was just going to suggest that he get started right way,... BEFORE she changed her mind again. I think Michael Rose just experienced such a phenomena,...ha..ha

I think she got him up on the

I think she got him up on the ladder like I said.     RIP brotha.  Model Railroaders are good people but so easy to trick....

Keeping the Better Half Happy

Hi Fieroequinnologist,

Here are a few hints to promote the hobby with your significant other:

Ask her opinion while planning the railroad(Scenes, buildings, people, scenery, etc.).  Be willing to make some compromises to share the hobby and living space.

If possible, get her involved with the construction or scenery.  There's a lot of arts and crafts detail work on any railroad...many hands make light work.

Consider constructing modular railroad sections in the workshop, so the living area is only cluttered while installing the next section of the railroad.  Very few women will find the "plywood pacific" fits the living room decor.

Use water based paints and glues to minimize odors(Most women have an acute sense of smell).

Never, ever lose your sense of humor.  Model railroading is fun!