n vs. ho


M

MitchyG

the new guy
I am looking to start a model railroad. I have limited space. (4'x8') Which scale do you think would best suit an area of this size? Which is a better deal?
 
N is more compact and you can get about twice as much as you would HO

HO has more available as far as locomotives, rolling stock, structures, and vehicles goes

In the end, its your decision. I myself like HO but have done a little N in the past as well
 
All I do is in N scale.

If I had it to do over, I would go HO.

Easier to take apart and repair the engines and fix the track turnouts that aren't working 100% because everything is 4 times bigger, volume wise 4X = 2X linear.

MUCH easier :)

With HO you use hand tools.
N requires watchmaker size tools: teeny tiny :*(

EDIT: make that 8x. I wouldn't even try to take apart a Z gauge loco...
 
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I have done G,N, and HO. In that order over the last 25 years. I found that they all have their good and bad. In the End HO is what I have modeled with for the last 15 years as it is small yet not to big, track work is not that difficult and you can still see the flaws has the most availible, and DCC installs are not that hard
 
Go to your local hobby shop and compare some locos, rolling stock, track, etc. and compare them to find out what you like.

Me personally I think N is just way to tiny.
 
TWaters said:
[HO is] easier to take apart and repair the engines and fix the track turnouts that aren't working 100% because everything is 4 times bigger, volume wise 4X = 2X linear.

EDIT: make that 8x.
Click to expand...

Actually, even if you measure volume or area, the scale is only ~2x bigger. A 2in cube is 8in^3 in volume, a 4in cube is 64in^3. Since we are dealing with exponents, you have to multiply or divide the volume by it's exponent to convert. Yes 64 is eight times 8, but since we are dealing with exponents...it really isn't. 1/160 is a little less than half the size of 1/87 no matter how you look at it...not 1/8th the size.

Hope that helps clear things up.
 
If you want more than just one circle, I would suggest N scale.

More than one HO oval will cause you to have more track than scenery.

I have a 3.5m x 3.5m room with benchwork around the wall at a 65cm depth.

I can have continuous running and 7 station stops.
If I was using HO I would have to have point to point and I might have room for 3-4 stations.

I prefer N scale. The quality is the same, there is enough of everything to fill a layout.
 
N can do well in compact spaces, but HO is much more preferable, especially in a switching layout style. A loop isn't what a layout has to be. If you can make an industrial layout and likely have the track work as a hypotenuse, you can make little spurs and branches and switch them.
 
Motley said:
Go to your local hobby shop and compare some locos, rolling stock, track, etc. and compare them to find out what you like.

Me personally I think N is just way to tiny.
Click to expand...

Going to the hobby shop is a good idea. Notice if there is any difference that you may like in regards to watching an HO train operating/running on well laid track compared to that of N scale running on well laid track. I prefer HO, but if I had the space, time, and money, I would go O scale.
 
HO scale works best for me... it is all about what works best for you, as others have said. My latest railroad is only about 3 years young and during the design phase I was considering making a switch to N scale from HO. Aside from the extreme makeover it would have taken to convert all the locomotives, cars, track, structures to N scale equipment, I realized that bigger (in this case more track) isn't necessarily better (for me anyway).

Plan and build a railroad that is within your budget of time, dollars, and expectations.
 
I also am starting my first layout. I went to a hobby shop to get a view of the sizes. I thought N would be better since my inital layout will be 4'x8' but I know my layout will eventually grow and decided to plan accordingly so am going with HO.
 
MitchyG said:
I am looking to start a model railroad. I have limited space. (4'x8') Which scale do you think would best suit an area of this size? Which is a better deal?
Click to expand...

I would start by making sure that 4x8 feet really is all you have room for.

Most people who start out thinking about a layout say that, but if we ask a bit more, it turns out that what they really mean is "if I have to put a big rectangular table in the middle of my room to have a continuous loop of tracks on, it cannot take up more floor space than about 8 x 10 feet (ie a 4x8 foot table with 2 foot aisles on three sides)".

But most people have quite a few other options in addition to building a loop layout on a big rectangular table in the middle of the floor.

Two fairly obvious options you may not have considered:

1) doing a point-to-point or switching layout on a fairly narrow shelf. A great looking and interesting to switch layout can be done all the way down to micro layout size (4 square feet). Which is quite a bit of space for a long and narrow shelf.

Here is a 1 foot deep and 8 foot long track plan for an N scale switching layout:

david02.jpg




2) Doing a continuous loop layout on shelves around the walls of a room, either with turnback loops at both ends of the narrow shelves or with removable sections in front of doors and windows that cannot permanently be blocked off.

To show an example of another way to fit a layout into a small room, here is my layout plan - 44 square feet of layout surface with continuous run in H0 scale and a comfortable 30+" aisle coexisting with the use of the 6.5 foot x 11.5 foot room as a storage/tool room:

warehouse66v.jpg


The room is actually too small to fit a a 32 square feet 4x8 foot rectangular layout table.

So I would not limit myself to myself to the "sacred 4x8 sheet" unless there is some real reason for that. Quite often other alternatives are possible.

If you really want to do a classical loop-on-rectangular-table, or feel that it is necessary to a do a loop-on-rectangular-table layout (it may be easier to sell the idea of "it's just a table that can be put away when not in use" than it would be to sell a layout that runs "all around the walls" to a parent or spouse), then I would recommend going N scale and hollow core door (30" x 6 2/3 feet) instead of an H0 scale 4x8.

A 4x8 means (for most practical purposes) that you have to set aside 8 x 10 feet of floor space to have access to all of it. A 30" x 6 2/3rd foot layout you can reach all the way across from one side (provided there aren't buildings in the way). So it can be left permanently pushed up against a wall/into a corner.

Anyways - examine your available space again, and determine whether you really only have room for a 4x8. Or for that matter - that you actually have enough room for a 4x8 + aisles.

Smile,
Stein
 
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I do HO , but have some N stuff.

I have often wondered what it would be like to use N on an HO plan. That would yield one heck of a minimum radius and no restictions on engines etc. 18" is relatively tight in HO, but broad oin N.
 
its all personal preference. i prefer HO over N for number of reasons but that should matter very little to someone who prefers N.
 
As the decades rolled by technology allowed making scales smaller and smaller.

Roughly speaking G is twice large as 0, 0 is twice large as H0, H0 is twice N.

G think garden, i.e. outdoors (British call their lawns gardens).
0 think living room floor. Lionel layed out on the carpet.
H0 think table top (although the kitchen table is not 4 x 8 feet, but roughly speaking...
N think briefcase size (although 2 x 4 is a rather large case even for a lawyer.
 
Recently strarting totally from scratch I could choose any scale I wanted and went with HO hands down because it is the most generic, widely available, cost effective, and easy scale to model... especially with my fat stubby fingers.:rolleyes:

And I'll get lots of potential from just 4'x8' layout because everything I have will negotiate 10" radius curves. ;)
 
A point which should be mentioned is the proposed era. If you're doing early diesel to modern era, both HO and N have nearly equal offerings. If you're doing steam, particularly early steam, N scale is very weak in this area.
 
It would seem (from a post in another thread in these forums, posted three days after the starting post of this thread) that the original poster in this thread (who apparently is 12 years old and who presumably has about the normal amount of patience and forethought for a 12 year old) has decided to skip the whole N vs H0 debate, and just go for H0 scale, since he finds more cheap H0 scale train sets for sale on Craigslist than N scale train sets.

I believe he last time he posted was pursuing a Bachman H0 scale Flying Scotsman and Orient Express kit.

That's one way of doing it.

Smile,
Stein
 
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