subject: What's All the Fuss About HO Trains? [print this page] What's All the Fuss About HO Trains? What's All the Fuss About HO Trains?
More than two-thirds of model railroaders consider HO scale their favorite. Consider HO scale model trains for your next layout.
HO model railroads are small enough so that you can fit a lot of layout in a limited space, yet large enough to provide fine detail. HO is not so delicate that your youngster cannot play with it (my first set was HO), and there is little risk of small parts being damaged. HO scale provides an excellent balance between detail and space requirements.
Speaking of size, HO models are 1/87th the size of their prototype. This is half the size of 'O' scale, another scale made popular by the Lionel Train company. The track gauge (distance between rails) for HO is 16.5mm, which happens to be the same gauge as the 'OO' scale, popular in Great Britain.
Though HO trains are small, they are large enough to have quite a bit of detail, which is one of the reasons this scale is so popular. For the 'realistic' modeler, who wants exact scaling and realism, HO can't be beat.
Younger railroaders love the HO set they first got for Christmas. Not so heavy they can't be lifted by the youngster, and not so fragile they cannot take a bit of bumping around (but just a bit)!
Us older modelers find HO great to work with. As your budget of space grows (go ahead, take over the basement!) you can build vast layouts at this scale. Compared with the size of 'N', 'Z' or 'T' scales, HO is easy to work with, and still gives us plenty of layout to fill in. 'N' scale is roughly the size of HO, and Z and T are even smaller. For the hobbyist who needs glasses, or perhaps has a bit of arthritis, HO is still quite manageable to work with, right down to the finest of detail.
HO being so popular, you can find any type of equipment for your layout, from locomotives and rolling stock to bridges, turntables, figures, scenery, buildings and more. While some build scenery and more from scratch, you can easily find kits that can be used either right out of the box, or combined (kitbashing) to make the exact building or scene that you want. If you have a specific railroad you want to model, you can probably find the exact locomotives and rolling stock you need, since manufacturers have produced just about every train ever built, from steam locomotives to the Japanese bullet train and the high speed 'Acela.'
If you are just starting out in model railroading, I recommend you consider HO for your layout. The balance of detail, amount of layout for a given space, cost, and availability of components makes HO an excellent choice for most of us. See you at the hobby shop!
