What Hobby Train Scale Do You Have Space For?

The size of the train that's best for you can depend on what you can handle and what you like.

Your degree of skill or attention to detail.
Some scales are so small that you need a magnifying glass to work on them. It goes way up to ride-able. The bigger it is the more detailed items you can make or find. The in between scales such as HO and N, have the most items available.

Your physical abilities such as sight or the size of your hands.
Some people have the shake-less nerve to work with the tiny scales, while others prefer something they can grab easily and see easily.

The amount of money you want to put into it.
You can certainly just put up a plain track and have an engine with a few cars for the minimal cost of each scale size. But if you want to get deep into your hobby the cost can be steep. It all varies on what you like and your amount of space.

The best way to explain scale is when you see something like 1:24 on a model car, that means if you had 24 of that same model and lined them up single file and touching, it would equal the length of the real car.

Lets start at the smallest.

Z scale, 1:220 You may have heard of the train that you can run in a brief case. This is it! I recommend a larger brief case so you can keep your work in it also. Track, battery pack, engine and a couple cars and your ready to impress the others on the commute.

N scale, 1:160 These are great for apartments. You can set up something small on a counter or build a fold up table that can stash well.

HO scale, 1:87 You should really have at least a small room dedicated to this scale. A large room is best because this scale has the most variety of items available.

O scale, 1:48 Most collectors of O scale, use an entire basement, garage or barn. I know a few guys that use their whole house. One engine can be around 12" long. There is a lot of products available for this scale, old and new.

G scale(garden)1:22You should have a yard and a space in the garage to store the engines and cars out of the weather. A big green house is fine also. These are the ones you often see running around just below the ceiling in some restaurants. It really is an incredible feeling to hold one of these 3 foot long engines in your arms.

Live steam You need a huge yard and huge basement. The scale on these vary quite a bit and everything is hand build. You can buy used or from a person that builds them, or get some metal milling equipment. It's nearly a lost art. I would love to see some people starting this up. Most of these are made for kids to ride on.

Old scales There are some other scales that are no longer made, but some people still like to collect them. S scale is a little smaller than O. Standard scale which is larger than O. And several scales that were for old tin and iron train. Many of those were wind up and the track for them is very limited.

Both collections I've shown here, I saw in New Zealand. This one is mostly old tin trains, some are wind up and some go on O scale track. Hornby, Ives, Marx and other makes.

There's everything between just getting out the track once a year, to huge realistic scenery with running water, lights, digital switches and buildings.

One could make a layout of a well know train station in the city they live in or a fantasy mountain world with tunnels.

You need to consider the room you have and the scale you like.

When doing a big layout remember to make a hole in the middle for so you can reach all areas of the track. I have seen a few that were build skinny and long also.

The inclines must not be much steeper than 8% or the engine may have a hard time. The cheap brands won't make that at all.

Also the curve of the track must not be too sharp. Some engines and cars are too long for a sharp turn.

You usually want to start with a wood board and work up from there with several materials. You could do the old fashion paper mache', fiberglass, spray foam, or cut foam blocks.

Books are a great start for that. Train shows help quite a bit. You can google that for your local area. Many of the magazine isles in the store have hobby train magazines with lots of great tips and idea.

Curves
The set curved track is measured by how big the circle is across if the pieces were put together. Such as O track that is sometimes called 0-27, is 27" across the circle. Also in HO there is 18" radius.

If you want to get into the longer cars and engines, it's a good idea to get larger radius curves.

Flex
For each scale "flex track" is made. It's basically very long pieces that bend. This helps you get that wide curve, make any kind of turn, and reduce the amount of little pieces.

When bending the flex track it will make one rail longer than the other, but not the ties(as seen in photo)so you will need a fine saw. Then you can use the regular rail joiners or soldier to put pieces together.

Rail metal
Most track come in 2-4 metals. Everyone has a different preference.
The steel is what you will find in the Tyco kits, it needs constant cleaning.
Brass looks neat, but also needs some cleaning.
Nickel is the most wanted. It hardly needs cleaning and doesn't oxidize unless you leave it in salt water.

Rail code
Mostly applies to HO scale. It is the height of the rails from the ties. When you join some train clubs they prefer you to use a very short rail, because it is more realistic.

You can use code 100, code 83, and code 70 all on the same layout. The code 83 rail is shorter than code 100. The code 70 rail is shorter than code 83.

The numbers indicated are the actual height of the rail in thousands of an inch. Using transition tracks or transition rail joiners will help in
keeping the top of the rail level.

Ties and roadbed
The ties vary in color between the brands. I have also seen kits where you can put down real wood ties and then add rail.

There is also "roadbed" available. Which is soft cork like material that represents the gravel under the track. I have also seen some that is a strip of tar, so after the track is down you can pour on the fine ballast grain.

Some track has the road bed built in, such as the newer O scale and the "E-Z track" for HO. The E-Z and Quick track has become very popular because it looks nice and is easy to put together. Marklin's track is often made with the track, brown ties and realistic roadbed in one.

I just spoted E-z Track in N scale size on eBay.

There is so much I can tell you, this is just a light idea of your choices.

Here is a photo of an HO scale Jaguar and an N scale station wagon. The Jaguar is 2" long, a touch smaller than a Hotwheel. The N scale is a little smaller than a Microamachine.

You can start easy and use the small power packs that come with the sets, or if you want to go large, there are bigger and more complex transformers, some use old style switches and lots of pust buttons. Or for the computer people, there is the new digital systems called DCC.

At the touch of a button or switch you are able to control switches, lights, train speed, round tables and even disconnecting the cars.

It's a good idea to get onto some train club forums. They are very helpful. I'll put some links at the bottom.

Some other things you will need is track cleaning fluid, tiny nails, glue, joiners, and wire. When getting into magor scenery, you will need board, foam, trees and buildings.