This website has been archived from TrainWeb.org/mhrr to TrainWeb.US/mhrr.

HO>>S<<O
Rolling Stock and Trackwork
Structures, Scenery, and Supplies
from Other Scales, usable in S.
Revised December 12, 2003

Railroad Structures and Supplies

Interlocking Tower	O	Atlas	October 1997 NASG Dispatch
Plasticville,             several items	O	Bachmann	April & Oct  1997 NASG  Dispatch	Farmhouse, station, switch tower, signal bridge, pedestrian overpass.  Plasticville is usually  undersize for O.
Signal Bridge	O	Bachmann Plasticville	Roy Hoffman	Reduce length of legs.
Interlocking Tower		Plasticville	Ed Loizeaux	"Switch Tower.  Cut off the base."
Mainline Bridge	HO	3 Bros. Mfg.	Walthers	"Originally designed as an S scale kit."  Ed. Loizeaux "Two can be kitbashed together."  Roy Hoffman
Central Valley 150' Rigid Truss Bridge. (210-1902 $33.95)	HO	Central Valley	Bill Fraley	"You simply expand the width a little bit and you're in business.  I have had mine on the upper division mainline for years.  It always gets favorable commentary."
Box Girder Sections  (210-19025 $9.85)	HO	Central Valley		"Girders are always in scale.  Their length-to-height ratio remains relatively constant."
80' Turntable	HO	Heljan / Concor	Roy Hoffman	"makes reasonable S turntable."
Pony Truss Bridge	O	MTH	July / August  2000 S-Gaugian	54' long with stone piers.  Review by Richard Ward.
Bridge	O27	Lionel	Don DeWitt
Bridge  Components	HO	Atlas		"Girders are always in scale.  Their length-to- height ratio remains relatively constant."
20" Arched Truss Bridge	HO	Atlas	Chuck Smith	"Good girder detail."
Trolley Barn	O	Korber	Don DeWitt
Yard Lights	HO	NJ International	Ted Larson	Large HO lights will make small S lights.
Fuel Tanks and Towers	HO	various	Don DeWitt	Kitbash the fueling towers for S.
Coaling Tower	O27	Lionel	Jeff Madden	Round Concrete Coaling Tower, modify doors and support heights
Water Tank	O27	MTH	Jeff Madden	Looks like it should work
Wood Water Tank Cornerstone Series	O	Walthers #933-3507	March / April 2000 S-Gaugian	Overall height in S is 18-1/2'.  Set on hill or on top of industrial building.  Review by Richard Ward.
Clarksville Station	HO	Walthers Cornerstone #933-3063	Alex Binkley	"I put a cut stone foundation under it and  installed a couple of Grandt Line double  doors where the freight doors were."
Turntable Indexer		Micro Design	Roger V. Petrella Jr	"This is a very well made and accurate indexing system that can be used with any brand of turntable.  It can position up to 50 stops.  Micro design also makes a couple of other track items, originally designed for HO, but easily adapted for use on S."
Myerstown Station	O (?)	MTH # 30-9051	Terry Harrison Feb. 2002 Dispatch	It is of turn of the century(20th) style. Here are the facts.  It is dead bang on for S.     Station length- 81'     Width- 21'     platform to roof edge- 14'     platform to peak of roof- 25'6"     entry doors- 3'3"w x 8'6" high It lists at $47.50.  It also has interior lights.  Station unscrews from base so interior walls or detail can be added.  Nice station for passenger folks.
Cut Stone Tunnel Portals	On3	A.I.M	Vic Cherven - Feb. 2002 Dispatch	Cast plaster, 30' high x 31' wide in S scale.

Track and Right of Way

Fish Plates and Braces for Code 83 Rail	HO	Details West	Keith Thompson  (East)	Details West - Track details (fish plates & braces                               for code 83 rail)
Tunnel Portal - On30"	On30		Vic Cherven - Feb. 2002 Dispatch	A..I.M (Walther's O/S Catalog)  -  Cast plaster cut stone portal - 30' hi x 31' hi in S scale - Portal opening is 16'3" x  22'9"

