your funny steam freak lol your right about tiny parts cant go one day without losing a bachmann coupler box spring
still need help with my LL sw8 dilema any ideas i posted it on page 22 post #8
it starts up good then stops suddenly. my kato p42 works fine on all parts of the track. it must be the loco itself
Army National Guard E3MOS 91BI have multiple scales nowZ, N, HO, O, and G.
SteamFreak wrote: Dave Vollmer wrote: Again, please, I'm calling for restraint. We all lose if this thread gets locked out. So let's knock off the threats, the spelling corrections, and all the other petty things that have nothing to do with N scale trains.We're better than this. If not, you should be in HO!Dang, I just decide to check in here to see how things are going in the land of the little people, and what do I find? Chairs cracked over heads, fists flying, and all during the holiday season? Where is your Christmas spirit and sense of modeling decorum? Personally I'm shocked. Perhaps all of this rowdiness is directly proportionate to the amount of time spent squinting at parts that are far too tiny?
Dave Vollmer wrote: Again, please, I'm calling for restraint. We all lose if this thread gets locked out. So let's knock off the threats, the spelling corrections, and all the other petty things that have nothing to do with N scale trains.We're better than this. If not, you should be in HO!
Again, please, I'm calling for restraint. We all lose if this thread gets locked out. So let's knock off the threats, the spelling corrections, and all the other petty things that have nothing to do with N scale trains.
We're better than this. If not, you should be in HO!
Dang, I just decide to check in here to see how things are going in the land of the little people, and what do I find? Chairs cracked over heads, fists flying, and all during the holiday season? Where is your Christmas spirit and sense of modeling decorum? Personally I'm shocked.
Perhaps all of this rowdiness is directly proportionate to the amount of time spent squinting at parts that are far too tiny?
Try soldering parts that tiny. OUCH!
Seriously, a lot of threads have gotten "cranky" lately. Must be holiday stress. Never understood that stress until I had kids!
Modeling the Rio Grande Southern First District circa 1938-1946 in HOn3.
Pardon me if this is stupid question, but do you Normal folks actually do operations stuff like industrial switching and yard work? I've never seen in person, on video or even pictures in a magazine. I've been around HO operational layouts and even that is clumsy at best-- a bunch of heavy-handed fat-fingered yard goats loaded-down with switch lists under their chin while they throttle and skewer cars apart, derailing one side or the other often as not.
It seems to me uncoupling cars on midget scale has got to be a nightmare.
Now I've seen N scale layouts that have been set up switch or do yard work, but I've never actually seen it done. I figure that N scale has got to be mostly for lookie-loos to watch triple-headed freighters pull 50 cars through lush scenery.
So the question is, if you do do switching, how do you get 'er done.
Chip
Building the Rock Ridge Railroad with the slowest construction crew west of the Pecos.
I use a Rix uncoupling pick for switching. But yes, switching is just as possible in N as it is in HO.
I too am hoping to build a small N scale layout, in addition to my HO setup.
I hope I'm not being too repetitive as I haven't yet read this entire thread. But I have some questions:
1. Are Micro-Trains the best couplers? Are there any other similar ones?
2. Do the magnetic uncouplers work well? Are the delayed action ones available? Do cars tend to sometimes uncouple accidently when passing over the magnets?
3. What is the preferred method of uncoupling when cars are within reach?
4. What are the equivalent curve radiuses to HO 30" and 24"?
Thanks
Jerry
Rio Grande vs. Santa Fe.....the battle is over but the glory remains!
Chip,
With Micro Trains stuff my last layout had lots of switching and it was all just as automatic as the Horribly Oversized guys stuff. Spot a car over a magnet and switch away. Totally hands off!
So, the HO guys think we just like to go round and round, huh?
Personally, I don't care for caboose chasing. My trains WORK for a living!
jwils1 wrote: I too am hoping to build a small N scale layout, in addition to my HO setup.
We won't hold that HO thing against you!
Shoot!
Micro Trains are the best is what most would say. I agree. There are some others, like the Atlas Accumate, but the MT's are the top dog!
I'd say they are comparable to their HO counterparts. As with HO, sometimes you have to fiddle with thigs to get them just right, and HO has a slight advantage there just because it's bigger so it's easier to deal with. On the whole though, there really isn't a lot of difference.
