The answer relating to why narrow gauge gets so much press is due to the fact that for the first time ever, On30 and HOn3 has a rather large amount of stuff made by major manufacturers in the R-T-R category which is not too much more costly than some of the eqivalent top shelf HO locos, rolling stock and trackage.
Prior to the present century, Narrow gauge MR'ing meant either extreme expense (brass) or extremely deveolped modeling skills. You were forced into brass engines, hand assembled wooden car kits and limited ready to use trackage.
Many HO gauge MRs were like myself.....We loved the quaint little narrow gauge but lacked the money and skills needed to break into it. It is no longer that way at all. Thus, a modern rush to narrow gauge that it never saw before. Yes, if you want to model U.S. NG you must model the steam or transition era. Many HO guys already model this era. There are many old autos, buildings and scenics extant from the 20-60's when real revenue operational 3 foot narrow gauging was still around. Thus no need to hand cobble old sturctures or automotives.
Just about 100% of all narrow gauge layouts are post 1920's era with most being in the 1920-1950 time frame when there were still 6 or 7 different NG roads around. It is a rare NG'er that works the 1880-1910 era.
Richard
If I can't fix it, I can fix it so it can't be fixed
Chutton,you are right & I did just that,thanks.
the old train manThanks for all the replys , great advice. Since I model n & ho scale I didnt have much to lose by dropping the n scale.I had only a small amount of buildings in n scale
wickman I've never modelled in N scale only HO scale and I can honestly say I know what your talking about, eyes go first.
I've never modelled in N scale only HO scale and I can honestly say I know what your talking about, eyes go first.
Lynn,Be careful where you say that since there is lots of seniors in N..I'm 67 and the Rx for my eye glasses hasn't changed much in the last 5 years-except for the blurriness caused by one of my pills.
Larry
Conductor.
Summerset Ry.
"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt Safety First!"
Sir Madog hustle_muscle I never understood why none of those N scale cars had metal wheels or body-mounted couplers. That must have been quite some old stuff, as the days of Rapido couplers mounted on the trucks and plastic wheelsets are long gone.
hustle_muscle I never understood why none of those N scale cars had metal wheels or body-mounted couplers.
That must have been quite some old stuff, as the days of Rapido couplers mounted on the trucks and plastic wheelsets are long gone.
Believe it or not, that was a selection of cars from Micro Trains, Atlas Trainman, and Intermountain that were made in the past 10 years when I started my N scale collection in 2010. They all came from the local hobby shop with plastic wheels and truck mounted Micro Trains couplers. Still have my 3 only locomotives, a Kato SD70MAC, Atlas SD60M and a Walthers Proto N GP38-2. The Kato ran the best since I bought it brand new from the hobby shop while the other 2 were secondhand from a train show and had probably been ran for a few times, had little to no maintenance and had been sitting around for quite a while
Check out my work here:
http://rmd-painting.weebly.com/
Thanks for all the replys , great advice. Since I model n & ho scale I didnt have much to lose by dropping the n scale.I had only a small amount of buildings in n scale & I had a lot of ho scale buildings & over 200 cars in ho. I have put ho track where the n track was & added buildings,signals etc. to the layout. I was fortunate enough to have a neighbor buy all my n engines at a fair price. Like I said before I will miss n scale & enjoyed it since 1968. My first engine was a rapido fm switcher,my last engine I bought was a bachmann berk with dcc & sound. I think I made the right decision & if most of you stay in this hobby long enough you will see what Im talking about someday. May God Bless.
hustle_muscleI never understood why none of those N scale cars had metal wheels or body-mounted couplers.
I tried doing N scale 4 years ago. A year later, I went back to HO since I had such a hard time working with replacing those rapido couplers with MT couplers and I wasn't completely enjoying it after a while. I actually had more HO stuff to begin with and realized how easier it was to work on HO equipment after I left N scale. One thing I never understood why none of those N scale cars had metal wheels or body-mounted couplers. Truck-mounted couplers seem like they could be a problem for switching operations with issues uncoupling the cars. I personally never did any, but I often heard people talk about the issues with those truck-mounted couplers
Sorry Ulrich, yes I did omit the narrow gauge operations in Switzerland. I also omitted the Bosnian narrow gauge operation (steam powered IIRC), some lines in Poland, and a few other narrow gauge tidbits. However, the non-standardization of gauge seems to run in the other direction in Europe, with Irish, Iberian, and Russian broad gauge coming to mind.
IRONROOSTERMost U.S. narrow gauge modelers go with pre WWII. In the U.S. most narrow gauge was gone by WWII.
