The "N" Crowd

[n2mopac]

Question for Dave Vollmer.

Would you mind telling me what you are using to control the turnouts on you layout? 

BTW, both your layout and website are VERY nice looking, Almost makes me want to model the Pennsy!  I'm using it as a reference as to what I want my layout to look like, accept with modern CSX power.

Thanks in advance.

Thanks!

I use my fingers to control the turnouts.  Peco turnouts have an internal centering spring so they don't need a switch motor or ground throw.

I do the same with great results. I place dummy ground throws for looks.

Ron

[SpaceMouse]

I prefer N Scale Railroading (NSR).  If you've ruled out a subscription and an LHS, you ah, well... won't be getting one.  It's not the kind of magazine carried at Barnes and Noble.

I'm not ruling out a subscription. I just kinda sorta want to see a cow before I buy the herd.

[n2mopac]

Hey, everyone. Check out my updated track plan and give me your thoughts at the following thread.

http://www.trains.com/trccs/forums/995608/ShowPost.aspx#995608

Spacemouse has already given me some thoughts. I appreciate all of them, so give me your .

Ron

[Blue Flamer]

Hello Dave.

I just wanted to give you a sincere for starting The "N" Crowd and showing all of us beginners what can be accomplished if you just put your mind to it and persevere. Naturally, our first attempts are probably NOT going to turn out as beautiful looking as yours and some of the other great looking layouts, but with a little patience they will look good enough until we gain more experience to improve them.

I would just like to ask if you have a Web Site for "N Scale Railroading", as when I enter that all I get is a web site for all kinds of advertising for all types of things.

Again, thanks for all your help in the past and thanks in advance for any help on the Web Site requested.

 

Blue Flamer.

 

[Dave Vollmer]

Hello Dave.

I just wanted to give you a sincere for starting The "N" Crowd and showing all of us beginners what can be accomplished if you just put your mind to it and persevere. Naturally, our first attempts are probably NOT going to turn out as beautiful looking as yours and some of the other great looking layouts, but with a little patience they will look good enough until we gain more experience to improve them.

I would just like to ask if you have a Web Site for "N Scale Railroading", as when I enter that all I get is a web site for all kinds of advertising for all types of things.

Again, thanks for all your help in the past and thanks in advance for any help on the Web Site requested.

 

Blue Flamer.

 

Thanks for the kind words! If you mean the magazine, N Scale Railroading, then the website you describe is the only one I know. They have a small distribution, so I doubt they'd want to put much of the magazine's content on line as that might jeapordize their business.

By the way, don't sell yourself or other beginners short! I don't have any secrets; my layout is built using all mainstream products and techniques available to everyone. You can follow the construction of my layout step-by-step on my website... You'll see I didn't do anything special! It's really the great products out there and the great techniques that other modelers have pioneered that makes it possible for anyone to have a great layout.

[jdtractorboy]

Dave,

Did you use the same liquid nails product to glue down the roadbed as you did on the track?

Also, were you using the 1.5" spacing between your dual main tracks?

Thanks

Chuck 

[outdoorsfellar]

In regards to N Scale Railroading magazines, I don't have a subscription, but I did go to their web site & order back issues of my choice. It's a great way to see what there is to offer before subscribing !

[outdoorsfellar]

Here's a few new pics in & around my Coal Fork Junct. on my Allegheny & Cumberland.  I haven't worked on anything since October & this past week I got busy with adding foilage. Here's two helpers sitting in the pocket.......

It was great  to finally get things going again !

 

 

[Dave Vollmer]

Wow, that looks really great!  I love how the mountain dominates even over a multi-track yard.  Gotta love N scale!

[Mailman56701]

Hello Dave.

I just wanted to give you a sincere for starting The "N" Crowd and showing all of us beginners what can be accomplished if you just put your mind to it and persevere. Naturally, our first attempts are probably NOT going to turn out as beautiful looking as yours and some of the other great looking layouts, but with a little patience they will look good enough until we gain more experience to improve them.

I would just like to ask if you have a Web Site for "N Scale Railroading", as when I enter that all I get is a web site for all kinds of advertising for all types of things.

Again, thanks for all your help in the past and thanks in advance for any help on the Web Site requested.

 

Blue Flamer.

 

 

  Here's the link to their website.  http://www.nscalerailroadn.com/

[Mailman56701]

  Ok, how does one post a link on this forum ?  Didn't find anything in the faq, and I'm surprised there isn't a button for it when composing a post......didn't see one anyway :)

[CanadianShield]

 

 ALRIGHT! I can't take it anymore I Hafta-know! How many of the N scalers here are Transition, how many model Modern etc?