Some take the manual approach and use an uncoupling tool or one of those long wooden meat skewers. You know, the ones that look like giant toothpicks that you get at the grocery store. You can also go fully automated, but that costs a bit more.
N scale is roughly half of HO, so thats a good place to start. HO is 1:87, and N is 1:160. For ease of numbers, a 24 inch HO curve would be roughly equivilant to a 12.5 inch curve.
Not a problem, and welcome to the dark side!
Hey Dave,
I have something for you!
Merry Christmas Everyone!
Lionel collector, stuck in an N scaler's modelling space.
Not eactly... The Pennsy, N&W, and Long Island RR (owned by PRR) used monochrome (single-color) position light signals. N&W (in whom Pennsy owned controlling stock) kept their monochrome PL signals until the 1960s, when PRR lost control of the N&W. N&W then switched to color position lights like the B&O. The aspects (clear, approach, stop) were the same but Pennsy used all amber bulbs instead of CPLs.
So, pre-1960s N&W signals exactly like Pennsy (all amber); post-1960's N&W like B&O (color).
Now, you ask, why do some of my pictures show red bulbs?
Some PRR PLs controlled via an interlocking plant used two horizontal red bulbs instead of the customary three horizontal amber bulbs (see the PL for the spur toward the back) to indicate "absolute stop." Ordinarily, a plain old stop indication can sometimes mean stop and then proceed (unless the PL has no number or has a lower bulb), but absolute stop means stay stopped until the signal aspect changes.
NJ International makes my Pennsy PLs in N scale. I think at one time they made B&O CPLs. The B&O CPLs have no center light.
Good luck!
pcarrell wrote: Hey Dave,I have something for you!Merry Christmas Everyone!
Thanks!
Yep... Even NY Central fans have to admit the Pennsy was a class act!
Then came MERGER... which sounds like "murder!"
TO: "pcarroll"
That PRR JPG makes an awesome piece of wallpaper.
Simply load it into your Irfanview, go to resize image, take off the preserve aspect ratio, tap 1024x768 pixels, and save to a new file name.
And a Pennsy Christmas to you, too!
Conemaugh Road & Traction circa 1956
pcarrell wrote:Hey Dave,I have something for you!Merry Christmas Everyone!
I like the Christmas card as well.
Guys, I've gone through 4 very different drafts and have come up with something you can start nit-picking. Please come give me comments. (got through the posts o get to the fourth.)
Click here.
http://www.trains.com/trccs/forums/984780/ShowPost.aspx#984780
Dave Vollmer wrote:Try soldering parts that tiny. OUCH!
As a refugee from the watch industry I understand the frustration, and highly recommend investing in a good quality loupe for anyone who hasn't done so. It's a great help in HO (and my vision is still 20/20), but an absolute necessity in N.
Dave Vollmer wrote:Seriously, a lot of threads have gotten "cranky" lately. Must be holiday stress. Never understood that stress until I had kids!
I've been noticing the same thing, but I couldn't resist after your HO crack. It's that most wonderful time of the year...
By the way Dave, you mentioned somewhere that you had to requarter one of your Bachmann steamers, and it got me wondering -- do they use the same plastic axle arrangement as on their HO locos? Not a sensible thing to do, especially in N without keying them in some way.
And fantastic pics as well. It's enough to make this apartment dweller wonder about the possibilities, though it would have to be preceded by the HO eBay blowout sale (Oy!). I was impressed with the performance of the N scale locos (both steam & diesel) that I saw at the Greenberg show, but I still like something with a little more heft to it.
