I'm not planning on doing this but it has been bugging me for a long time.
Can you SAFELY run HO scale trains outside?
cody
Safe for you, yes.
Safe for the trains, maybe not.
If you left the track outside year round like large scalers do, it might well disintegrate. Iron rail would rust and the plastic ties, which are generally not resistant to ultra violet light, would break up. Using nickel-silver rail and painting the ties would probably solve much of this. The trains themselves and the buildings could be taken in when not in use, along with the electrical apparatus.
One fellow I knew had a great solution for running his 00 trains outside. He laid the track on a railroad baggage wagon that he bought used somewhere. On a nice day, he would roll it out and run the trains. When not using them, he rolled it into his garage.
Jim
My brother-in-law and I have been running H0/00 scale trains outdoors in North Wales [a very unfriendly climate] since 1979.
We are still using most of the the original PECO nickel-silver track that we bought all that time ago, and it still not only looks good, but has virtually no signs of deterioration.
Just make sure that your roadbed is sound, straight and level and don't try and be too fussed about maintaining a scale ballasted appearance.
Over here in yUK there are quite a few like us, and the PECO track is just dandy for this purpose.
tac
www.ovgrs.org
tac,
I read a couple of years ago (maybe it was one of your postings) that Peco had UV stabilizers in its ties. I was never able to confirm that. But hearing that it has lasted 20 years outdoors for you is confirmation enough for me.
How many times do we read of a new product or technique that "works just fine outside" and then learn that the tester has tested the product for one whole season? An example that leaps to mind is a local fellow, new to garden railroading, who was trying to convince other local garden railroaders to ballast their tracks with chicken grit and white glue. His samples stood up for a month or two outdoors, so he spent many hours ballasting his whole layout. But by the next summer, ice expansion during the freeze/thaw cycles of fall and spring had reduced all his ballast back to loose grit. I consider 5 full years of outdoor testing an absolute minimum. Ten years is even better. So it is really nice to hear about it when someone has 20 years experience with a product outdoors. Thanks for sharing.
Jim