  If there was a chart I have no idea, but! it might go like this:

Group          Era          

   H        1800-1900 

   G        1901-1929 

   F        1930-1945 

   E        1946-1959

   D        1960-1970

   C        1971-1989

   B        1990-2001

   A        2002-Present

I'm an "E" what about you guys? Or Perhaps I could get everyones help in deciding the exact years??

 Canadian Shield

[SpaceMouse]

In N- A

In HO- H

 

[Dave Vollmer]

E.

[CanadianShield]

 

 So i'm Not Crazy! That last post made sense. Sorta

 

[Mailman56701]

C

[CSXFan]

Dekruif I've got one the athearn SD70Ms and it runs ok. It doesn't pull to well but they may have been becuase I was trying to pull Autoracks on a 9 3/4 curve with it and it slowed down alot going through the curves.(This was not my layout, my layout has 15s.

I'm also going to use a 15" min on my layout. Would you mind telling me how 6 axel locos and 80'+ cars look on these curves? I plan to run longer equipment (although autoracks may be pushing it). If you have a few pics of your equipment on 15" curves that you can could post I would really appreciate it.

BTW, I model the "A" era.

 

[Anonymous]

I just had to mention that I am a novice N-scaler too. Well, partially. I am a near-teenager creating an unnamed HO Marklin/Trix 4x10 figure 8 layout that is freelanced in all aspects. It's my first layout too. Within one of the loops of the 8, there is a three story hill that an N scale Kato SD-40 Canadian National (don't ask why it's CN) with three Atlas cars cimbs up and comes back down. Ever since me and my family together created it, we all discovered that we liked N scale better. However, everyone suggests that the first layout should always be finished, so we're still going at HO.

And I have one honest question for all of you N-scalers: Which is better, T-Trak or N-Trak?

P.S. From whom did you get those steam engines? 

[Anonymous]

I'm undoubtedly an A. You gotta love the present, with all of the new EMD's coming out and such.

[Dave Vollmer]

I just had to mention that I am a novice N-scaler too. Well, partially. I am a near-teenager creating an unnamed HO Marklin/Trix 4x10 figure 8 layout that is freelanced in all aspects. It's my first layout too. Within one of the loops of the 8, there is a three story hill that an N scale Kato SD-40 Canadian National (don't ask why it's CN) with three Atlas cars cimbs up and comes back down. Ever since me and my family together created it, we all discovered that we liked N scale better. However, everyone suggests that the first layout should always be finished, so we're still going at HO.

And I have one honest question for all of you N-scalers: Which is better, T-Trak or N-Trak?

P.S. From whom did you get those steam engines? 

Welcome to N scale!

I can't answer the T-Trak/N-Trak question, as I've done neither...  but both of my steam engines are ones I've modified to look like Pennsylvania RR engines.  One is built on a Kato 2-8-2 chassis and the other is built on a Bachmann Spectrum 2-8-0 chasis.  The 2-8-2 uses a special kit by GHQ to make it look like a Pennsy L1s, and I kitbashed a couple other engines to get the boiler, cab, and firebox for my 2-8-0.  If you're not worried about modifying their appearance, both the Kato 2-8-2 and Bachmann Spectrum 2-8-0 are excellent locomotives straight from the box.

[tgindy]

  Ok, how does one post a link on this forum ?  Didn't find anything in the faq, and I'm surprised there isn't a button for it when composing a post......didn't see one anyway :)

You can do this with either mouse controls, keyboard controls, or both.  I use both to insert a weblink at this forum. 

It helps to use the keyboard:  One way is to know how to "cut-copy-paste text" => using some old word processing keyboard text-marking shortcut tricks...

1st => to mark text => hold the shift-key while marking your text along with arrows-home-end keys.

2nd => to delete marked text => hold the shift-key along with delete-key.

3rd => to insert marked & deleted text => hold the shift-key along with insert-key.

Now to insert your weblink...

[1]  Mark & copy your URL using the mouse, or shift-delete + shift-insert outlined above.

[2]  Paste the link into your copy, and it will look like this...

http://www.trains.com/trccs/forums/default.aspx?ForumGroupID=8

Then mark the entire text link again which gives you permission to insert the html link.

[3]  Go to the "Insert/edit link" icon above the "B" "I" icons that looks like a chain and look for the "Link URL" box and using your mouse controls paste the entire marked weblink into the box.

