1840's or 1850's-era On30s?

[CDickens]

For a large Department 56 Dickens village set-up (two 4x8 sheets), I'd like to get away from the S guage we now use (engine/rolling stock OK, track guage too large and limited selections online/hobby stores).

On30 seems best to fit the mixed scale buildng and figures that Dept 56 uses... are there narrow-guage engines that represent the 1840's or early 1850's? (Christmas Carol was written in 1843).   

[mabloodhound]

I'm afraid you're going to be a little hard pressed to find any On30 stuff for your desired time period.   And of course, specific 30" narrow gauge didn't really bloom until many years later.
I don't think for a Christmas display, anyone will be that critical if you use some of the current Bachmann offerings with your Dept. 56 village.   The 2-6-0 mogul is a very good choice and does look good.   The OF 4-4-0 would also look OK and the 4-4-0 was the most popular engine during the 1800's.
Other than that, you would have to modify any of the current engines and cars to look appropriate for your early era.

[Dusten Barefoot]

The OF 4-4-0 is the last thing you want for an 1800s village. The 4-4-0 was indeed popular, but that ugly OF 4-4-0 wasn't about until the 20th century. I would recommend the 2-6-0 or the IF 4-4-0. You can backdate the 2-6-0 to 1870s vintage, and the If 4-4-0 is more accurate to the time period, even though it isn't an 8-18c 4-4-0 from 1875. If those engines aren't your taste, you could go over to Brodway Limited, and check out their c-16 2-8-0s which were built in the 19th century. Though you might want to backdate them to the era.









Rock On!
~Dusten

[railtwister]

Using On30 4-4-0 locos and equipment could also represent three foot scale by considering the scale to be a proportion of 1:55, or 5-1/2mm equals a foot. This suggestion has been made here before by HMinky, and it is a pretty good idea, although I guess it depends on how much actual modeling you want to do. It does seem that going to a scale between 1/64 and 1/48 would be better for use with the ceramic village buildings, because they seem a bit small when viewed in O scale. See the website at <http://www.55n3.org/> for more details.

Bill in FL

[HarryHotspur]

CDickens -

Keep in mind the Dickens Village structures represent Victorian England, not the US.  I'm thinking about bashing something from Bachmann On30 to make it look more English, but that might be beyond my ability.  Also, the Victorian era lasted until about 1890, so trains of that era would still fit with the structures and the story, if you ignore the date it was written.

As I'm sure you know, the D56 "Dickens Village" structures are built to a slightly smaller scale than the other lines, although "scale" is somewhat of a misnomer because they are more like caricatures than scale models.  Regardless, I like them.

After some experimentation, I decided that the DV line was closest to S scale, and for the other lines On30 is about as perfect as one can get.  Sn42 would probably be best for DV, but there is very little available.

So, On30 is what I'll use with my DV, hopefully with a little bashing to make it look more English.

Good luck!

[Royce Wilson]

The Dickens village can be what ever you want it to be...mine looks like Black Hawk ,Colorado 1905.

Royce

[Johnson Bar Jeff]

The Dickens village can be what ever you want it to be...mine looks like Black Hawk ,Colorado 1905.

Royce

Sure enough! Many towns and cities in the U.S. still have plenty of "Victorian" structures still standing.