My layout actually has two gauges, 32mm standard gauge and 22.5mm narrow gauge (actually Om, or meter gauge, very common here in Europe). It began in 1985 when my sons saw a European starter set at a hobby shop in nearby Munich. We bought it, took it home, and set up a simple loop outside. Within two years we had 500 feet of track. In 1989 I took my first trip to the United States, traveled about 8,000 miles by Amtrak, met many modelers, and developed a strong interest in American railroading. Now half my layout is American standard gauge.

LOCOMOTIVES AND ROLLING STOCK

I discovered two very good and inexpensive sources of motive power and rolling stock: Rivarossi and Weaver. I bought a number of F-units and an 0-8-0 steam engine. Unfortunately I have been unable to find any really modern diesels at a reasonable price but my 16 year old son likes to build models.

First he scratchbuilt a General Electric B32-8 diesel out of cardboard from plans in Model Railroader. Then he become more skilled and built a very close approximation of a B39-8 from plastic, brass, and a Rivarossi motor. He painted and lettered it for Santa Fe and it is now my favorite diesel. He also built some American freight cars and structures. Next he plans to add battery power and radio control to some models and so far his tests have been successful.

O scale appeals to me for two reasons. The models have realistic proportions and their smaller size allows me to run long trains. I often put together several locomotives and pull trains as long as 30 feet. When you run trains that long you must be careful to avoid derailments on curves because of the weight of the long string of cars, just as on a real railroad! Remember the incident at Cantara Loop?

TRACK, ROADBED, AND POWER

I use Roco track and, unless I am mistaken, it is the same as the Atlas track available in the United States. I use only flextrack to reduce the number of rail joiners and to allow realistic, broad curves. The winters here are very cold and severe frosts prevent the use of concrete roadbed so I use the very simple "floating" roadbed system: Dig a trench, fill it with chicken grit, and lay on the track. Since nothing secures the track to the roadbed, it is free to expand and contract. As a result I experience no kinks or rails breaking out of the tie strip. Every two or three years I have to reballast, just as real railroads, but that has been a minor inconvenience. Besides, I like realistic operation so sometimes I do the reballasting by train.

Roco track and turnouts have proven completely weatherproof, a big surprise. Fortunately, though, we have no hot sun as in so many parts of the U.S. High temperatures and strong ultraviolet rays might shorten the life of almost any track.

Once or twice each month I sand the oxidation off the rails and our clean air has never caused the corrosion problems I have read about. As for cleaning dirt from the track, try this: Pour water over the rails before you run trains. Wet dirt is a good conductor! Besides, I run my trains almost every day so I almost never have problems with cleaning.

One final note on track: The weak link in my track system is the Roco rail joiners so I replaced them with German stainless steel joiners from a company called KISS. I find soldering rail creates more problems than it solves, especially because the solder tends to break in the winter. The KISS joiners are strong enough to hold things together and provide plenty of conductivity. The exception is on curves. There I use a method similar to American prototype practice: I pull one rail four or five inches out of its tie strip, then push the mating rail from the next section into the empty slots, alternating between sections for about twenty feet. Then I cut one rail and join it with the next in the usual way, with a rail joiner-particularly if I have reached a turnout. Over the last several years I have found this method very reliable.

My power pack is from LGB with the transformer indoors and the speed controller outside. I keep electrical connections to a minimum but most yard tracks are on separate blocks so I can switch off power to many trains while running others. Also, I use only manual turnouts; they are inexpensive and work in any kind of weather. Of course, that also means I get more exercise when switching cars; some sidings are pretty long!

A FINAL THOUGHT

I guess dual gauge O scale outdoors is very unusual. I think it is good for all those fellows who, like me, are not rich enough to afford LGB equipment and whose backyards are too small to run realistic 1:32 or larger scale trains. Any of your readers interested in my scale should contact Doug Gray of the Garden Hi-Railers Association [9353 Forest Court, SW, Seattle, WA 98136-Ed.] and if any is planning a trip to Germany he or she should feel welcome to visit my layout. [Write to Wolfgang at Vagener Strasse 4a, W-8152 Feldkirchen-W., Germany-Ed.]

ABOUT WOLFGANG JAROS

Wolfgang complains, "Never enough time for all those hobbies!" What hobbies? Aside from model trains, he enjoys bicycling, jogging, linguistics (including American Indian languages), Star Trek, country and western music, and traveling! He is 50 years old, a teacher, married since 1964, and has two sons. One is 16, the other 20. They share his interest in model railroading but tend to concentrate on N scale. And it is truly an international family. One of Wolfgang's grandfathers was Czech, the other American. His wife is Japanese. And Wolfgang says of himself, "I am of German nationality but, since I was born in Munich, I have a Bavarian heart!"