Lynn
Present Layout progress
http://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/11/p/290127/3372174.aspx#3372174
chutton01 I'm going to ask a question built on the previous post - as a North America (NA) modern era modeler mostly interested in freight operations, I'm afraid I don't get all the love of narrow gauge. Sure, if you're modeling Ocenia, Africa, parts of Asia, or parts of South America it's cool, as metre gauge and "Cape" gauge railways are well represented, but I think the last narrow gauge interchange freight operation in NA was the Newfoundland Railway (closed in 1988), and didn't the Rio Grande narrow gauge freight operations end in the early 1970s? Are there N.A. narrow gauge in revenue service (NOT preserved, or as Wiki denotes them: "Heritage"?). Do railroads like the Whitehorse & Yukon, Cumbres & Toltec, Durango, or Edaville offer any regular transport of passenger or freight service, or are they simply tourist roads? (nothing wrong with that, but it seems more of a "scenic" rail ride than actual transport service)Do modelers who introduce narrow gauge always end up shifting their time eras to pre-World War II (pretty big "meh" for me), or do they attempt to justify modern era N.A. narrow gauge (or just to add a tourist road while the standard gauge stuff handles the real passenger/freight loads, much like reality), or do they shift locales and start modeling places like contemporary Australia, South Africa or Japan (intriguing concepts, BTW).
I'm going to ask a question built on the previous post - as a North America (NA) modern era modeler mostly interested in freight operations, I'm afraid I don't get all the love of narrow gauge. Sure, if you're modeling Ocenia, Africa, parts of Asia, or parts of South America it's cool, as metre gauge and "Cape" gauge railways are well represented, but I think the last narrow gauge interchange freight operation in NA was the Newfoundland Railway (closed in 1988), and didn't the Rio Grande narrow gauge freight operations end in the early 1970s? Are there N.A. narrow gauge in revenue service (NOT preserved, or as Wiki denotes them: "Heritage"?). Do railroads like the Whitehorse & Yukon, Cumbres & Toltec, Durango, or Edaville offer any regular transport of passenger or freight service, or are they simply tourist roads? (nothing wrong with that, but it seems more of a "scenic" rail ride than actual transport service)Do modelers who introduce narrow gauge always end up shifting their time eras to pre-World War II (pretty big "meh" for me), or do they attempt to justify modern era N.A. narrow gauge (or just to add a tourist road while the standard gauge stuff handles the real passenger/freight loads, much like reality), or do they shift locales and start modeling places like contemporary Australia, South Africa or Japan (intriguing concepts, BTW).
Most U.S. narrow gauge modelers go with pre WWII. In the U.S. most narrow gauge was gone by WWII. A few lines hung on past that, but they were generally special cases. Most narrow gauge equipment is based on the Colorado lines whose heyday had come and gone by WWII.
One advantage of narrow gauge is that it is easier to model steam in O with Bachmann's heavy support of steam for On30. It's a great choice IF you have space for the buildings and want something larger than HO. It's also considerably cheaper than the mostly brass steam locomotives available for S, Sn3, O, or On3.
Still and all, narrow gauge is a small niche in any scale. It generally gets more press for it's numbers since the difficulty and expense keeps most casual model railroaders away.
enjoy
Paul
chutton01Sure, if you're modeling Ocenia, Africa, parts of Asia, or parts of South America it's cool, as metre gauge and "Cape" gauge railways are well represented
Without the intention to hijack this thread or go much deeper into this subject, but narrow gauge enjoys a tremendous representation with regular passenger and freight services, and even express trains in the little country in Europe called Switzerland. Just take a look at the Rhaetian Railway network.
Rhaetian Railway
I think I have mentioned this before.... Those actually changing scale are making a huge change! Moving to narrow gauge within your current scale is a smarter move. (note in N scale this is somewhat ridiculous of course). By moving to O or S scale from N, or especially HO you lose not only your engines and rolling stock but all of your structures and automotive items as well!
In these times, a huge investment is required in structures as well! It would be cool to keep all of your automobiles, buildings, etc., if you could. This assumes you choose to stay in the same era. You can do this in narrow gauge within your scale. This is why I left HO for HOn3. Lots of real world engines and rolling stock to be had R-T-R and I got to keep my period structuresand automotive items!
I would have gone to On30 in a minute and gladly accepted the fact that there was not one single 0n30 engine that ever existed in real life or that ever ran on 30" rails currently for sale on the planet, were it not for the fact that I would lose all of my period HO structures.
My big plan was really to go to narrow gauge modeling and HO narrow gauge was the smart choice from most every avenue I examined within my available space and purse.
As an example, if you have worked for many years in HO and want to move to S, Sn3, Sn30, O, On3 or On30, You loose everything! If you had an HO empire, your empire will become a good deal smaller fifedom in your current space.
