Bryan Johnson said:
Is On3 track ok for outdoors ? Are there different types ?
Bryan, I'm not certain if you meant to write "0n3" or "0n30", but for 0n30 there are different types.
On30 runs on H0 SG track. To my knowledge, none of the most commonly used H0 tracks (Bachmann, Atlas, Kato) have UV resistant tie strips. They will disentegrate fairly rapidly in direct sunlight. I had a short length of Atlas H0 track outside for a couple of summers. It looked OK, but got to the point that the ties would fall apart with slight pressure.
Add the fact that the tie size and spacing of H0 scale SG track is way incorrect for 0n30 NG.
PECO (UK) track is made using UV stabilized tie strips and works very well outdoors. PECO’s “O-16.5 On30 Track” has ties that are sized and spaced closer to narrow gauge practice. The ties are ~6"x8"x5’. Unfortunately the tie plates and spikes have a very British look, but still better than using SG H0 track.
0n30 track is also made by Micro Engineering (US). I haven’t seen any information on ME’s UV resistance. ME ties appear to have a slightly smaller crossection then PECO’s, but they scale to ~6’ long. This is typical of US NG practice and they have a US NG appearance. ME doesn’t have completed turnouts yet, but supplies turnout rail kits that can be laid on the customer’s ties. 0n30 turnouts have been on ME’s ‘coming soon’ list for quite a while now.
Hope this helps.
Happy RRing,
Jerry Bowers