oo Track

3253 Views 5 Replies 6 Participants Last post by LisaP4, Aug 30, 2005

Jim Potten

Discussion Starter · May 25, 2005

Hello
Am I the only one around with a bee in my bonnet on the subject of the range of track available in oo guage at the time of writing?
There's nothing wrong with the quality of the Hornby and Peco systems but don't all these superb new locos look daft sitting on code 100 track with HO sleeper spacing? (especially the HO sleepers). Please don't get the wrong impression, I'm quite happy to put up with the inherant inaccuracies of oo guage and certainly don't want to start another argument over the various 4mm track gauges, but I'm still using 35/45 year old Graham Farish, Gem and Hornby Dublo track simply because they look so much better than anything else available. Yes, I know all about SMP and the other scale tracks, but life's too short to build my own pointwork. Hornby in particular are now offering us world class models (although I'll bet old Frank's turning in his grave to see Hornby - made in China) but expecting us to run them on track no better in appearance than Playcraft offered 35 years ago.
To rub salt in the wound Peco have recently released a whole new range of track for modellers of North American railroads. What about Blighty? The field is wide open for a totally new generation of track based on the old BRMSB sleeper dimensions. Such a development would surely secure the future of oo guage, and
put irrelevancies such as British HO out to pasture. Anyone listening?
Or are we too taken up with yet another reworking of the A3/A4/class 37/9F/ or
whatever. P.S What about a half decent turntable?

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James Turkin

· #2 · Jun 17, 2005

I have invested in some track recently and was about to go for Code 75, but the model shop (Tower) put me off saying that many locos would suffer on the points.

Code 75 is not even to scale apparently.

I wanted track that I could run all my locos on old and new. I have Code 100 and large radius points. Once bedded-down and blended into the layout, I think they will be ok.

Model railways is all about managing compromises, not so?

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Dennis David

· #3 · Jun 18, 2005

True, thought I always thought the strange looking track had it's own peculiar British quality to it.

I would love to use #8 turnouts but I've commited to Fleischmann track so I'm stuck.

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Gary

· #4 · Jun 18, 2005

Its interesting that whilst we condemn British OO track for not looking right and being out of scale, those with an overseas perspective who use the track for HO modelling say that it has a "British look"!

Is it a case of not pleasing some of the people some of the time but pleasing most of the people most of the time?

Happy modelling
Gary

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bobknee

· #5 · Aug 30, 2005 (Edited by Moderator)

QUOTE (Gary @ 18 Jun 2005, 22:04)Its interesting that whilst we condemn British OO track for not looking right and being out of scale, those with an overseas perspective who use the track for HO modelling say that it has a "British look"!

Is there any such thing as OO British track? Isn't it really HO gauge track on which we run OO scale models?

I cannot how we can expect to ever get "correct" looking track whilst we continue to combine chalk and cheese in terms of scale and gauge.

Bob

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LisaP4

· #6 · Aug 30, 2005

Just to show things side by side, on the left is Peco 00 code75, centre is 00 made with C&L parts, on the right is how it should look, P4 made with C&L parts.

Incedently Peco's "00" track, while being wrong for 00, is also wrong for British H0. The sleepers are too short and too close together, even in H0, so it is nowhere near acceptable as "00" track.

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