How many of you are actively doing narrow gauge?

[traingeekboy]

I decided to explore the leaner side over here. I noticed that there aren't that many posts over here anymore, but many of you seem to be gravitating toward On30.

Anything new going on with you guys?

Psssst... Hey Geeky, if you were to buy a small steamer and a couple cars you could run them on yur HO time saver module.

Nooooo not another scale!!!

[JASON]

While I still have good eyes I'll go the other way Geeky.
Currently have 70 odd peices of Nn3 rolling stock mainly DRGW,RGS & only two steam loco's,one still in the box & one half built so if anyone has a loco for sale let me know.
Plus a half finished Nn3 Ophir Loop layout.

[traingeekboy]

I've seen the Nn3. All I can say is tiny. Ophir loop in N, sounds cool.

What is the performance on the Nn3 stuff? I bet dirty track is a real killer for such a small scale.

[BoxcabE50]

Nn3 is certainly cool. But too small for my hands.

I have actively looked at HOn30. And like it. But not doing anything at present. The last year or two, a lot has come to that market. Especially "prototype" sized equipment.

My only holdback for On30, is there is so much whimsical equipment. (Shorty cars.) Or seems oriented toward logging. Nothing wrong with this latter. But there needs to be other rolling stock. In car lengths 28-32/33/34 foot lengths. And On30 does consume more space.

Geeky- Weren't you recently talking of switching to O scale?

:D

Boxcab E50

[traingeekboy]

Yeah, I was talking O scale. Possibly three rail. Then I started looking at track plans... err.... never mind. I did play with my Lionel stuff a bit though. That was fun. I had it set up on my large Sam Spade style desk running around my computer monitor and tower. I love O scale. It's so huge! I have no where to set up O scale. No space.

I dabbled in hon3 for a bit then realized I could not afford engines. I got rid of all my car kits and stuff.

And of course the Bachmann two truck shay in On30 as well as the Bachmann HO 3 truck shay keep calling to me, but money is tight so i'm going to stick my diseasles in N scale for now.

I like looking at all the narrow gauge stuff regardless of scale. There is something very special about all the steam engines. Also, I live close to all kinds of live steam narrow gauge 1 to 1 scale.

I have lots of books on Narrow gauge. I think my favorite is "tracking colorado ghost lines" It has maps and track plans for all the colorado narrow gauge lines.

So that is why I am pestering all you narrow gaugers to post some topics.

[r_i_straw]

Originally posted by traingeekboy:
I've seen the Nn3. All I can say is tiny. Ophir loop in N, sounds cool.

What is the performance on the Nn3 stuff? I bet dirty track is a real killer for such a small scale. Not much different than N. I have been adding tender pick up to all my Nn3 locomotives and they run quite slow and smooth.

[Kenneth L. Anthony]

IN-actively doing narrow gauge. (Non-working 2' gauge creosote plant tramway)
http://www.railimages.com/albums/kennethanthony/adx.jpg

[BoxcabE50]

Originally posted by traingeekboy:
I dabbled in hon3 for a bit then realized I could not afford engines. I got rid of all my car kits and stuff. You might enjoy taking a look at HOn30. I don't have the link in front of me, but there's also an E-zine. "HOn30 Lines." Try this site: www.hon30.org (http://www.hon30.org)

:D

Boxcab E50

[traingeekboy]

Cool Hon3 stuff.

Thanks for the linkage.

[Greg Elems]

I’ve finally acquired all the parts to make my Mexican narrow gauge caboose. Grandt Line windows and doors sure make it easier to tackle a project like this. Now to find the time to do it. I’ve got several irons in the fire I need to finish first though. I’m free lancing a 30” gauge railroad south of the boarder, and it will have diesels too. I found a prototype EMD narrow gauge covered wagon, F unit of sorts that is really neat looking. Might tackle that to pull the caboose. :D

Greg

[BoxcabE50]

Originally posted by Greg Elems:
I found a prototype EMD narrow gauge covered wagon, F unit of sorts that is really neat looking. Picture? Link? Sounds interesting! Would love to see what it looks like.

