Lionel OO Gauge 101
An article by George J. Adamson that was published in the Summer, 1977 issue of The Train Collectors Quarterly is titled “The Wacky World of Lionel OO.” It is an apt title and is a world that is explored in depth in my book and in American OO Today.
While Lionel made a line of HO models after the war, before WWII Lionel was all in for American OO. The third major maker of OO to enter the market (after Nason Railways and Scale-Craft), the Lionel OO gauge line was introduced in 1938; this image is from their 1938 catalog.
For many years there has been solid collector interest in this line, which was clearly also very popular with modelers of the period; virtually every OO layout boasted a Lionel Hudson.
American OO (or 00) is 1/76 scale running on 3/4″ track–thus, these classic Lionel trains are larger in every dimension than HO models, which are built to 1/87 scale running on 5/8″ track. [Further confusing the topic today, British OO has 1/76 scale bodies running on HO gauge track.] Visually OO is about half way between HO and S gauge, which was developed later. More on the topic of why they chose OO over HO may be found toward the end of this article.
Today Lionel OO gauge has achieved “honorary toy train” status, as much of it is three rail and it all runs on the same AC transformers used for toy trains. In light of the high monetary value of models from this line today, it is interesting to note that used Lionel Hudson prices in the post-war period show that the line was not then as valuable as comparable kit-built engines. Times do change!
Development of the line
Lionel was an established manufacturer of toy trains, and was looking to expand into the new and growing scale model train market. Following the lead of Nason Railways who had their OO line in production by 1934 and Scale-Craft who introduced their OO line in 1937, Lionel entered OO in 1938 and initially used modified Scale-Craft OO cars in their pre-production sets and catalog photos, before they completed their own dies. Compare the boxcar illustrated below, as illustrated in the 1938 catalog, with the actual production model; it clearly has a modified SC die cast body (note especially the roof and the rivet patterns) and is riding on SC trucks. More on this topic here.
Lionel also infringed upon Scale-Craft patents in their truck design and ultimately had to pay the latter a royalty. And it is also worth noting that their three-rail track design is copied from (or modeled on) Trix Twin HO/OO track, which was introduced in 1935.
A nice example of the 1938 set and track may be seen in operation in this video. There were only five basic models produced in the Lionel OO line and it should be pointed out that all of them were models that had been produced prior to that time by other makers. The NYC 4-6-4 and the same style boxcar were produced as sand cast models by Nason Railways and the tank car, hopper, and caboose had all been produced as die cast models by Scale-Craft, with S-C also producing a line of sectional track with a metal base generally similar to that later produced by Lionel. It is logical that Lionel would have used these various available models as mock ups for the sets they were conceiving, and it is clear as well that they designed their versions to be better than the older models.
By 1939 their OO line was pretty much set, with two and three rail versions of everything and also kits of the cars available. They pushed the line in The Model Builder and elsewhere. While the line was not extensive in terms of types of models produced, it was always a quality product. Also it should be noted that Lionel had one great asset in comparison to every other OO manufacturer–really effective marketing–and also hit a price point that was below that of other makers.
The discontinuation of this line with the outset of WW II is often cited as the “final blow” to American OO, although a number of manufacturers continued serving modelers in the scale after the war, with the brass models imported from Japan by Fred Schorr being especially notable.
What they made in OO gauge
There were only five models produced, primarily sold in train sets with track:
All of these models were die cast and available ready to run (but the freight cars were also available as kits, 1939-42) in scale and semi-scale versions. The latter models lack some minor details. All were produced in 3-rail versions 1938-42 and 2-rail 1939-42, and the kits included paint and decals. To be more specific about what the sets (or “outfits”) were as of 1939, I wrote in answer to a question from a reader that
The most expensive of the new sets was the 0090W at a price of $42.25, the super-detailed two-rail outfit. For your money you got the 003 locomotive with 003W tender, 0044 box car, 0045 oil car, 0046 coal car, and 0047 caboose, eleven pieces of 0031 curved track and one piece of 0034 connection track (no straight track), and a whistling controller.
