I just came back from the Sn3 Symposium in St. Louis and I see there was
lots of discussion about the "state" of S.
Some have said that S is dominant scale for modeling 3' narrow gauge. I
have never held that belief. It may be dominant in some areas, but in my
area of the country O scale is the dominant scale for people whom narrow
gauge is their primary focus. This is even truer with the recent popularity
of On30. (Contrary to popular belief, this is not a new scale; I know of
people who have modeled in it over 25 years. Bachmann, with its RTR line
made the difference in its current popularity.)
I did talk to some of the multi-scale vendors at the Sn3 Symposium about the
above and one comment I heard was that he sold about twice as much O as S at
the National Narrow Gauge Convention in Portland, ME last year. He also
sold more S than HO. But again, the numbers can vary from show to show.
I also asked about number of S scale customers and couldn't get any real
answers. Since most of the manufacturers catering to Sn3 are small, they
are stretched thin and don't spend time analyzing data; although they do
have a feel for what will and will not sell. I know one who at one time set
out a "want" list sheet, but no longer does because the answers were too
diverse to be useful.
I have to agree that in general S is the best scale for modeling narrow
gauge for the following reasons:
(1) Equipment has enough mass to run well (unlike historical HOn3) and have
more visual appeal.
(2) It is small enough that the buildings don't become huge (unlike O).
Imagine Banta's Pro Patria mill in O scale, it's big in S.
(3) You can fit about the same amount of layout in Sn3 that you can in HO.
(4) It is the smallest scale that is reasonably possible to model 2' gauge.
Most HO modelers use HOn30 to model 2' railroads in HO, almost no one uses
the actual NMRA HOn2 standards.
There should be more on the Symposium in the Dispatch with the big news
being lower cost RTR motive power on the horizon.
Dave Heine
Easton, PA
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