"Budget" Model Railroading and Choice of Scale/Gauge.

So what is budget model railroading? 
Budget is a loose term, but for the purposes of this blog I mean cheap, cheaper and super cheap.  

The model railroad hobby is currently dominated by a trend towards very expensive, highly detailed, accurate models.  I like seeing such things in action but for my hobby I'm running the opposite way.  Let's put some numbers to this.  At some point I'm sure I'll make exceptions but here's the price ranges I'm generally looking to stay within.

Freight Rolling stock $3-10 each

Passenger Rolling stock $5-15 each

DC locomotives $10-$40 each

DCC Locomotives $30-$70 each

This is mostly going to be accomplished by purchasing used equipment with some selective new purchases via deep discounted sales.  

So then, with a very low budget what scale/gauge should the newcomer select?

If you are unfamiliar with railroading scales and gauges I recommend reading this short article from the publishers of Model Railroader magazine from which I borrowed the picture below.  Though purists may protest, in this blog I am going occasionally to use Scale (fraction of actual size) and Gauge (width of tracks) interchangeably.  

HO Gauge (1/87 Scale)

I'm coming right out with it at the beginning.  For the low-budget railroader there is simply no gauge better than HO.  The simple reason for this is that HO is by far the most-produced size of model trains.  It is not the oldest size of trains but since the 1950's it has been in wide production and for the majority of it's existence it has been the most popular scale.  This 60+ years of mass production has resulted in an incredible amount of used equipment available to the savvy shopper.   In my own collection of railcars (most purchased for around $5) I have cars ranging from the 1960's all the way to the 2010's.

It's really only in HO scale that you can go to a train show and find a wide selection of cars in good repair for less than $5 each. Further, while these will rarely be the latest-and-greatest highly detailed models, they will usually be reasonably well detailed with realistic paint schemes, often representing real world prototypes. In addition to all this, there are at least a few makers who continue to produce deliberately affordable new product for HO.  

This extends to scenery and buildings as well.  Pre-built, and even unbuilt model kits fill the used markets at significant discount.

Honorable Mentions
HO is not the only scale that the budget model railroader can use but O and N scales have their own particular challenges.

O Gauge (Compressed 0-27)  

O Gauge can be done fairly affordably if one is willing to limit ones self to the size-compressed and often toylike models that are made to go around tight 27" curves, sometimes these models are referred to as "0-27" models.  Locomotives will almost certainly be more expensive but you can within 30% within of the prices I listed above by purchasing used Lionel (the most common O scale brand) and other somewhat toy-like rolling stock and locomotives at train shows.   The classic toylike buildings to accompany these trains are in many cases available affordably and often still in production.

There is nothing wrong with this approach.  Many railroaders like the nostalgic toy-like look of classic toy trains. Further, the fact that their shorter length works on tight curves means that an engaging layout can be contained in a space not much larger than that required for HO or N scale trains.

In an interesting and fairly recent development, for not too much more than (sometimes less than) used trains you can branch into the slightly more realistically painted railcars currently being produced and sold by Menards home improvement stores.  Menards currently seem to be championing a more affordable approach to the O Gauge model railroading hobby and are producing a large and growing line of railcars and even track and some scenery.  These railcars are mostly slightly length compressed, 27" or 32" curve compatible examples and retail for around $20-$30 each.   A bargain as O goes, but still notably more than my "budget" range.

An additional warning, that if you desire more realistically sized and detailed equipment than Menards the price point for O Scale shoots up rapidly.  True-scale (non-length-compressed) O Gauge equipment is gorgeous to look at but  extremely expensive and usually requires broader curves and a larger layout.

N Gauge (1/160 Scale)

In a similar manner to O Gauge, shopping used and via sales you can do N in a reasonably affordable manner.  The extra-cheap end of the used market is significantly smaller than HO, but if you're willing to up your budget a bit, there is quite a bit of N rolling stock available even new for less than $20 a piece.  Also, N much scale is cheaper to do realistically than O scale. Affordable, reliable locomotives are more difficult to come by, but are possible 

N does have the advantage of being able to pack quite a lot into a very small space so the model railroader who is budget and space limited might still find N to be the best option.

In conclusion...
While I am not requiring the latest and greatest in detail, I do hope for some measure of realism in my hobby.   I also want the broadest possible used market from which to purchase my model railroad equipment.  So, while I would never try to dissuade a hobbyist from pursuing the scale of their choosing, it is my strong suggestion HO scale offers the most to the model railroader on a tight budget and thus it is the scale I will be primarily discussing on this blog.