Have any of you thought about going to the dark side?

[txronharris]

I appreciate the comments and sorry if I offended anyone with the dark side comment. It was all in fun. Figured guys here are pretty thick skinned so didn't think it would bother anyone. All my N friends have always said the same thing as a joke. If I didn't like HO and the possibilities, I wouldn't be considering the change.

I like the shelf switching layouts and think I can do both really well in the same size. The suggestion of sticking with N at home since the local club is HO may be the way to handle it. But they have a TTrak N club too, so could keep my “foot of N scale” and do both that way too.

Appreciate everyone’s input. Gonna think it over with a couple of cold beverages tonight and a trip to my local shop to browse tomorrow.

[davefoxx]

. . . and a trip to my local shop to browse tomorrow.

Oh, you're screwed.  Window shopping can get so expensive.

DFF

[txronharris]

Oh, you're screwed.  Window shopping can get so expensive.

DFF

I’ll try and keep it in check. There’s also a show coming up end of September that’s not been cancelled that I’m planning to go to also. I will resist “the cookies” and do my best to just do some looking. Maybe I’ll leave my wallet in the car (yeah, right😂).

[mmagliaro]

I have done more than just think about it.  I know I will definitely do it when I get a little older, am retired, and the kids are out of the house.  And it won't be to HO.  It will be to S Scale (dark enough, for ya!  )
The attractions?
- I love scratchbuilding, and it will be a lot of fun with bigger mechanisms and parts
- I have always always ALWAYS loved the look of S Scale track on layouts.  To me, it has always looked the most like real track to me.
The proportions, the rail height.. can't put my finger on it.
- Large enough and heavy enough to eliminated track pickup problems, and I would likely go all on-board battery power anyway, and then kiss track cleaning good bye except for very simple vacuuming and wiping off.
- Not a lot of commercial stuff available, but enough, and enough craftsman kits and steam mechanisms to use as kitbashing fodder.

I would keep all my hand-made N Scale  and best of the best rolling stock and structures, and dump everything else.

Don't fret about what might happen tomorrow.  Even if you go to HO and in 2 years you want to go back to N, so what?  It's not a race.  There's no scoring panel.  Life's too short to worry about making a mistake that will be little more than a temporary bump in the road.   The worst that could happen is you'll have another layout to tear down and build, and you might spend some money and have to reacquire some N Scale equipment.   We've all torn down and rebuilt many times in our life.  What's one more?

[u18b]

" Have any of you thought about going to the dark side?

No.

I refuse to model Norfolk Southern.
(unless it's a CSX patch job, like the B40-8s)
 

[nickelplate759]

I thought you meant slot cars (remember those)?

I played with those as a teenager ("HO" slot cars) but for me the real fun was seeing how good a car I could build.   As soon as any kid with $15 bucks could go out and by a car off the shelf as good as I could make from a $2 Thunderjet car it stopped being fun, and I sold it all.

My first trains were American Flyer.  Then HO (Tyco mostly), then finally N.  I don't think I'll go bigger again, even though I need an Optivisor to see N-scale detail.  I like the relative spaciousness of N scale.

[pdx1955]

Oh sure, definitely. I used to be in an HO club a couple decades ago - scratchbuilt a lot of urban scenery , built some huge DPM modular buildings, lots of kitbashes, forests (much more than a tree a night) , got into a lot of car kits, did some serious yard ops and dispatching . Also did some G in the 90's. I still have (and still buy) prewar tinplate and 1970's Lionel (basically buying what I wanted as a kid (and more)).

I've brought progress on the layout to a halt a couple times thinking about it and sketching things ...resin car kits...all the Baldwins...SP details...any detail you want...almost anything you want (almost too easy in fact) . The fact is that I can't do what I want in HO - passenger trains have too much radii issues and staging gets too short. I don't do multidecks or duckunders (a total pain with my height) . I've invested too much time and $$ in research in the current layout area and not really interested in changing it. I do have this leftover 2x3 frame that could hold some OO9 or HOn30 or a P:87 display or even a neat DKS tri-level Z plan, so as a "side piece" its always an option.

[ednadolski]

Personally, what bothers me the most is referring to HO as the "dark side." Even in jest it suggests a kind of scale prejudice that I cannot tolerate, even though I'm an N Scaler with no desire or intention (or time left) to switch scales.

