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Jamie asks "Should I Switch to 'S'?"| From:
"Sheffield, Howard" <no_spam_HSheffie@chw.edu>
Hi Jamie.
I have just recently gotten back into trains, and found that after trying
Lionel because of the availability, I was just not satisfied with the experience.
O gauge just doesn't have the appeal after having been an American Flyer
owner from years before. S scale is more realistic and satisfying.
Using the links sections of the various S suppliers and associations will
show you a wonderful selection of ways to go. If you have not
decided on going actual scale, the worst choice can bes deciding between
real scale and hi rail (or tinplate as the original American Flyer is sometimes
called). I have opted for both. The creative side of me is
having fun building scale buildings and a layout- most purchased from BTS,
Portline, SHS and other suppliers-with good quality products I am finding
on the web. I am also enjoying the new hi rail passenger set purchased
from American Models that I run with my American Flyer original engines.
It was considerably cheaper than finding American Flyer originals and looks
great. There are great looking engines and rolling stock from several
suppliers to satisfy hi rail or scale. You can use scale cars with
hi rail wheels too. Most Lionel owners that have visited me have
commented that S looks better. If you decide on S, you may also consider
an Sn3 narrow guage addition as I have for a saw mill. This is going
to take a while for me as the kit I bought from Bill Wade at BTS
has 2,400 pieces and I am starting to work my way to it with the smaller
kits for practice. If you would like, I can be reached at no_spam_hjinrosvle@lanset.com
From: American Models <no_spam_rbashista@earthlink.net> Go to http://americanmodels.com/sscale.html this will show you the sizes and other information. S is 35 % larger than HO. Go to the home page and see undreds of photos and buildings on the site AM is the largest manufacture of S scale products. http://americanmodels.com/ From: Chuck Smith <no_spam_cesmith@eznet.net> Jamie, the big difference is that O scale is much bigger than S. Take a look at a full length O scale passenger car and it's about 20" long, S is about 15" long. A 72" radius in O scales down to 54" in S. The O scale stuff has more variety available and is roughly the same cost or cheaper but only if you accept 3 rail. You have adequate room for O and a plenty of room for S. Take a look at the pictures on
my website for some modules and some of my home layout in operation.
It helps you picture the size of the trains. Our modules use about
36" radius turns which handle most stock well. The 80" passenger
cars may look a little cramped on these curves
Also see Art Armstrong's A comparison of scales http://www.slonet.org/~aarmstro/compare.htm My favorite reason: Some of the nices folks on the planet are into S. Paul Yorke |
From:
Alex Binkley <no_spam_alex.binkley@sympatico.ca>
Hi Jamie:
From: no_spam_sigma@ecn.ab.ca Further to what Alex Binkley
has told you, S scale is 1/64 prototype size, compared with 1/48 for O
scale and 1/87 for HO. In S scale a 50-foot box car is 9 3/8 inches
long, compared with 12.5 incheas in O and 6.9 inches in HO. If you
are looking at a rolling-stock width of two to three inches S scale is
in your ballpark because the width of most cars in S is about 1 7/8 inches.
This is not, however, the only consideration you should have in mind.
The area occupied by any S-scale layout, for example, will be 85 per cent
bigger than in HO, and much larger in O. If you have a room 16 by
24 you are much better off than most S-scalers, but many have built terrific
layouts in much less space than you have. As Alex says, there is
not as much equipment available in S as in O or HO, but more and better
is coming out all the time. As he also says, there are S-scalers
all across Canada. I have addresses for about 180 of them, so if you tell
me where you live I can probably steer you to someone in your area for
you to talk to. The group Alex mentions is called S Canada and you
can read about it at http://geocities.com/Colosseum/Bench/79
From: Robin Thompson <no_spam_robin@showcaseline.com> Dear Jamie, S scale is 35% larger than HO, O scale is twice the size of HO. S scale equipment is about 2" wide. You can do a lot of "S" model railraoding in a 12" by 10' space. The outer loop on a layout of those dimensions could support the length of all the "S" scale equipment made in the last decade. In "O" scale, I think you would have a hard time with many of the longer locomotives and full length passenger equipment. Other web sites you may want to visit are: http://trainweb.com/crocon/sscale.html
-- Don Thompson
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