Industrial Structures

Railtown Structures	O	MTH	October & December 1997 NASG Dispatch	"These are approximately 85% of 1/4", O scale."
Gantry Crane #1333	HO	Life-Like	April 1997 NASG Dispatch	"...install a Grandt Line S door in place of the HO, and use an S scale ladder."
Oil Depot	HO	Walther's	Bill McClung	#50100 Williams Bros Storage Tank Kit
Oil Depot	O	Walther's	October 1997 NASG Dispatch	"Looks a bit small" for O. "...a small shack (very oversized doors) and useable oil tanks etc and related details.  However the tanks didn't fit together very well and I'm still trying to get enough putty and sanding to smooth them out. - Alex Binkley
Feed Mill	O	Walther's	October 1997 NASG Dispatch	"By playing with the platform and the door sizes, this should work for S."
Water tower	O	Korber	Roy Hoffman	"Water towers come in all sizes."
Telephone Poles	O27	Plasticville	Roy Hoffman	"Nice size."
Engine House B842	HO	Heljan / Concor	Ted Larson	The HO railroad size doors will fit an S scale highway truck, OR Sn3 locomotives, OR S industrial locomotives.   I'll use this for a factory after changing the personnel doors to S scale.
Campbell Soup Co.	HO	Korber	Roy Hoffman	"Large structure.  Good for S."
Brewery	HO	Heljan/Concor #807	Stan Stockrocki's Layout	"HO kit most used in S because it is perfect for S." - RH "There are two identical-looking versions of the Heljan Brewery  (distributed by Con-Cor). The small one is marketed as HO/N (with two sets of doors). The larger version, marketed as HO, also has two sets of doors.  The bigger doors in this variation are just about perfect S scale.  Anyway, the version suitable for S scale is the #807 Brewery."
Brewery	O	Heljan / Concor	Don DeWitt	Kitbashed into office building.
Various Buildings	HO	Pikestuff	Roy Hoffman	"Needs S-scale doors."
Factory	HO	Kibri	Stan Stokrocki
Large Factory	HO	Walther's 933-3052	Stan Stockrocki	Solid building, no pre-cut openings, corrugated steel sides.
Brookhill Creamery	O	Walthers	Jeff Madden	"Alter doors and platform"
Milton A. Corp.	HO	Pikestuff 541-0104	Alex Binkley	"Change doors and windows."
Stamping Plant	HO	Walthers	Terry Harrison	Many kitbash possibilities.  Change the doors,  perhaps increase the roof height.
Plastic Smokestack Cornerstone Series	HO	Walthers	March / April 2000 S-Gaugian	Review by Richard Ward.  Bricks are just slightly small for S scale.
Glacier Gravel Kit Cornerstone Series	HO	Walthers	July / August 2000 S-Gaugian	Photo and review of kit adapted to S, by Frank Titman.  Size is 9-1/2" x 10-1/4".
Jansen's Seed & Grocery Warehou	HO	Campbell	April 2002 Dispatch	Conversion article by Jeff Kruger
3 Unit Grain Silo	HO	Mountains in Minutes	Dispatch June 1998	A foam core structure, redo the 2 doors to S scale, and add a 1/4" base - Jeff Madden
Transfer Crane	HO	Life Like	Dispatch June 1998	Oversize for HO, redo the door and ladder.  Jeff Madden
Grain Elevator	O	Lionel	Dispatch June 1998	Shorten the height in the middle, cut down the canopy over the hopper, and add an S scale door.
Planing Mill	HO	Walthers	Ted Larson	I saw at a train show this weekend the Walther's Cornerstone Series "Planing Mill".  It sure is LARGE!  Looks way to big for HO to me!  If I had had a scale rule with me, I would have checked the doors.  Theylooked like they too might have been real close to S scale.

