What Type of O Gauge Track Should I Choose?

O Gauge Model Railroad Track

Is Available in a Dizzying Array of Styles

Which One is Right for You?

Lionel tubular O Gauge model railroad track

So, you want to add track to the oval that came with your O gauge train set. You visit a local hobby store to buy more, and you see a dizzying array of track that looks vastly different, all of it labeled O gauge. What’s up with that?

There are a number of manufacturers of O gauge model railroad track, and some manufacture more than one style of track. All O gauge track features the same width between rails (What's the difference between O gauge and O-27 gauge?) so your O gauge trains will run on any manufacturer’s track, but not all manufacturers’ track will work together well. Each manufacturer has a method of joining track pieces together, so to use track from different manufacturers often requires a special adapter piece.

If you already have a lot of one style or brand of track, it'll be cheaper in the long run to stay with that, but if you are just getting started, and you only have enough track to make a simple loop, it’s a lot easier to switch track brands now, rather than later, after you have bought hundreds of dollars worth of additional track (see what expanding your layout can cost on our Comparing Prices of O Gauge Track Page). Ask you local hobby shop about their opinions of the various track brands and styles available. They all have pros and cons, so this is a good time to study them and see if you want to change.

Our page Choosing Track for an O Gauge Model Railroad Layout explains the basic differences in types of O Gauge model railroad track, gives some pros and cons, and has tables of what variety of track sections each manufacturer offers.

Union Pacific Passenger Station at Logan Utah

Logan Utah Railroad Depot Shows 19th Century Character

Passenger Train Station Fits Range of Railroad Eras

From Steam to Modern Diesel Model Railroad Layouts

Union Pacific Railroad Depot, Logan, Utah

The Union Pacific Railroad Logan, Utah, passenger station was built shortly before the turn of the century, during that lines’s short ownership by Oregon Short Line. 

A typical 19th Century railroad depot, the Logan station had some attractive details.  hip roof covered 178 feet of platform. The symmetrical floor plan was split by the telegrapher’s bay, featuring ticket windows in each of the waiting rooms.

A timeless classic perfect for any model railroad layout based from the end of the 19th Century to the modern era, the small size of the building would fit well as a smaller town station, and the long platform could be selectively compressed if need be to fit a smaller space.

Check out or free model railroad plans of the Union Pacific Logan Utah Passenger Station.

Building Benchwork for our O Gauge Model Railroad Layout in a Spare Bedroom Project

Modular Benchwork for an O Gauge Model Railroad Layout

Nothing lasts forever so plan for your model railroad future

When building benchwork for your current model railroad layout

Modular tables for an O Gauge model railroad layout

After settling on the location – a spare bedroom – for our O Gauge model railroad layout on our first page, and deciding how much room we had in the bedroom on our second page, we need to get busy designing the layout’s benchwork and trackwork.

The benchwork (the tables on which the tracks are fastened) is somewhat dependent on the trackwork (how the model railroad tracks are routed around the tables), and vice-versa. There are many methods of constructing benchwork from the basic 4×8-foot sheet of plywood on sawhorses for a transient layout, to building right into the structure of the room’s walls.

We went with a modular design that is semi-permanent model railroad layout, but also can be disassembled and moved if our needs for space change. Let's face it: people buy new houses and move, or interests change. If you don't take this into account, when the day comes that you have to tear down your model railroad layout, there won't be much to salvage. With this design, if you are no longer interested, you can sell the layout to someone else, or if you have to move, your model railroad layout can move with you.