How common are O scale trains on S scale track?

[FramFramson]

Is this basically a homemade conversion? O scale seems like the right scale of train for those of us who like larger cars (1/48) and figures (30mm), but O scale track seems a fair bit too big for wargaming scale.

I know there's On30, but that seems a bit too narrow. I'm in North America, so S Gauge track is easy enough to come by and just seems to fit better all around. Just wondering if this is done at all as an alternate narrow gauge.

[former user]

never heard of it, but (apart from the locos) You can rather easily narrow down the axles from 0 to S

[Heisler]

I would still use On3 equipment because I feel that the proportions look better regardless of whether you are doing standard or narrow gauge. For rolling stock there is no need to shorten the axles just swap out the O scale trucks for S scale. On your locomotives this is a different story. If you are using the plastic sets that everyone likes to wor.k with shortening up the axles on the locomotives shouldn't be to hard. If you are planning to use Bachmann On30 or any other working O scale locomotives its a bit more involved than just shortening up the axles. You may have to file out the frames and re-adjust everything to get it working again. Originally I was going to use S scale but the lack of available equipment and the looks of the On30 next to the S scale convinced me that it was more trouble that it was worth.

Here are links to a couple of posts on my blog talking about this (oldest to newest you can see how I convinced myself):
http://wargamesandrailroads.blogspot.com/2013/02/im-in-midst-of-finishing-couple-of.html
http://wargamesandrailroads.blogspot.com/2013/03/railroads-for-old-west-in-28mm.html
http://wargamesandrailroads.blogspot.com/2013/04/s-scale-vs-on30-for-calamity.html

[Constable Bertrand]

Fram, go On30, you wont be dissapointed. 

I really enjoyed converting my $15 toy HO train into a narrow gauge loco. I will be scratch building the rolling stock, but using the bogies supplied.

Did you want it to be powered like Michi's?

Cheers
Matt

[FramFramson]

No power, it would be for gaming scenarios only. When I do commit to the project, I'll be looking for a small-to-medium European-style loco, with maybe 3-5 European freight or utility cars for different scenarios and 2-3 passenger cars.

In any case, it'll be a long while before I get into this as I have many other scenic elements to get together before I add a train to things. Space concerns may even force me to take all S-Scale (I've seen people use OO scale and while it was clearly off, it wasn't terrible), but we'll see.

There are pictures of miniatures next to On30 trains, but I wish I could find some pictures of minis next to S scale trains.

[Heisler]

Mmmm here: http://wargamesandrailroads.blogspot.com/2013/04/s-scale-vs-on30-for-calamity.html

The yellow passenger cars are S Scale American Flyer cars and the green passenger cars are On30 Bachmann cars.

[FramFramson]

That's not bad. I was worried S scale cars were much smaller than O, but those seem quite close.

I really like the larger sleepers and (more importantly) the ability for a figure to stand cleanly between the rails on the S-gauge track (I am mostly basing on pennies, which are 19.5mm diameter).

I mean, I can even see games where I'll just put some track down as a scenery element without any train, so playability is a pretty big concern for me.

[former user]

as I can tell from experience, incorporating trains into Your wargaming scenery is a time consuming task.
I recommend to gain some experience first and then to plan meticulously, lest You spend a lot of money and then end up with a pile of unfinished stuff.

[FramFramson]

I think trains have a lot to offer, especially for scenario play. They can objectives, static terrain (both as a whole train or just the track), mobile terrain, interactive buildings (if you're using internals), even a combat unit or vehicle in and of itself, and are very much underrepresented in wargaming.

However, I agree that trains are a significant investment in time and money, even if you just get the plastic Christmas specials or the like. My concern over scale is to actually lessen the time requirement a bit by at least choosing to buy items that will match my size needs without much in the way of complex rebuilds or modifications.

In any case, trains will be a "reward" for my completing a large amount of other terrain and figures that need to be finished first. Without towns and countryside and little metal men to fight over it in the first place, trains are rather pointless.

[Michi]

No power, it would be for gaming scenarios only. When I do commit to the project, I'll be looking for a small-to-medium European-style loco, with maybe 3-5 European freight or utility cars for different scenarios and 2-3 passenger cars.

If youd go the route to buy European 0 scale rolling stock (and convert the gauge to match S tracks), you´ll notice that it could be 1/43.5 to 1/45 scale instead of the 1/48 scale used in the US. Gauge is the same, but scale is larger.
To me 0 scale is way too big to use it with 28mm. It simply looks odd to use what is designed for the use with 40mm miniatures.
BUT I am rather happy to use 0n30 as proxies for standard gauge sized stock for 28mm gaming, although the track gauge is to narrow admittedly, but I can live with that. At least I do not have to convert either trains or track (btw. you would have hard times to find S track in Europe).  However the trains appear too big if you´d say they are narrow gauge models.

[FramFramson]

Well, when I say "European" I don't mean European model rail scales, I mean "look European instead of American".

So shorter carriages with larger, fixed, wheels and locos looking more like this:



Rather than "wild west" American style.

I can use a British or French locomotive and have it tolerably pass for a locomotive anywhere across most of Eurasia and Africa, but models in the US have a very different look. Most of my games will be set in Europe, Asia, Africa, etc. with little, if any games planned for the US. So I'll need European-style trains.

[Michi]

Well, when I say "European" I don't mean European model rail scales, I mean "look European instead of American".

So shorter carriages with larger, fixed, wheels and locos looking more like this:



Rather than "wild west" American style.

I can use a British or French locomotive and have it tolerably pass for a locomotive anywhere across most of Eurasia and Africa, but models in the US have a very different look. Most of my games will be set in Europe, Asia, Africa, etc. with little, if any games planned for the US. So I'll need European-style trains.

Funnily that looks very much like my converted Vulcan train kit that runs on H0/00 tracks now.


And this conversion of an 00 scale engine...

Did the cab yesterday:



Actual engine of about the size I plan to build:

[FramFramson]

If that's a gentle hint at my scale/gauge choice, I would point out that I will eventually have many games in Russia, which uses Russian gauge anyway.  

S gauge was by far my preferred choice for rail size. My only concern was that S trains were too small, but Heisler's post to your own blog entry shows the two are actually very close in size.

[Michi]

If that's a gentle hint at my scale/gauge choice, I would point out that I will eventually have many games in Russia, which uses Russian gauge anyway.  

Oooh, this is going to be difficult now. Russia used broad gauge of 1524mm which would be 32mm (0 gauge) in 1/48 scale (instead of 22mm S gauge)! I perfectly understand that H0/00 tracks are not subject to this discussion.
Additionally most of the Russian steam locomotives were either built in Russia or Germany and have a very distinctive appearance that is completely different from other continental European railways. Particularly engines of British origin have a very distinctive design that limits their use to the UK and the commonwealth/colonies. India and Africa are fine, but Russia is not if you want to be approximately authentic.

S gauge was by far my preferred choice for rail size. My only concern was that S trains were too small, but Heisler's post to your own blog entry shows the two are actually very close in size.

I saw his models too. That proves what I said about narrow gauge 0n30 to appear as standard gauge size-wise (if you don´t look at the tracks).

[former user]

don't forget that Russia had British and US locos delivered for WW1