Hello Everyone,
I'm in the planning stages of a layout of the Durango & Silverton narrow gauge line. Due to space, I'm planning on laying it out in N scale. I would like to go with n3 guage track, but I'm struggling to find locomotives and cars for this guage. Does anyone know of any links for n3 guage locomotives and cars? Is it possible to take a N scale standard guage locomotive or car and convert it to n3? Any other ideas or help is appreciated. Thanks.
The common way to do this, for the very ferw who have, is to use Z scale mechanisms. It's not exactly 3' narrow guage, but unless you plan to build it all yourself from scratch, there's not much of an alternative. There was an article about this back in 1974 ot 75, in Railroad Modeler. Z was pretty new then.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
Good place to start ....
http://www.nn3.org/
Mark.
¡ uʍop ǝpısdn sı ǝɹnʇɐuƃıs ʎɯ 'dlǝɥ
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
You won't find much in Nn3, so you'll be building stuff, really tiny stuff. Before you get too far with a layout, I'd recommend trying to gather a loco and rolling stock for a first train. Until you get that far, little need for a layout. Nn3 is considered a challenging scale/gauge combo, so see if it's really for you before taking too deep a plunge.
That said, HOn3 is much more viable for a D&S layout. While it will take more room, it will be much easier to deal with if you plan on building anything. Everything you need is available, either as a kit or RTR.
Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL
BuckeyeDon Is it possible to take a N scale standard guage locomotive or car and convert it to n3?
Not really. Bachmann old time passenger cars maybe, but they will need to be narrowed by taking a slice out of the middle.
Microtrains has made freight cars, and they have trucks and couplers for Nn3.
I don't know of any Nn3 track. I have only seen people use Z scale track.
How small is your space?
Shapeways has some interesting stuff.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
N scale and Z track is pretty tiny to work on. You will likely have to kitbash some stuff, and size will be a challenge, especially with aging eyes and shaky fingers.
I have both HOn30 and HOn3 and both have their qualities. HOn30 is HO scale locos on n scale track in terms of width (there is such thing as 009 and HOn30 track), so you can work with radius as low as 9". It's meant to represent 24" or 30" wide track, so it's quite limited in terms of prototype in North America (mostly Maine, Colorado/Gilpin, quarries, some industrial). There is good stuff from Minitrains and Toma (Japan), but for a 2-8-0 or 2-8-2, you will need to convert an n scale loco using parts from a source like Shapeways. Hon3 has more options for mainline steam locos, especially from Blackstone.. You can still find some old MDC kits of HOn3 2-8-0 and they can be assembled to run smoothly. But you have to be fast on Ebay or have deep pockets.
Simon
90% of Japanese model railroadings are N scale (N gauge). There are two internal changes, I think.
One was the rise of 1/150 scale and 6.5 mm gauge, and some fans who converted ready-made 9 mm gauge products came out. Japan's Shinkansen, intercity high-speed railways have standard gauge, but freight railways and most commuter railways have narrow gauge of 3 feet 6 inches. Therefore, the N scale sets the former to 1/160 of the world standard. The latter, which can be said to be unique to Japan, has a scale of 1/150 with a gauge of 9 mm. The idea is that there is no sense of discomfort between the two at this level. Among them, those who wanted to reproduce the atmosphere of narrow gauge began to convert the latter to 6.5 mm gauge. They call it "Nj gauge" or "Nj scale". See Google search.
However, I think that the 1/150 scale and 6.5 mm gauge is technically difficult in terms of both commercialization and the challenge of amateurs, and will remain in the minority in future.
Another move is that Kato has released Swiss meter gauge such as the Alps Glacier Express at 1/150 scale and 9 mm gauge. (Kato website) This is gradually becoming widespread. It seems that the fact that the sectional tracks are substantial and easy to run is accepted not only in Japan but also in Europe. Originally in Japan, many modelers thought that prototypes and models were different, and that prototypes were nothing more than borrowing the image. Only a few people were particular about matching the gauge and scale of models. For example, do you remember "Rio Grande Miniland"? Or it doesn't matter if the greatness of Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa resembles the woman who was the model.
I think this 1/150 scale and 9 mm gauge is likely to start in the US 3-ft narrow gauge. Although it will take many years before you allow that rolling stocks of standard gauge and narrow gauge run on the same 9mm gauge track. It should gradually spread from people who are new to model railroading for the first time. The challenge is whether the supplier can tolerate it until then.
I sincerely hope that you can understand this English. :PKotaro Kuriu, Kyoto, Japan
Thanks Everyone for your input. I'm re-evaluating my plan and looking at HOn3.