Revisiting my O Gauge past

Just for fun, here are some shots of the old O Gauge layout that was demolished last year (and whose parts where then sold on Ebay to fund my new N scale layout!). Note that all of this is set up in the 3rd stall of my 3 car garage (and to prove it really is O Gauge, that is a real boy [my son] peeping through what will become the 'city' area of the layout).



Shot of the second level 'trestle' as a mallet circles the city.

The same locomotive on an MTH bridge at the far end of the layout (the door could be opened to let in natural light...and bugs. But mostly just bugs).


This shot shows the 'main line' with a Lionel U33 on the upper level and the Lionel Army train on the lower level, both are round the 'large' mountain on one side of the U of the layout.

This shot is from the door coming from the garage into the 'train room'. Does it look a little cramped? It sure felt like it. One of the reasons to go to a smaller scale!


Another shot of my favorite part of the layout, the city. Unfortunately, the control panel for my home's electricity is about 6 inches to the right of where I am standing, which is not great for radio signals (e.g. MTH's DCS system had difficulty).

And of course, the 'track plan' showing the location of the door, main lines, etc... It was pretty much 80% complete and took about 3 years to complete.

My first Minitrix set!

Trix has done a fine job with the "Super Starter Set". A digital system, nice cars, and some nice locomotives. It helps that I have no particular "Era" in mind to model. In fact, one of the things I like about modeling primarily non-US worlds is the fact that I won't get to compelled to be obsessive about the prototypes...my main rule now is FUN and get what I like! Regardless of country, era, etc... (But it must be digital!)

The Class 003 in the set has been a really fine runner, as has the V 200 (I believe that is its designation, but I am still having trouble understanding all the taxonomies of German and other European locomotives). Of course, as most people know, it pays to shop around for these things! I paid around US $739 for the set, where I saw other dealers (online) with same set in the $900 range!

Something else that I was pleasantly surprised by was the detailing and pure beauty of the passenger cars. This was very impressive and further confirmed the new direction of my hobby!
And finally, the below photo shows the V 200 at my station (which is a KATO Overhead Station), alongside my second purchase: the Dutch version of Trans Europe Express from Minitrix...this one with sound, and the KATO Thalys (see what I mean about disregarding eras and having fun)!

My first insipration and first purchase

What inspired me to make the switch from O Gauge was the Trix 2003 catalog. Somehow, a copy was given to me at the Toy Train Shop in Oakland California back in the Summer of 2003. This was still while is the middle of my "O Gauge' days, but I was also somewhat disillusioned with the hobby at that gauge for a couple of reasons. The scale is just too large, while its fun to hold and run these large locomotives and cars, building a layout and acquiring new equipment were very expensive. I also was not sure what railroad' line to model, and I did know that the space requirements for O Gauge were always going to be something of a challenge.

So seeing the Minitrix 2003 catalog triggered something in me. For one, my dad had built for me a small N Scale layout back in the mid-70's that counts as my first 'read' model train experience. So there was quite a bit of nostalgia in this scale for me. I also recall the Minitrix brand from those days. Needless to say, being exposed to the brand again after nearly 30 years brought a lot of excitement and joy to a hobby that, for me, was starting to become a burden. N Scale, and Minitrix, I thought, would one day be in my future.

We moved from the Bay Area (San Francisco, Oakland, etc...) to the Seattle area, where I build one more O Gauge layout in the 3rd stall of our three car garage (sealing it off with its own wall from the rest of the garage to make it a true 'room' rather than a garage space. This layout was a project and nearly complete, when in the Spring of 2007 it had to come pending a move (that never actually happened). Tearing down the O Scale layout was a mixed blessing, its sad to see something that you put so much work into get torn down, but I know that I could now 'start over' in model railroading with N Scale.

I put nearly all of my O Scale collection on eBay, and was able to use the money I made from these sales to start my N Scale / Minitrix era!!!

What was my first purchase? This nicely packaged set: The Minitrix Trix Systems Era IV Super Starter Set with 2 Trains and a Large Oval of Track (11120).

Why this one? For one, it came with a DCC system (the trix Mobile Station) which would help me make the direct leap into DCC without too much trouble, and I knew that I wanted digital control after having great success with in the O Gauge scales. A set is always a great way to get the ball rolling, and I like the combination of the diesel and the steam engine.