:D

Boxcab E50

[Conrailrad]

I am currently on hiatus from model railroading. I'm remodeling my train room. Eventually I'll get back into it. When I do, I'll model On30. I have alot of rolling stock, several engines, and building kits. I'll still do N scale, but only with my NTrak club.

[Greg Elems]

These should help explain the narrow gauge f unit I was talking about. :D

http://emdexport.railfan.net/samerica/brasil/brasil29.html

http://emdexport.railfan.net/samerica/brasil/brasil41.html

http://www.railroadforums.com/photos/showphoto.php?photo=19100&cat=564&page=23

http://www.railroadforums.com/photos/showphoto.php?photo=19282&cat=564&page=28

http://www.railroadforums.com/photos/showphoto.php?photo=19101&cat=564&page=33

http://www.railroadforums.com/photos/showphoto.php?photo=19099&cat=564&page=33

http://www.railroadforums.com/photos/showphoto.php?photo=13488&cat=564&page=40

[BoxcabE50]

Almost looks like an ALCo. Is the body a shop built version? Or did EMD do that for export? Or did EMD even actually build these?

:D

Boxcab E50

[Greg Elems]

Not sure, but the idea I got was it was an EMD built engine, based on the G12 which was a road unit. The sides with the portholes say f unit and the cab looks more Baldwin to me. I guess it had the SW-8 power plant inside.

Greg

[JASON]

Ophir Loop layout built by my Dad & I.
Nn3 Bridge 45A! with a couple hundred hand made N scale pines & Aspens (hiden) yet to be planted.
http://www.railimages.com/albums/jasonwillett/ado.jpg
http://www.railimages.com/albums/jasonwillett/adn.jpg
Shots taken at 6th Aust. 2004 narrow g conv.,just ran out of time to finish it.

[ June 08, 2005, 01:29 AM: Message edited by: JASON ]

[BoxcabE50]

That's quite a bridge!

What did you use as a basis for the depot? Kitbash? Scratchbuild?

Please post up some views of the completed scenery!

:D

Boxcab E50

[traingeekboy]

There was a discussion in the N scale forum about bridges.I do not recall if you posted this there. It seems like you know something about bridge building please share. smile.gif

What kind of wood was used with what kind of glue. What plans were used. jigs clamps? what kind of stain. I am very impressed with the color of the wood in the shots.

[JASON]

Originally posted by BoxcabE50:
That's quite a bridge!

What did you use as a basis for the depot? Kitbash? Scratchbuild?

Please post up some views of the completed scenery!

:D

Boxcab E50 Sorry for taking so long to reply.
Boxcab the station is the "Pola" n scale "Rico" depot,I just painted it up in the matching colours,it's a very close match for the real Ophir Loop depot.
http://www.railimages.com/albums/album59/abv.jpg
I actually nearly had Bill Banta (Banta Modelworks) do a lazer cut kit for the Ophir Loop tram house & depot!
http://www.railimages.com/albums/album59/aby.jpg
I'm afraid to admit that the layout has not progressed much at all,but you have embarrased me into finishing this little project Boxcab,still have hundreds of those hand made trees & Aspens to plant too. :(

[JASON]

Originally posted by traingeekboy:
There was a discussion in the N scale forum about bridges.I do not recall if you posted this there. It seems like you know something about bridge building please share. smile.gif

