Why Oh Why Oh Why "O"?

[lock4244]

Lee is correct using that term.  Bachmann is like Lionel - lots of trains sold in toy stores!

Oh yeah... I guess we all started with the obligatory loop and the "Heavy Haulin" set or whatever it happened to be called. Mine was Minitrix, though, not Mr. B.

[wcfn100]

Have we gotten such a "rep" as pennypinchers that the manufacturers are afraid to offer decent steam at a higher price?

Not 'gotten', earned.  



Jason

[Hiroe]

Lionel is it's own flavor of useless. Most of their customers are already used to the significant license taken to make a 3R product that runs on O27 track; so they're not that picky when it comes to prototypicality. GG1's in warbonnet paint? Sign them up! (....Although the pink 'girl's set' that lionel released years ago was a bit of a flop.)

However, i will admit that *some* of their recent stuff is close enough to scale size that it looks good when rebuilt as 2-rail models (like the PS4 gons).

--Drew

[FrankCampagna]

One reason Lionel can get away with these. Almost no one in N scale will pay $2000-$2500 for a locomotive. Covers a lot of development cost in fewer units sold.

Frank

[Chris333]

What about the Erie Triplex in O and HO? Only 3 where made in 1915 and scrapped in 1927.

http://www.dself.dsl.pipex.com/MUSEUM/LOCOLOCO/triplex/triplex.htm

I would take one for $50 bucks to sit on a shelf, but I really don't need one for my modeling. I get pretty ticked off when people request articulateds over and over again.

[CoalPorter]

"The grass is always greener...." ;D Don't ya think ?

I considered trying 2 rail O a few years ago ,then I discovered how absolulty hard and expensive it is to get even one locomotive. For example, if you want a real nice F7, you buy a body from one place, a decent frame from another, and a decent drive from yet another place. (I think with Atlas buying out PD Hobbys this may have changed). It's truely a modeler's scale if you want an accurate real good engine. Most O scale are toys and it takes a tone of effort to do real 2 rail O scale. It's fun to look at magazines from the 50s and 60s and see the only great O scale was done by guys with machine shops.

[choochin3]

Coalporter,
Have you checked out the Atlas line of O scale?
Very nice models that are prototypical,and are SCALE.(no swinging pilots,has scale flanges,etc....)

Carl T.
ps. I'm really not diggin' the Lionel bashing. :

[Walkercolt]

There are companies in Japan who will custom make brass locomotives for a price, and they will run like a Swiss watch and pull well, but they aren't cheap. We got some Z-scale locomotives from a dealer in Ark, that he wanted to see if we could turn. We did, and they were darn close to the price of Overland brass in N. Now I think Overland could stand alot of improvements at their price point, but Key makes some nicer stuff. I've talked to the people from Key repeatedly. To them, N-scalers are cheap-skates, and really hardly worth the effort on their part to develop models, based on sales. We are our own worse enemies.

[wm3798]

Don't think of us as cheapskates, think of us as economically sensitive...
 ;D

[SkipGear]

Why O?

O scalers will walk in the shop and order Lionel sight-un-seen and not even question the price. I have one customer that comes in with the new catalog each year with what he wants circled for us to pre-order. Usually about 2-3K in equipment.

That is why the O scalers get all the interesting stuff, they will pay for it.

I have a friends MTH Dealer Appreciation Big Boy and Caboose setting in my house right now that he paid over $2K for the set 5-6 years ago after searching the country for the caboose. He now has HO and doesn't have that much invested in 3 loco's w/sound (including a Big boy) and 50+ pieces of rollingstock.

[asarge]

2 Rail O' is sweet and they can get mighty proto with some of the nicer equipment.

Our shop has every scale, very little S thoough. As far as dollar sales for each scale goes. O is about 15%, HO 55-60%, N about 20-25% G and Z whatever is left. O has been dropping in sales since the first of the year. N has been increasing.

I have a hard time believing that our shop would be unique compared to all the otheres that off multiple or all scales.

[bicknell]

One thing to remember is quantity.

An O scale guy is likely to get one of these $2500 beats, and have only a few on his layout.

A N scale guy has a roundhouse he wants to fill with 6 of them to match the picture hanging on his wall.

Smaller scales let you model /more/.  That means you need to buy more.  It's not that an N scale guy won't spend $2500, he will, on a scene, or train, which means multiple engines, most of the time.

[wm3798]

Leo cuts right to the chase.  If you compare dollar for dollar in terms of modeling volume, you might be able to argue that N scale is just as expensive, and maybe more!

Lee

[lock4244]

I'm an N Scaler with roughly 1450 freightcars, and roughly 150 locomotives. I think Leo has hit the nail on the head. I'm not cheap by any stretch, but when you can build a yard in a reasonably small space (by O standards) that can hold 200 cars in the yard and 5 arrival/departure tracks that each can hold a 35-40 car train with three locomotives, you can't be expected to pay $75 per car and $2000 per locomotive. How many O gauge items would fill that same foot print? Probably a few, but cost wise, it may be close.

[Hiroe]

"The grass is always greener...." ;D Don't ya think ?

I considered trying 2 rail O a few years ago ,then I discovered how absolulty hard and expensive it is to get even one locomotive. For example, if you want a real nice F7, you buy a body from one place, a decent frame from another, and a decent drive from yet another place. (I think with Atlas buying out PD Hobbys this may have changed). It's truely a modeler's scale if you want an accurate real good engine. Most O scale are toys and it takes a tone of effort to do real 2 rail O scale. It's fun to look at magazines from the 50s and 60s and see the only great O scale was done by guys with machine shops.

Thing is, this isn't necessarily true anymore. The new Atlas "trainman" line (some of which is reworked tooling from the first run of atlas O stuff released years ago) is quite reasonably priced, and fully RTR with kadee-compatible knuckle couplers. As i recall, the cars in this line were about $30, and the GP15-1 (which is DAMN SWEET in O) and RSD4/5 were about $180 each. Although the top-end of atlas locos runs about $450 for the ones with factory-installed dcc, they *all* come with the ability to use drop-in PNP decoders. Weaver also has a lot of decent but inexpensive models.

Also, built-up equipment will regularly turn up at shows, if you look hard enough. I've snagged built+painted+decalled+weathered all-door and Railbox boxcars for $30. Older versions of the atlas 50' gon can be gotten for as little as $10, just need T&C. Hell, last week i snagged an Overland brass 2-rail PRR P5a Modified off that E-auction site for $385 (Original list $795 in 1984). Can't argue with that price; all it needed was one of the drivers turned around so the insulated wheel was on the right side. Other steals do happen often enough to be worthwhile.

...Only problem is Real Estate. I sidestep this by going over to my local 2-rail club; thereby relieving me of having to build the layout at home. Said club layout is big enough that i can run a 50-foot train with no problems.

(Hey ed, the club has no Rule G.  ;D )

Drew