HO train with N trucks

[Anonymous]

Is it possible to run narrow gauge as HO with N trucks? What's it called and how hard is it to wire the powered engine?

[Anonymous]

It's very possible - the scale is known as either HOe or 009 (the latter being UK 4mm=1ft scale on 9mm gauge track). Roco have a few RTR locos and cars as do Bemo, Peco have suitable track and switches, however, beyond that it's a case of kit building. There seem to be two approaches to this, either involving the chassis from an N scale loco or a complete kit where you have to build the chassis from a brass etching.

[nedthomas]

I beleive AHM imported the ROCO line as HOn2 1/2 a long time ago. That would be 30 inch gauge.

[Catt]

Most folks today call this scale HOn30.It takes a lot of scratchbuilding ,but there is more and more product being made.

There are relatively inexpencive kits available to convert N scale steam (and some diesels) to HOn30.Here's a link that will give you a good idea of what's available. http://www.bnfhoby.com/ The owner of this store is a diehard narrowgauger and knows what is available.

(PS) BNF hobbies is a real brick and mortar store.

[devils]

chivers finelines in the UK make a range of plastic kits for freight cars in HOn30 and On30 that are easy to build they also did some whitemetal kits for locos to go on bachmann N chassis, try [e-mail]
they were advertised by an importer in MR several times but I can't remember who, production is a little erratic but they are good value for money.

[Anonymous]

A good on-line resource:
http://www.hon30.org/

Jon

[Anonymous]

It seems no one has directly answered all of your question, so I will. As previous posters have indicated, HO scale running on N scale track is HO narrow gauge, or, HOn30. HOn30 is a representation of prototypical 30 inch narrow gauge. I am assuming you know the defination of gauge is the distance between the rails. Standard gauge is 4' 8". The narrow gauge that HOn30 represents is 30". There are other narrow gauge measurements as well. There is 36", and 2'. There are others, but they are not as popular. HOn30 therefore breaks down like this: HO= HO scale. n= narrow gauge. 30= 30" which is the width between the rails that HOn30 represents on the prototype. I model in On30. On30 is O scale narrow gauge that is O scale, that uses HO gauge, but represents the same 30" prototype that HOn30 does. HOn30 locomotives are available, although not very popular. To my knowledge, no one makes them on a large enough scale to be cost effective. Here is a link that does offer them, but as you can see, they are costly. http://www.bnfhoby.com/train3-2locomotives.htm
If you have the space, and want to model narrow gauge, why not look at On30? It much more cost effective, as there are several companies offering RTR models only a little more than a hundred bucks.

[Anonymous]

Thx 4 all the replies. All very helpfull. What are the difficulties with transforming my existing HO engines to N trucks?

[Anonymous]

I have no idea as I don't know what models you have. You might try doing a general google search using HOn30, bashing, etc. I'm not sure you wouldn't be better off buying a RTR locomotive. I'm just not that familiar with HOn30 to tell you.

QUOTE: Originally posted by starmaster

Thx 4 all the replies. All very helpfull. What are the difficulties with transforming my existing HO engines to N trucks?

[rolleiman]

QUOTE: Originally posted by On30Shay

I have no idea as I don't know what models you have. You might try doing a general google search using HOn30, bashing, etc. I'm not sure you wouldn't be better off buying a RTR locomotive. I'm just not that familiar with HOn30 to tell you.

QUOTE: Originally posted by starmaster

Thx 4 all the replies. All very helpfull. What are the difficulties with transforming my existing HO engines to N trucks?

Carrabasset and Dead River.. Dave Frary and Bob Hayden (sorry if mistpelled) did a lot of work with this in the 70s and 80s.. Check out Mr. Haydens' book on scenery, All C&DR if not mistaken.. HO scale on N scale track.. Very nicely done and yes, a lot of kitbashing and scratch building..

Jeff.

[DanRaitz]

Converting HO engines to N scale trucks?
You'd be alot better off starting with N Scale engines and converting the bodies to HO.
I don't mean replacing the body, but adding HO scale detail parts,i.e. cab, bell, headlight, Smoke stack, Sand & Steam domes, Air pumps, etc.
There have been numerous magazine articles of this type of kit-bash. Just go to www.//index.mrmag.com and do a search for "HOn30" or "HOn2 1/2" (Model Railroader magazine calls this scale HOn2 1/2 whereas EVERYBODY else calls it HOn30).

Dan

[Anonymous]

Fitting 9mm gauge trucks to your HO locos will be very difficult - some narrow gauge lines used locos regauged in this way (the Harz narrow gauge system in Germany bought a few standard-gauge diesels and fitted new trucks to them) but in model form you'll have problems in that the architecture of HO and N locos is very different. I've heard of a kit to model the Harz locos using a commercial RTR loco but I've never seen one for sale - think it may have been a limited production run. The other snag is that American locos are a lot bigger than German ones - the Harz conversions looked a little top-heavy and were fairly small locos to begin with. It may well be easier to scratchbuild on an N scale mechanism than to convert an existing HO loco. Good luck!