What kind of wood was used with what kind of glue. What plans were used. jigs clamps? what kind of stain. I am very impressed with the color of the wood in the shots. Geeky sorry for taking so long to reply.
I was going to reply to that thread but thought there is already enough very well informed ppl replying& the fact that Dad did most of the bridge work in my abscence.
But to answer your Q's,the wood used is all bass wood from various brands,normal white glue or "alphatic" (yellow) glue works fine.
The timber stain is black leather dye thinned heaps with metho spirits,1/3 of the bundle was stained once,2nd 1/3 stained twice & last 1/3 done three times to give a good variation through the timber stock.But some two years later that very same bridge has lightened in colour,'sun fade' might be the cause.I intend to put the stain through an air brush to darken the bridge timbers up again,will see how it goes.
As for jigs,well I scaled down the replica engineering drawings through photo copying till I got the timber sizes right,sticky taped that photo copy to the under side of a sheet of clear perspex & glued 'guide rails' to the top side.
http://www.railimages.com/albums/album59/aca.jpg
These will hold the pre-stained timbers in place whilst cutting & gluing.
Bridge stringers,
http://www.railimages.com/albums/album59/abw.jpg
And cribbing abutment,
http://www.railimages.com/albums/album59/abx.jpg
I shouldn't go on any further as this process is being writen up for submission to a mag in the future,again I'll see how this pans out.
Any other Q's pm me Geeky.

[Mark4]

Originally posted by traingeekboy:
I decided to explore the leaner side over here. I noticed that there aren't that many posts over here anymore, but many of you seem to be gravitating toward On30.

Hey, Geeky!

I'm designing a kit for a U26C in TTn3.5 to use an Atlas N scale SD50/60 mech. It will be primarily aimed at representing the NZ variants - phase 1 and 2, rebuilt for single manning, tunnel motor versions, modernized cab and rebuilt long hood etc but I will make South African versions and others (such as Kenya, Indonesia etc) will be available by special order. I'll probably build a Kenyan version for myself as that is what headed our trains between Mombassa and Nairobi when we were on honeymoon.

[on30francisco]

I am currently modeling a small indoor logging line in Large Scale (1:20.3) on #1 gauge track. I formerly modeled in On30. Although I enjoyed the size and equipment in that scale, I built a logging caboose in Large Scale that I originally built in O scale and fell in love with modeling in LS. Believe it or not, some locos and other supplies are actually no more pricey and even sometimes cheaper that the same items in HO or O scales. Large Scale does take up a lot of space but the detail is fantastic and although there is a lot of good RTR equipment, it's a scratch builder's and detailer's paradise. I also have a Gn15 line (LS on HO track) and can make use of a lot of my On30 locos and track.
UPDATE: Jan 2, 2007
I have decided to model in both Large Scale and On30 since I like them both and can't choose just one. I can have the best of both worlds.

[BoxcabE50]

Got any photos you could share with us? I'd love to see what you're doing!

:D

Boxcab E50

[traingeekboy]

Good to see The narrow gaugers still popping on here. I hadn't checked this thread in a while, and just realized I started it about a year ago. And yes the ON30 still beckons.I was looking at some at the local store today. I gotta stick to my guns and get my N scale layout working well. Too many distractions. :P

[JCater]

Hi guys, yes I am actively in narrow gauge these days. I have come over to the dark side. The On30 models are just too cool to avoid any longer. Besides, in the years I have been doing this I have noticed that my HO layouts had a lot of scratch built stuff that works better in O...I have already freelanced a mainline water tower, a branchline water tower, a station, turntable and some rolling stock. A caboose is on the list for sure.
John

[HoboTim]

If all goes well, I hope to create a scratch built 2 & 3 truck Shay for Zn3/Zm scale. Purely for Logging only.

Can you imagine the size of a Zn3/Zm Logging Scene? Huge! Massive! Simply Outstanding!

Hobo Tim

[JCater]

THAT would be too cool. Z scale blows my mind anyway...PLEASE put photos up as you go!!
John

[BoxcabE50]

If all goes well, I hope to create a scratch built 2 & 3 truck Shay for Zn3/Zm scale. Purely for Logging only.

Can you imagine the size of a Zn3/Zm Logging Scene? Huge! Massive! Simply Outstanding!

WOW!!!!!!!!!! What possibilities.... Imagine the scenery to RR ratio! :omg:

PLEASE keep us updated. And post photos!!!!!!!!!

