Glad you're still around, Hamish -- it's been a while since I posted -- a couple of years.

I suppose, however, that the size rails and ties must be to scale, however.  Narrow gauge isn't just scaled down standard track.  But you gave the precise measurements I was seeking -- thanks.

-- to my regular model railroad interests.

I assume that TT gauge (1:120) would be a viable Sn30" for S Scale ...

... and that Z-gauge track (1:220) would make (at 16.5 scale inches) a viable minimal gauge (15" gauge) in S scale. 

Also >>>  Is O-gauge track a viable 30" gauge for LGB (1:22 scale) sized equipment?

Can anyone steer me in the right direction to get started?

Agreed -- if money isn't a concern, DEFINITELY go with G-scale (1:24 scale), G-Gauge equipment, preferably LGB.

LGB equipment is not only the best quality (plastic or metal) but it's very attractive and well worth the price.  Some will hate me for saying this, but Lionel is overpriced, ugly (awkward preportions), and has that ugly non-authentic third rail.

Bachmann makes excellent G-Scale trains, too.

If you're already established in O scale, however, your child is old enough for On30", that is,  O scale that runs on HO scale track. But I still think it would be better to stick with large scale, G-scale and G-gauge train sets. They are attractive and flawless and will certainly last forever.

My point exactly about the brewery. For more than 1/3rd the price of the 'Big Brewery" (I think it was called Milwaukee Beer and Ale) you get only one minor wall and two inches depth of the back of the brewery (as Arrowhead Ale).

But folks, seriously -- its no conspiracy.  Walthers/Cornerstone is merely offering smaller parts of industries as stand=ins for larger ones because most people just don't have the space.

If you are building a siding, you can get in two- or three small 'foreshortened' industries in the space between the track and the wall, whereas one industry alone might take up nine times the space if modeled as a freestanding compound/campus/plant/whatever.

I really wanted a Millwaukee Beer and Ale, as I needed many of its parts to model a mental hospital. Had to use Custom Model Railroads' even creepier 'American Brewery' and Downtown Deco's Grimm's Funeral Home, along with some Cornerstone modulars and DPN modulars to get my creepy insane asylum underway!

Thanks, Mike!  You found EXACTLY what I was looking for.  Who'd've ever imagine something like HOn30" streetcars would be produced by someone? This's got to be the most helpful website ever.

Strangely enough, streetcars (even HOe streetcars) seem to be the ONLY HO scale product they sell.  I guess my port city of Bellwrest, Norumbraega will have something akin to San Francisco's Cable Cars. They go well with the antiquated but well preserved trains.

Anyone else who knows of HOn30", HOn2-1/2, or HOe Streetcars, street railways, etc. I'm still looking for leads.

Dave: I got my Yahoo! account and password working -- thanks for the leads.  Now, if I played the lottery and won, I'd be able to AFFORD narrow gauge. Might as well try large scale for the costs involved...

Thanks for the info.

Weirdly enough, Yahoo accepts then has no recognition of my password. I think I'll avoid any more frustration. But thanks for the other two.

Thanks, but I'm looking for HOn30", not On30"   They both are models of 30" gauge, but different scales. 

If they can make such ATTRACTIVE trolleys in 0n30", why can't such be available in HOn30" ?

In fact, there's a LOT of good looking stuff in On30", thanks especially to Bachmann and Department 56 and the like.  But I can't convert because O gauge standard equipment (not to mention O scale towns and mainline) is just too big for the type of layout I've invested in.

Thanks, Bojangles -- and thanks to Bachmann for putting 30" gauge 'on the maps' and making such attractive 30" gauge models, even if they are not my scale. At least I know what they oughtta look like.

Of course they are the same, but for different uses.  Don't think of them as 'background buildings' but as something you'd put between the track and the wall. 

I hate that they quit building that BIG brewery and now have only the back of it as 'Arrowhead Ale" -- but I guess most people just don't want to sequester all of that space to one large industry and would rather do it as a sort of background.  Most people DO have space between the track and the wall for a small industry, but many do NOT want a large building to dominate the scene or layout.

I'm a standard HO'er but have started adding HOn30 to my layout (it may take 10-15 years to aquire the goal I'm about to state) and, it seems to me that the narrow 30" gauge trackage is MORE suitable for the quasi-URBAN scenery of my Euro/American waterfront scene.  (The streets, as planned, are quite narrow, with a lot of it under elevated standard-gauge trackage) -- this is a fairly busy North Atlantic port).

I am wanting to add both streetcars/trams AND industrial switchers, the latter which are readily available but the streetcars I'm not so sure about.

ANYTHING anyone knows about HOn30" streetcars (availability, scratchbuilding tips, kitbashing, conversion/adaptation) would be a welcome topic of discussion.  I hate to do a lot of scratchbuilding, and it seems to me that standard-gauge trackage is unnatural for narrow city streets -- especially with rural-to-urban narrow gauge (30") trackage already in existence on my layout.

Many new manufacturers, including Walthers' Cornerstone Series, have given us dozens of versitile, realistic, convincing structures for use on our layouts.  The Cornerstone Fire Station is a prime example, but many manufacurers are giving us better products than they were offering 15-20 years ago.

Yet there are some I'd love to see kitted that are not currently available (at least not in a believable form).

I am starting a thread listing buildings which I'd like to see made available by a manufacturer -- others, please join in the following ways: (1) Add additional buildings you'd like to see available, especially those which ought to be; (2) If you know of any structures availible that fit the bill, that someone has said is NOT available, please tell us about it.  We'd like to know.

Here are some buildings we need someone to manufacture kits for:

(1) County courthouse (needs only be about 60x80 feet, monumental, with a tall clock tower -- suitable for a town square -- can double as police station, sherriff's office, post office, or county offices).  With all the hype Cornerstone has been putting about railroads on main street in small towns, you'd expect to see a medium- to large courthouse with a tall clock tower offered by now.

(2) School buildings -- especially elementary and high school types. Any era, replete with 8-12 classrooms, gymnasium/cafeteria/autotorium or library space and school offices -- yes, these can take up space fast, but I am convinced that a complete school facility can be modeled in an area about 18x28 inches or less.

(3) Apartment buildings.  The Heljan Synagogue is nice, but we need apartment buildings from the 1920s and modern eras that mimick popular architecture -- be it the English/Tudor/Italian/Rennaissance of the 1920s, the concrete structures of the 1960s, the pleasant residential structures of contemporary times. 

(4) College buildings -- The train is how many commute.  Some foreign manufacturers offer post offices and industries which may suffice, but we need buildings without the tacky little stores on the ground level -- buildings which look like they could contain classrooms and dormitories.

(5) Modern (not necessarily contemporary-styled) churches -- medium sized churches will do fine.  I once pastored a c.1978 colonial style church in a small town in Alabama, with a small fellowship hall/kitchen and five sunday school classrooms -- it would make a wonderful HO kit, I think. Churches need education wings, not just a chapel.

(6) Contemporary drugstores, such as Walgreens.

(7) Small hospitals and medical facilities

I'm sure there are others. Ayone care to comment or add to this list?