Your finished weblink will look like this... 

http://www.trains.com/trccs/forums/default.aspx?ForumGroupID=8

[pcarrell]

I'm an F (1930's), though I'm seriously thinking of becomming a G (1928).

[Anonymous]

 

 ALRIGHT! I can't take it anymore I Hafta-know! How many of the N scalers here are Transition, how many model Modern etc?

  If there was a chart I have no idea, but! it might go like this:

Group          Era          

   H        1800-1900 

   G        1901-1929 

   F        1930-1945 

   E        1946-1959

   D        1960-1970

   C        1971-1989

   B        1990-2001

   A        2002-Present

I'm an "E" what about you guys? Or Perhaps I could get everyones help in deciding the exact years??

 Canadian Shield

I'm a D.  I seem to find more rolling stock and structures that fit that era.  I'm trying to stay 1963 though.

Rob 

[Metro Red Line]

I'm undoubtedly an A. You gotta love the present, with all of the new EMD's coming out and such.

I'm in the "A" team too. I love the challenge of trying to emulate the real world as much as I can.

If this is the "A" team, then I'll be Mr. T. "I pity da fool!"  :)

[Dave Vollmer]

I'm undoubtedly an A. You gotta love the present, with all of the new EMD's coming out and such.

I'm in the "A" team too. I love the challenge of trying to emulate the real world as much as I can.

If this is the "A" team, then I'll be Mr. T. "I pity da fool!"  :)

Yes, but if you model Mr. T, Hannibal, Face, and Murdock, you need to be in group C!

[Mailman56701]

  Ok, how does one post a link on this forum ?  Didn't find anything in the faq, and I'm surprised there isn't a button for it when composing a post......didn't see one anyway :)

You can do this with either mouse controls, keyboard controls, or both.  I use both to insert a weblink at this forum. 

It helps to use the keyboard:  One way is to know how to "cut-copy-paste text" => using some old word processing keyboard text-marking shortcut tricks...

1st => to mark text => hold the shift-key while marking your text along with arrows-home-end keys.

2nd => to delete marked text => hold the shift-key along with delete-key.

3rd => to insert marked & deleted text => hold the shift-key along with insert-key.

Now to insert your weblink...

[1]  Mark & copy your URL using the mouse, or shift-delete + shift-insert outlined above.

[2]  Paste the link into your copy, and it will look like this...

http://www.trains.com/trccs/forums/default.aspx?ForumGroupID=8

Then mark the entire text link again which gives you permission to insert the html link.

[3]  Go to the "Insert/edit link" icon above the "B" "I" icons that looks like a chain and look for the "Link URL" box and using your mouse controls paste the entire marked weblink into the box.

Your finished weblink will look like this... 

http://www.trains.com/trccs/forums/default.aspx?ForumGroupID=8    

 

 

Thanks !  Copy/paste, etc. isn't a problem; needed to know this particular board's way of inserting a link, which the "marking again" and step three is what wasn't getting done.

   Have to say, of all the boards on all the subjects, over all the years, that I've been on, this is the most convulated way of inserting a link I've seen :)

[slotracer]

About group D, 1970 about.  Some equipment that was gone in 66 or 67 and a few units that didn't come around until 74, but the bulk of the way the layout will be would peg it at 1970.

Earlier might be neat but the small size of trying to keep N Scale steam in good repair and running order kept me away from the transition era.  I don't have the slightest interest in anything modern so I ceainly wouldn't invest time or money modeling it.  1960's and 70's still ahd numerous neat roads and lines and variety. 

 

[nscaler711]

Hey METRO RED LINE.......... try a Hobby Town USA store they have the same type of store as the place u were chatin about but their people are much nicer they'll help you. also check the near back of Model Raildoader Magazine they have store listings on all 50 states and in other countries. Californa has long list of store listings. unlike missouri Group A-B

[Metro Red Line]

Hey METRO RED LINE.......... try a Hobby Town USA store they have the same type of store as the place u were chatin about but their people are much nicer they'll help you. also check the near back of Model Raildoader Magazine they have store listings on all 50 states and in other countries. Californa has long list of store listings. unlike missouri Group A-B

 

Thanks. Actually there is no HobbyTown USA near me. But I do have several train-only stores within driving distance, most of them even closer to me. I just will not go to that store again.  

[R. T. POTEET]

You may want to check out the November, '06 Railmodel Journal; Dan Lewis' Milwaukee Road, Long Branch Division is one of the Layout Tour features in this issue.  By a quirk Dan has an article in the Jan/Feb N-Scale magazine and the Jan/Feb N-Scale Railroading magazine.