I started working in American OO gauge in the late 1970s when I was in high school. I started out in HO. One thing I figured out when working in HO was that I wanted to be in a different scale, HO was not really for me. But what? I actually dabbled a bit in TT scale first, but then found OO and connected by mail with a few OO gaugers, with Temple Nieter really getting the ball rolling via correspondence. The rest is history so to speak, and at this point I am pretty invested in keeping going in American OO.

For example I present these recently competed stock cars, rebuilt from vintage Scale-Craft models with great Schorr trucks. It was an interesting puzzle to put them together, and seeing them on the layout now is a treat. But I think again it helped a lot that I converted to OO as a younger person and have at this point a good set of “OO eyes.” All other gauges feel to me to be the wrong size, with one exception. If I were to switch gauges I would probably go to Sn3, the models are actually very similar in overall size and I enjoy Colorado and narrow gauge. But with that said, I enjoy the retro-modeling aspect of working in OO so for now I will stay where I am.

I follow a variety websites, and one I stumbled across at one point was United States Military Railroads Virginia 1863. It is O scale and civil war era, neither of which is my interest, but it is a well written and interesting website I have enjoyed following. This project layout is nearly done and the builder, Bernard Kempinski, has had it on public display recently. After being on display at a major NMRA event he wrote,

This was our first event where we participated as part of a larger NMRA event. I think we were successful in showing that the Civil War era is a viable subject to model in N, HO and O scale.  In some ways it was a perfect storm as we were in Atlanta with our ACW display during the 150th Anniversary of some of the biggest events in the war, and the NMRA offered a separate Civil War track of clinics and tours.

However, I am not sure we had too many converts. The NMRA as represented in these meets is an older crowd. Most have a significant investment in their current layouts or projects so it is not unexpected that they would not be interested in converting. I saw only one person I would say was under twenty visit the room, and he was really enjoying the layout. I gave him a throttle so he could try some operation. Time will tell if we have any new interest in our subject based on this show.

This phrase particularly resonated with me – most who viewed the layout had “significant investment in their current layouts or projects” and that translated into a low interest in converting to work on Civil War era models. I think this investment factor is on one hand what kept the OOldtimers going in American OO for a lifetime, long after the scale was popular, but it is also what keeps people out today. It requires a significant investment of time and skills to work in American OO to be sure.

His O gauge civil war project is nearly complete but his next project really caught my eye, it is “a 00/009 scale layout set in WWI.” OO?!? Excellent choice of scale! I believe it will set in Europe, hence the choice of gauge and scale–the benchwork may be seen in the brief article, and the layout itself “is intended as a project layout for the book I am working on.”

As to me, I know that American OO Today has people who follow it for a variety of reasons. I know some just like checking in to see what is up in the OO history series; others have some models but they are just a small part of an overall collecting interest; many more arrive via Google but were not really looking for info on American OO. I do hope to spread the word but realize too that not that many will be converted. But no matter what I will keep on going with OO, I have a lot of history still to sort out (ultimately for a book project on OO) and modeling projects that could last me years and years to complete.