Nelson
Ex-Southern 385 Being Hoisted
SteamFreak wrote: Dave Vollmer wrote:Try soldering parts that tiny. OUCH!As a refugee from the watch industry I understand the frustration, and highly recommend investing in a good quality loupe for anyone who hasn't done so. It's a great help in HO (and my vision is still 20/20), but an absolute necessity in N. Dave Vollmer wrote:Seriously, a lot of threads have gotten "cranky" lately. Must be holiday stress. Never understood that stress until I had kids!I've been noticing the same thing, but I couldn't resist after your HO crack. It's that most wonderful time of the year... By the way Dave, you mentioned somewhere that you had to requarter one of your Bachmann steamers, and it got me wondering -- do they use the same plastic axle arrangement as on their HO locos? Not a sensible thing to do, especially in N without keying them in some way.And fantastic pics as well. It's enough to make this apartment dweller wonder about the possibilities, though it would have to be preceded by the HO eBay blowout sale (Oy!). I was impressed with the performance of the N scale locos (both steam & diesel) that I saw at the Greenberg show, but I still like something with a little more heft to it.Nelson
Actually the Bachmann drivers weren't out of quarter with respect to their axles... Instead one set of drivers had been installed in the journals about one notch on the gear out of alignment with respect to the other drivers on the same side, causing the valve gear to almost, but not quite, bind with each revolution. That's a far easier problem to fix than the actual quartering.
I sold off all my HO at a train show before switching to N. It was painful at first, but suddenly I had a fistful of cash I could take over to the N scale tables. Suddenly it was like having a full palette of paints and a blank canvas!
Chip:
Nice layout. I like it a lot. What radius curves are you using?
Your plan brings up another question. I notice what might be curved industry tracks. My question is do truck mounted couplers couple together easily on curved tracks? How about uncoupling? I assume that magnets won't fit the curve but do pics work?
Dave Vollmer wrote: Actually the Bachmann drivers weren't out of quarter with respect to their axles... Instead one set of drivers had been installed in the journals about one notch on the gear out of alignment with respect to the other drivers on the same side, causing the valve gear to almost, but not quite, bind with each revolution. That's a far easier problem to fix than the actual quartering.I sold off all my HO at a train show before switching to N. It was painful at first, but suddenly I had a fistful of cash I could take over to the N scale tables. Suddenly it was like having a full palette of paints and a blank canvas!
OK -- I think what you're saying is that each driver is geared so that the side rods are just along for the ride, which is the best way to build a steamer, btw, but if you have a driver installed one tooth out of alignment, it binds. I had a Trix N scale 0-6-0 years ago and found that out quickly when I reassembled it.
I actually have your freight station pic as wallpaper right now, and it looks really good even tho it's stretched a bit. Not so long ago I could instantly pick out an N scale featured layout in one of the magazines due to 3 foot high rail, or dodgy looking handrails, but those aren't dead giveaways anymore. The tiny delrin details are incredible.
Still, as my name shows I'm a steam fanatic first, last, and always, and a big part of the thrill for me is watching the locomotion, and Walschaerts valve gear just isn't the same in N. And I just bought the HO Proto 1000 A&B C-Liner set in Pennsy Brunswick Green. Really nice! Wish they made the Sharks.
Btw, also have my cat-wisker T-shirts in Brunswick and Tuscan - darn they look sharp!
jwils1 wrote: Chip:Nice layout. I like it a lot. What radius curves are you using?Your plan brings up another question. I notice what might be curved industry tracks. My question is do truck mounted couplers couple together easily on curved tracks? How about uncoupling? I assume that magnets won't fit the curve but do pics work?
Thanks.
The curves are minimum 15". I don't know the answer to how well the couplers work. I've never even held a throttle on an N-scale track. I have no idea what that section will look like. I just threw the track in there so it wasn't a bare spot. I'm putting in a turnout then planning the town when I can set little cutout dolls to represent buildings and houses.
merry christmas and a happy n-ew year!
merry christmas and a happy n-ew year! Oranges and Sunshine from CALI!
trainfreek92 wrote: Im going to unwrap tommorow a Guilford GP7 By Atlas, a Mec Box car, a New Haven box car, a CP ral coal car, a CN covered hopper. What are you guys getting
trainfreek, how do you know what they are before unwrapping them tomorrow? Sounds like someone's been cheatin'.
I got $150 to do with what ever I wanted. Until I said I wanted a 4-4-0 with sound. My wife then told me that I had to buy clothes with the money. Sorta my fault though. I've been studying health and decided to practice what I was going to preach. I've lost 50 lbs and none of my clothes fit.
I would really rather had the engine.
I purchased a headband magnifier that has 4 changeable lens. Check this eBay Item. This is what I bought and it works very well.
Item number 300063630377