Commercial Structures

Marketville USA	O	Grand Line Products	December 1997 NASG  Dispatch	"Betty's Bake-a-Teria, Firehouse, and Tillie's Teapot would be suitable for S.... replace doors and windows with... S parts."
Plasticville Silver Series, several items	HO	Bachmann	December 1997  NASG Dispatch	Emil's Dry Goods, Main Street Apothecary, and Pink Lady Boutique are actually 3/16" scale, according to Bachmann.
Superior Bakery and Weekly Herald Print Shop	HO	Heljan / Con-Cor		Used so frequently by S modelers, that a layout without one of these looks "wrong"!  "Perfect for S."       7.75" x 5.5" footprint.
City row of buildings	HO	City Classics	Roy Hoffman	City row buildings.  "Very nice size for S."  "The floors are about 8' apart which is too little for S, but in a full city setting they don't look too bad.  I do have two of them in view if you go to the photos section of the S-scale Yahoo Groups and go to the last picture in the Penn Western folder.  One is the brown building to the left of 30th Street Station and the other is the gray building behind the last PRR passenger car on the right."
Various buildings	HO	Korber	Roy Hoffman	"Look very good in S."
Hospital	O27	Plasticville	Roy Hoffman	"Changed this to a drug company."
School	O27	Plasticville	Roy Hoffman	"Changed this to a Court House."
Various Buildings	HO	Design Preservation	Roy Hoffman	"Great kit-bashing possibilities."
Post Office	O27	Plasticville	Roy Hoffman	"Good as is."
Gas Station	O27	MTH	Jeff Madden	Use S scale gas pumps
2-story Office Building	HO	Pikestuff	Alex Binkley	"Change the front door...  Grandt Line fixes up these buildings."
Board and Batten  Building # 1	HO	Rix #628-251	Alex Binkley	"...a Rix store that was 36 by 36 foot square in HO.  I extended the sides and replaced two of the doors with  Grandt Line ones and made two others into rollups."
Car Dealership	O	Walthers	March / April 200 S-Gaugian	Review and photo of O scale kit by Frank Titman.  Based on the photo, you might want to make the building less tall.  Size is 9 inches square.
Police Station		Matchbox	James Sleeth	"I found a Match Box Police Station.  It is S scale and makes the Plasticville and Marx look like toys.  The upper story has a store front that can be used later.  You take the left side wall windows and put on the top front.  Then you add stair railing and you have a great S building.  "
Bank		Matchbox		"The Bank is modern.   It has a break away front like it "blows up".  I used picture frame card stock and built a new set of walls on the left front, left side, and back.  It has a drive thru."
Gas Station		Matchbox	James Sleeth	"You get the Matchbox airport to remove the double doors and attach to the rear of the gas station.  The gas pumps come with a car."
Bus Station	HO	Bachmann	Tom Robinson April 2001 Dispatch	From Bachmann's Spectrum Cityscenes series.  $40
Lumber Yard Cornerstone Series	O	Walthers	July / August 2000 S-Gaugian	Photo and review of kit, by Frank Titman.  Based on the photo, the office should be reduced in height.
Ambassador Hotel	HO	Bachmann	March / April 2000 S-Gaugian	Size is 6-3/4" x 9-1/2" x 11" tall.  Review and photo of kit adapted to S, by Frank Titman.
Gas Station	O	K-line	Dispatch June 1998	Each garage door was narrowed by one panel, and the two longs sides and roof shortened accordingly.  Jeff Madden

Other Structures

Plasticville Homes	O27	Bachmann	Roy Hoffman	"Ranch or two story good for S."
Street Lights	HO	NJ International	Ted Larson	Large HO lights will make small S lights
Farm House	O27	MTH	Jeff Madden	"Also produced by Model Power."
Misc.	HO	DPM	Alex Binkley	"Some of the DPM HO kits can be easily converted into S by changing the doors.  However none of them have outside details some as lights etc. so I need to spend more time combing the parts lists."

Components

Factory Windows and Roof Vents (105-207 $ 3.50)	HO	City Classics	Bill Fraley	City Classics has a lot of structures that can easily be converted to S Scale.
Cyclones and vents.(159-411 #12.95)	HO	City Classics
Central Valley Fence, Ladders and stairs (210-1601 $4.95 210-1602 $4.95)	HO	City Classics
HO Plaster Walls	HO		Don DeWitt	See photo on Don's layout.
Wall Mounted Dust  Collector	HO	Walthers	March / April 2000 S-Gaugian	Review by Frank Titman.
Roof Vents & Blowers	HO	Walther's	S-Scale e-mail list	Cornerstore Series Roof Detailing Kit #933-3158
Roof Vents	Multi- Scale	Rix	Jamie Bothwell	I found a bag of vents from Rix.  They are labeled as "Multi Scale" and they seem well sized for S.  They were $6 for eight vents.

Scenery

Backdrops		Backdrop Warehouse
Posters			Terry Harrison	http://nyow.railfan.net/pfmsig/home.html  "Go down to posters. Let me know if you can't find it."
Fence	HO	Central Valley No. 1601	Alex Binkley	"The railings are useful and the wooden fence can be turned into a boardwalk."
Signs	HO, O	Bar Mills Scale	Michael Greene	"Art Fahie and team have produced an excellent new series of laser cut signs."

Multi-Scale Supplies