I have seen many videos of 2 Rail O Scale Layouts and all of them take up a large amount of space. I currently have a 5ft'12' layout & I am wondering if a 2 Rail O Scale layout can be built within that space?
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I think you can have a nice layout in your 5'X12' space.
Many years ago, when Atlas was first introducing its 2-rail O-scale line, Model Railroader ran an article about an O-scale pike with 42" radius curves (I don't think it was O-42). I don't remember the issue or the exact size, but it was intended to showcase O-scale in a smaller than normal space. You might be able to search for it on an index Trains.com. There 's also another online index; I would have to look for the link if that doesn't work out for you.
A semi-circle of 42" radius won't fit in 5' though. For an oval, you are limited to 28" radius. I'm no expert in 2-rail, but that sounds like trolley, switcher, or old-time 4-4-0 type equipment.
@The-576-Guy posted:I have seen many videos of 2 Rail O Scale Layouts and all of them take up a large amount of space. I currently have a 5ft'12' layout & I am wondering if a 2 Rail O Scale layout can be built within that space?
Maybe watching videos is a wee bit misleading as to actual requirements as an absolute? Requirements are based upon your actual objectives.
All depends on what you are trying to model -- 5' is a bit deep to reach into - can you access that from both sides? 12' long makes for a lot of opportunity in a switching point to point operations arrangement.
BTW, my layout is in an 11' x 16' room and runs around the walls and loops around w/o blocking the entrance way -- small steam, small diesel, trolleys, and mostly cars 40' or less in length are completely possible.
I'm far from an expert but a 5' foot wide loop would require o-54 (27" radius) curves which, based on my o-54 3-rail layout experience, wouldn't work very well with fixed pilot locos. From what I've seen most 2-rail layouts are either point-to-point, around the wall, or very large tables with centre cutouts for access.
Having an idea of what equipment you’d like to run should help determine if you can make it work in that space.
Early Atlas O Scale used 2 rail track made by Pola I believe, as did AHM, and Rivarossi also did 2 rail O track that was a tighter radius than what is available from Atlas today (I think their smallest 2 rail radius now is O-36). The original Atlas F units and Fairbanks Morse engines would work on this tighter radius but I doubt more modern fixed pilot engines would. If you want a continuous loop you will be limited to short wheelbase locos or make an end to end/switching layout.
The Pola Maxi/AHM/Rivarossi O track comes up regularly on the Bay and they even made lengths of flex track as well. If you wanted to run steam you’d probably be limited to switch engines such as 0-4-0 or 0-6-0, or possibly smaller older style 4-4-0 locos.
O Scale 2 rail minimum curves normally are O36 or 72 inches. I have a small collection of Atlas O 2 Rail locomotives and cars plus a couple of 3rd Rail locomotives. I watch on Youtube O Scale Railroadfan which is a shelf layout plus Ryan Express Trains. I have used Karl's Trains on eBay plus Public Delivery Track for my purchases. There are a couple of 2 Rail online magazines. I am not sure of our forum rules but they are good resources available. Hopefully this will give you a few resources.
PS: I have kept for myself a series of articles in the MR Jan-March 2020 of a 2 rail O Scale layout I would like to build soon written by Tony Koester. Plus OGR past magazines have a ton of 2 Rail layouts via an online subscription.
An oval for continuous running on a 5-foot-wide table would have a maximum radius of less than 30-inches and limit you to very small 2-rail O scale locomotives. On a 12'-by-5' table, you could build a 2-rail O scale switching layout. If you require continuous operation, you could consider a 3-rail scale layout for the table size you have. I built a 10'-by-5' hi-rail layout with just an oval of Atlas O-54 track (see photo). The scenery and structures are as realistic as I could make them but I compromised by using 3-rail track.
MELGAR
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Amazing; from your prior posts, I thought that you had a large room-filling layout!
Atlas O originally produced O24 or 48 inch radius track for 2 rail. The issue using this track one is limited to O24 radius locomotives and prime examples areSW8/9, the original Atlas 1970 F and Plymouth locomotives. There are other manufacturers one must be sure they will work on O24. I do know Atlas O 2 rail 40 foot cars will negotiate O24 curves.
@PRRMP54 posted:Amazing; from your prior posts, I thought that you had a large room-filling layout!
Dave,
I have two layouts. The larger one is 12'-by-8' and pictured below. I posted the photo of my 10'-by-5' layout because it speaks to the question asked by @The-576-Guy as to whether it's possible to build a 2-rail O-scale layout in 5'-by-12'. In my opinion, if the space is 5'-by-12' a 2-rail O-scale switching layout could be built but the space is not large enough for continuous running (an oval). In that case, I would suggest a 3-rail scale layout with a loop of O-54 track.
MELGAR
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@SouthernFan56 posted:Atlas O originally produced O24 or 48 inch radius track for 2 rail. The issue using this track one is limited to O24 radius locomotives and prime examples areSW8/9, the original Atlas 1970 F and Plymouth locomotives. There are other manufacturers one must be sure they will work on O24. I do know Atlas O 2 rail 40 foot cars will negotiate O24 curves.
This is quite true. Those old Atlas F units and 40' boxcars will negotiate those curves. Some small steam will also handle those curves. I have a Lionel camelback from about 20 years ago that I had converted to 2 rail and there was so much slop in the drivers that the minimum radius never increased after being converted to 2 rail. The camelback will still handle the O36 curves (18 inch radius) that it was originally designed for so it would definitely handle the O48 (24" radius) of older Atlas track.
So yes you could have a 2 rail oval in a 5' by 12' area but you would be limited to small equipment that you could run on it.
@Hudson J1e posted:So yes you could have a 2 rail oval in a 5' by 12' area but you would be limited to small equipment that you could run on it.
That may be true but I don't think it's a good idea to invest the time, money and effort on a layout on which only a few types of small locomotives could be run. Locomotives wear out, break, or become unrepairable. Then, what do you run on the layout?
MELGAR