Their line was not large, but to own all the variations and track to match will take some time and effort (and $). For example the locomotive was available in four versions and each of those was available with a standard or a whistling tender, with the 1938 version of the 001 additionally having a different connection between locomotive and tender. So while the list below looks like four models, actually to own every variation you would need a total of nine locomotives.
- 001 scale, 3-rail
- 002 semi-scale, 3-rail
- 003 scale, 2-rail
- 004 semi-scale, 2-rail
Power supply?
One other FAQ type question to answer here is what power pack to use with Lionel OO models? They will operate with any Lionel AC transformer, and one with a whistle controller will be handy for the models with operating whistles. These models are AC, not DC operated (but could be run on DC, more here). Early Scale-Craft was incompatible as it ran on DC (24 volt), but Nason engines had AC motors. After WWII OO makers and modelers settled on 12 volt DC, which is the setup of my layout.
Lionel OO in the 1990s?
There was a feature article on Lionel OO in the September, 1993 issue of Classic Toy Trains. This is the cover of that issue, one well worth tracking down for great photos of mint condition Lionel OO models.
Meanwhile, behind the scenes, there was actually some activity in the scale by Lionel. In April of 2022 a group of tooling test shots, done in China for Lionel in 1994, came up for sale on eBay. The lot included three examples each of the Hudson boiler, frame, steam chest, trailing truck, and tender body, the boxcar body and frame, and hopper bodies. Packaging seen with the shots includes Chinese writing that makes sense in relation to what they are packed with. A comment on the Facebook American OO Scale Railroading group reminded me that I had seen on a TM video that Lionel owner Richard Kughn had wanted to revive the OO line, but I had just assumed this to be wishful thinking on his part. A quick search found the exact quote, in the 2001 video Lionel OO & HO in Action, where Kughn states,
I often thought I would like to go back and put OO out on the marketplace. But I quickly ruled that out of my thoughts, because we had too much else to do with O gauge and O-27. And so we never did it.
It is thus fascinating to know now that he did take it as far as making test shots in the original 1938 toolings. And it is likely that the toolings all still exist and are usable. Who knows, maybe they still could be revived? We can dream.
Finally, there are two other models worth mentioning. In the late 1990s Hallmark sold a series of Lionel collectable OO gauge models. While actually miniature versions of Lionel O gauge models, the line included a very attractive Lionel F3 that can be converted to operation (more on that model here). It gives a bit of a vision of what might have been if Lionel had stuck with OO after the war. The other model worth mentioning is Avon made a collectable version of the Lionel Hudson as well, a nice display item for any OO enthusiast to track down.
But why OO scale instead of HO?
Finally, one question that I think is wondered often when people look initially at these models today is that of why–as in why Lionel got into OO instead of HO. The big picture is that New York City was the major hotbed of American OO activity starting back in 1930. More than anything I personally think Lionel was swayed toward OO gauge over HO by local activity and enthusiasm, especially led early on by F. D. Grimke, who for many years was chairman of the New York Society of Model Engineers. The NYSME had an OO layout alongside their O layout by 1934, and Hugh Nason was also in New York City, with his OO line in production by 1934. It was a very visible scale locally, and, besides that, OO was better suited to the motors of the day than was HO (the Mantua Midjet Motor was especially notable in this regard, being widely used in the early 1930s). Then Scale-Craft jumped into OO in 1937 with their ground breaking die cast OO scale models and sets with sectional track, both of which also certainly caught the attention of Lionel in a big way. Ultimately the Lionel OO gauge line was the wrong business decision of course, but we still get to enjoy the great models today.
[And, as mentioned earlier, Lionel did eventually produce HO! But only after WWII. Their prewar small scale was American OO.]
Check out American OO!
With that as an introduction to Lionel OO please feel free to explore more than just Lionel OO! In particular get to know the other major makers and especially Scale-Craft, as their models are often confused with Lionel models. Besides that, there was quite a variety of models made for the American OO market, many of which are very affordable collectables today. Welcome to the “wacky world” of American OO gauge.
Article updated 2021-22. For MUCH more detail on all of the above see my book.