![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/americanootoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/ATSF-OO-Stock-Cars.jpg?resize=640%2C349&ssl=1\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nFor 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 \u201cOO eyes.\u201d 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I follow a variety websites, and one I stumbled across at one point was United States Military Railroads Virginia 1863<\/a>. 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,<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n 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.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n 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.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n This phrase particularly resonated with me \u2013 most who viewed the layout had \u201csignificant investment in their current layouts or projects\u201d 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n His O gauge civil war project is nearly complete but his next project really caught my eye, it is \u201ca 00\/009 scale layout set in WWI.\u201d<\/a> 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<\/a>, and the layout itself \u201cis intended as a project layout for the book I am working on.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n As to me, I know that American OO Today<\/i> 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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 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<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2635,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[78],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-266","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-deep-thoughts"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/americanootoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/ATSF-OO-Stock-Cars.jpg?fit=999%2C544&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/americanootoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/americanootoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/americanootoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/americanootoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/americanootoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=266"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/americanootoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2637,"href":"https:\/\/americanootoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266\/revisions\/2637"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/americanootoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2635"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/americanootoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=266"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/americanootoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=266"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/americanootoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=266"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/americanootoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/ATSF-OO-Stock-Car.jpg?resize=640%2C350&ssl=1\")
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