N scalers moving on will have little choice, but to lose it all. Likewise, those staying in scale but going narrow gauge, yet changing eras will lose it all, as well.
G Paine A lot of people are going to On30. There are quite a few ready to run locomotives and rolling stock available. The thing people seem to forget whe they think of this is, even though the locos and rolling stock are small, you are still modeling 1/48 scale. Everything else is BIG - particluarly to someone moving up from N
A lot of people are going to On30. There are quite a few ready to run locomotives and rolling stock available. The thing people seem to forget whe they think of this is, even though the locos and rolling stock are small, you are still modeling 1/48 scale. Everything else is BIG - particluarly to someone moving up from N
If you like the size of On30 cars and locomotives, you might like S scale. The On30 cars and locomotives are very close to S scale - so close that some S scalers are converting On30 to S. But in S the buildings are smaller than O - about half the footprint.
Enjoy
LensCapOn The day I can't re-rail an N scale car is when I move on. A small On30 layout could be tons of fun.
The day I can't re-rail an N scale car is when I move on.
A small On30 layout could be tons of fun.
Triple B.....Type A personality?
chutton01 Triple B I boxed everything up and I am saving it for my 11 year old son, if he ever wants it. Now in HO scale and I am happy with the decision. Well, with all that N scale track, you could add a HOn30 division to your layout...
Triple B I boxed everything up and I am saving it for my 11 year old son, if he ever wants it. Now in HO scale and I am happy with the decision.
Well, with all that N scale track, you could add a HOn30 division to your layout...
HOn30 has always been a small niche in HO scale modleing. There used to be some brass and resin kits that need to be adapted to N scale mechanisms. The best bet these days are 3D printed models. Shapeways.com has quite a few HOn30 designs. You will need to add trucks, couplers, and details like grab irons to rolling stock. Same for locomotives, except you will also need to find an N scale donor locomotive to provide the mechanism and figure out how to mount it.
George In Midcoast Maine, 'bout halfway up the Rockland branch
I modeled in N exclusivly for over 20 years until, like you, my eyes just got too bad. I moved to HO about 7 years ago and have been happy with it, though recent experiments with On30 have made me think twice about selling off the extra HO stuff and building the next layout in O. I kept all my N scale though, and will have the ability to lay a loop under the next layout to just run some trains. It took a lot of effort to custom paint for Bangor & Aroostook and install dcc + sound in those tiny locomotives, I could never give them up.
I like detail and steam engines so being in N scale was not to be especially with my eyesight and Parkinson's which make it hard to do the detailing I like. Although I have been into HO for many years at the club level I ran and built N scale at home.
Now I run HO at home and don't regret it.
SP&S modeler, 1960's give or take a decade or two for some equipment.
http://www.youtube.com/user/SGTDUPREY?feature=guide
Gary DuPrey
N scale model railroader
I got into HOn3 about the time my fine motor control started drifting south. The eyesight is still OK but ultra-fine detailed model building is over. I am able to compensate as I am a good machinist and electronics engineer so I can cobble up jigs to help hold stuff fast while I work on it. No plans to leave the HO scale though.
Sorry to hear about the quitting of N scale after so many enjoyable years and that selling the stuff you loved at a decent price is so tough.
the old train man Due to poor eyesight & other factors I am having to leave n scale & focus my attention on my ho scale . I love n scale & after 47 years in n scale I am going to miss it. I was just wondering how many other modelers have had to make this decision?
Due to poor eyesight & other factors I am having to leave n scale & focus my attention on my ho scale . I love n scale & after 47 years in n scale I am going to miss it. I was just wondering how many other modelers have had to make this decision?
I did and regret doing so..Hindsight is indeed 20/20..
The slinky action of the MT coupler ruin any hope of realistic switching..Had I used common sense I would have just changed the couplers out to Accumates since they was working fine for my switching needs..
And another reason I thought I lost some of my eyesight but,that turn out to be a side effect of one of my medications..The doctor change the medication and my eyesight returned to normal.
Changing scale isn´t really the answer. Each scale has its dose of tiny detail, and while the omission of that detail is not much noticable in N scale, you do notice it in HO or even larger scales. If you find you can´t handle it anylonger, you need to change to something completely different - like O gauge (not O scale) or tinplate HO gauge.
Guess how I found that bout ...
Triple BI boxed everything up and I am saving it for my 11 year old son, if he ever wants it. Now in HO scale and I am happy with the decision.
I had to leave N Scale due to peripheral neuropathy and rheumatoid arthritis. I tried to sell my N Scale stuff but it wouldn't sell for an acceptable price. People wanted good quality model railroad equipment for basically nothing. I boxed everything up and I am saving it for my 11 year old son, if he ever wants it. Now in HO scale and I am happy with the decision.