# On30 outdoors???



## tmtrainz (Feb 9, 2010)

Has anyone ever tried On30 outside? If so, what track did you use? Did it hold up up to the elements? Did you have any major issues with operation outside?

I've been searching the net for answers but really haven't found much useful information. Just throwing this out there to satisfy my curiosity.

Regards,

Tom


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## eheading (Jan 5, 2008)

I don't have any specific experience with this, but a friend of mine has "O" gauge outside, and his biggest problem is with UV damage to track ties, etc. My guess is that would be a problem with your track too, finding UV resistant track.

Ed


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## tacfoley (Jan 3, 2008)

This is a subject that crops up every then and now, and I always give the same response. 

My BIL and I have had PECO nickel-silver 16.5mm track outdoors since 1979. 

In GR a few years back there was an article covering the building of an outdoor 0n30 layout - looked good too AND IIRC it was in the state just south of Oregon, where they have powerful sunshine, according to the state motto. 

PECO track has built-in UV inhibitors, and i bleeve that you can use it for at least the near forty years that WE have before it becomes a concern. 

Can't say anything about other folks' track as I have no experience of it, never having needed any. 

tac 
www.ovgrs.org


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## Jerry Barnes (Jan 2, 2008)

SVRR has O gauge track with UV resistant ties, not sure where you'd fine HO gauge with that. There are UV sprays.


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## tacfoley (Jan 3, 2008)

Jerry, almost forty years of sun and rain on OUR track has made little difference.....here in yUK we are used to putting smaller gauge track outdoors - we have more room. 

tac 
www.ovgrs.org


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## Totalwrecker (Feb 26, 2009)

Major issue... 
I built 200' of ladder for an On3 layout. Half elevated and half on the ground. I was ready to hand lay the track. Then the Rains hit and I watched sandy water flow over the 1 1/4" tall ladder and decided that my brand new K-27 would never fight that! 
I bough my G starter set and the K has never been outside. 
I decided to leave the ladder up to see how it behaved. I float my track on the ground! 
The Trex crumbled.... high heat here. 

I think your best bet is elevated and built like a conventional indoor layout with fixed scenery. 
John 

John


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## Darkrider (May 21, 2010)

I haven't. But I know that some guy by the name of Peter Jones did. Unfortunately, he passed away. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I do believe he used Peco for track.


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## livesteam53 (Jan 4, 2008)

Peco is the only one I know that will hold up outdoors.


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## tacfoley (Jan 3, 2008)

Posted By Darkrider on 01 Jun 2010 01:48 PM 
I haven't. But I know that some guy by the name of Peter Jones did. Unfortunately, he passed away. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I do believe he used Peco for track. 
Yup, the late and much-missed Peter Jones had Peco n/s track outdoors for well over forty years, in the industrial atmosphere and dank weather of South wales, too. It held up there as well as in rural North Wales, and has been holding up on the commercial Peco site in Beer, Devon, since the late '60's, too.

I'm sure there is some German-made track that is as good, just as there is German-made 45mm track that is good [a name that sounds like Thiele or something?], but right now I can't think of any German 0n30-looking n/s track. We get reminded from time to time about other makes of track that is 'far superior' to anything we have now, or have been using for decades, but apart from the odd twitter on the forum I've never actually heard from anybody using it.

Perhaps our German posters can advise us here? 

tac
www.ovgrs.org
Supporter of theCape Meares Lighthouse Restoration Fund


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## Fritz (Jan 11, 2008)

I suppose, most of todays track will survive outdoors. They are not made from Cardboard or rusting iron anymore. I beleve, even brass is no longer used for smaller gauges. 

On30 track is only 16,5mm wide. Rolling stock is much lighter and smaller than with the larger scales. So dirt and plants might be an issue outdoors. Not something I´d run on ground level. 

The important thing, just like in other scales, is to find trackbed (sleepers) to suit your models. Peco NG track is modelled after Welsh narrow gauge prototypes. US Shays or Forneys might look a bit displaced on that kind of track. Many people use Micro Engineering 0n30 track for US prototypes. http://www.ks-modelleisenbahnen.de/html/microengineering.html It is US made and looks a bit lighter than Peco 0-16,5. 

Of course, some people might ask, is there were many 30 inch lines in the US. 


Have Fun 

Juergen / Fritz


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## Amber (Jul 29, 2011)

Re-gauging the Bachmann rolling stock from On30 to On3 is as simple as replacing the trucks with Grant line or San Juan trucks. Reguaging the inside frame engines is a fairly simple matter of lengthening the driver axles and the leading truck wheel axle in the case of the 2-6-0. I think Grant line even offered a kit for that at one time.


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

Dang Amber! 

How long have you been railroading? You sure have a lot of experience. 

Did you start when you were 13? 

Greg


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## Amber (Jul 29, 2011)

Actually, I was probably 5 or 6 when I first started playing with my brother's trains.  
I've been interested in the On30 stuff since it first came out, I actually have more of that than I do of G scale stuff. I'm a "narrow gauge nut". I really don't have very much G scale stuff, I didn't have any place to put it for a long time. Lately, I've been converting all my San Juan D&RG On3 trucks to On30. I decided that I didn't want to spend the extra money on On3 track. I had replaced most of the Bachmann trucks on my rolling stock with the San Juan trucks before they offered the trucks in On30, so I had been putting NWSL wheelsets on them for On30. I only did a few like that before I ended up having to put it all aside for a while. Now I'm pulling the wheels off of the older Bachmann wheelsets and putting them on longer axles for the San Juan trucks. They're better than the plastic wheels that the San Juan trucks come with. 1/16th inch stainless steel rod from K & S Engineering is just about perfect for axles for the older style Bachmann wheels. The newer wheelsets seem to have a slightly larger diameter axle where it goes through the wheel. The insulated wheel is easy to put on the new axle, the non-insulated one requires reaming out the hole with a 1/16th drill bit, then you get a slight press fit on the axle, just enough to keep the wheel from moving on the axle. 
I sit and do this stuff at night instead of watching TV, although the computer does get distracting.


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## dmikee (Dec 27, 2007)

I have developed a process laying HO track inside my G scale track in an elevated layout. 
Lay G scale track normally. Then atop the G scale ties, install 1/2 strip of O scale cork roadbed with caulking.
Paint HO scale track sections and clean paint off railheads. (pretty much UV proof as a result)
Solder HO track joints if needed.
Lay HO track on top of O scale cork with caulking. (use clear stuff) 
Attach feeder wires to power pack.
Run trains. Advantage: long runs for either HO scale trains or ON30 trains.
Only problem is finding a way to install turnouts, But sure is nice for long, long runs.


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