I agree that some level of bias, prejudice, whatever is inevitable.  It seems to be something of a competitive edge in some most people's minds.  I typically don't pay more than passing attention to it, and I do sometimes stoke it myself (see previous post), but don't see it as anything worth getting bent out of shape over.

You need to follow your modeling heart wherever it leads, to whatever scale brings you joy.

The only time you're 'doing it wrong' is if/when you're not having fun.

Ed

[ednadolski]

We've all torn down and rebuilt many times in our life.  What's one more?

To a point.  A prolonged stream of false starts isn't much fun either.

Ed

[LIRR]

I was in N scale since the ‘Postage Stamp Trains” days. Switched to HO 3 years ago. No regrets.

[Wlal13again]

I`m seriously thinking about it. Maybe an L shaped switching layout. My eyes and arthritis are not great now and getting worse.

[CBQ Fan]

Personally, what bothers me the most is referring to HO as the "dark side." Even in jest it suggests a kind of scale prejudice that I cannot tolerate, even though I'm an N Scaler with no desire or intention (or time left) to switch scales. You need to follow your modeling heart wherever it leads, to whatever scale brings you joy.

Funny thing is I think the attitude you express is much more common to those who model any scale other than HO.  I by far have heard exponentially more disparaging comments from HO modelers regarding other gauges than all the other combinations combined. So I think the spirit of the dark side comment is the fear of being lumped in with “those” HO modelers.

[davefoxx]

Funny thing is I think the attitude you express is much more common to those who model any scale other than HO.  I by far have heard exponentially more disparaging comments from HO modelers regarding other gauges than all the other combinations combined. So I think the spirit of the dark side comment is the fear of being lumped in with “those” HO modelers.

I just don't understand why anyone takes the position that my scale is better than your scale.  For goodness sakes, they're all trains, and I like trains.  Who cares what size it is?

DFF

[thomasjmdavis]

I think the choice has to do with WHAT you want to model.  I want to model passenger trains, and I am ok financially but not wealthy- so no building of a 40x60 pole barn to house a massive large scale layout.  If I want a basement layout that allows me to run reasonably accurate consists of mail trains (which are often longer than "name" trains), and fit the locomotive and rider coach on the same straightaway bit of track, N scale is the obvious choice.

But....that said, I have always wanted to build a highly detailed O scale model of a wooden "Palace" car circa 1900.  The larger scale allows for levels of detail I could never achieve in N (note I said "I"- some of you folks working in N make things of incredible detail that I do not have the skill, or the eyesight, to achieve in N scale).   And a couple years ago, I discovered a box in the garage with several of the old MDC kits for HO Palace cars- the one thing I kept when I went for HO to N scale 40+ years ago. Until I opened the box, I thought those were long gone (that box had been sealed up in the 1970s, and moved 4 or 5 times without being opened). While way down on the list, I hope to finish those someday too.

[Dave V]

Funny thing is I think the attitude you express is much more common to those who model any scale other than HO.  I by far have heard exponentially more disparaging comments from HO modelers regarding other gauges than all the other combinations combined. So I think the spirit of the dark side comment is the fear of being lumped in with “those” HO modelers.

Truth there too.  When I was one of the few N scale guys on the Model Railroader forum, I'd see those comments all the time from HO guys dismissing other scales.  Much of it is just ignorance.  A lot of those HO guys were around when N scale first came along.  Now let's be clear...HO was pretty primitive at that time too...but N scale really didn't get a lot of serious treatment probably until MR built the Clinchfield.  By then, though, a lot of those guys had already made up their minds.  And they influenced newer modelers with those opinions too.

I'll say this...  If I'd only ever stuck with HO I'd probably never have found my way to the Railwire.  I would probably never have had the huge modeling boost I've had from this place...and it's through you guys that I was encouraged to finally publish.  Between Great Model Railroads, N Scale Magazine, the N Trak steam books, and HOn3 Annual, I've been able to share my love of this hobby in two scales across the country and the world.  I bet none of that would have happened if I hadn't taken the plunge into N back in 2002.  And between the two scales I've worked with the most I've learned scenery and modeling techniques from one scale that work really well in the other.

I believe just as we become better communicators and more appreciative of world diversity by learning another language, or better musicians by learning multiple instruments, or better athletes by playing more than one sport, we become better modelers when we dabble across scales.  This isn't to say that there aren't some absolute champions who can do it all in just one scale...but for us mere mortals, diversifying scale does help us achieve a higher level of model skill.