:thumbs_up: :D

Boxcab E50

[JCater]

What about G scale folk? I am thinking that we should also rebuild our outdoor line since I used to model in that also. I have over an acre of ground just begging for a narrow guage line...(only after the On30 is well under way of course! :) !)

[alister]

Hey, Geeky!

I'm designing a kit for a U26C in TTn3.5 to use an Atlas N scale SD50/60 mech. It will be primarily aimed at representing the NZ variants - phase 1 and 2, rebuilt for single manning, tunnel motor versions, modernized cab and rebuilt long hood etc but I will make South African versions and others (such as Kenya, Indonesia etc) will be available by special order. I'll probably build a Kenyan version for myself as that is what headed our trains between Mombassa and Nairobi when we were on honeymoon.

Bugger, looks like some more kits for me Mark!!:thumbs_up:
I'm in the middle of acquiring some Bumble Bee decals too!

[alister]

http://www.trainboard.com/railimages/data/558/DSCF0617a.jpg

[JCater]

Nice work!! Thanks for the photo.
John

[sterhogger]

Well, I activly dabble in 5/8" scale narrow gauge. Being a 2footer at heart, and running many different makes of 2 ft gauge equipment, it gives me a break from my regular scale of N. 5/8" makes regular 2 rail O gauge track 2ft gauge. Rolling stock is all scrathbuilt out of wood using (usually) athearn trucks, and kdee couplers. My motive power consists of a pair (so far) of rebuilt atlas 6 whl MDT switchers. I have a bunch of older o scale rivarossi flex track, of which i use the rail from, and lay it on hand cut wood ties. The layout i'm working on right now is just going to be a display layout,and something to do when i'm bored around the house. the hard part right now is finding the older atlas turnouts for cheap. THe new ones are far to expensive to cut up.

Ken
Niagara Falls Ont.

[JCater]

Sterhogger, any chance of some pics?? Would love to see your work :D
John

[BoxcabE50]

Sterhogger, any chance of some pics?? Would love to see your work :D

I'll second this request! And please tell us more about your two foot interests. A specific prototype? Or freelance?

:D

Boxcab E50

[sterhogger]

Well, here are a couple shots. They aren't the greatest, but it shows a bit of what i've done.

The white (unpainted) locomotive is a former Atlas MDT switcher. I cut out some of the weight, and put a new styrene body on it. It is open on the side the figure is standing on, and you would operate the unit standing up. Because i couldn't find a suitable looking plastic fake motor, i decided it could just be a battery type mine unit. Like most Atlas MDT's, it runs so so. This was my second kitbash.

The shot of the plow train shows my first unfinished MDT conversion. It has the original hood, but a new, tall cab to fit the 5/8" scale person. The cars are all scratchbuilt, and work out to be about 30" wide.

The shot of the boxcar was my last project. It is rough looking, but hey, it's narrow gauge, what do you expect it to look like. THe doors open and close, and it's made mostly out of cut down stir sticks. It needs to have some stain or something put on it, but i haven't gotten around to that yet.

As for my 2 ft interests, well, it's rather odd really. I started with 2 ft about 16 yrs ago when a local amusement park shut down, and the Chance CP Huntington train was moved to a private home in Niagara Falls. Over the years, we laid about 1000ft of track around his 2 acre home, and ran the Chance train on it. We later ran a Brookville and a Ruston Hornsby with a whole whacka flat cars. I was also able to restore a very rare, and unique 1930 Whitcomb, which was dual gauge. It was built for 2ft, but during it's life, someone extended the axles, and added standard gauge wheels to it. Because the drive and braking was on the 2ft (inside frame ) wheels, they were left on. The standard gauge wheels hung out in the air. The engine could run on any standard gauge track, but could not go through a 2ft turnout because of the outside wheels. Sadly, all that is now gone, and i'm left with my 1:1 scale, and my narrow gauge models.

Ken

[JCater]

:D :D :D
John

[BoxcabE50]

How about a closeup view, of that little critter engine behind the plow?

:D

Boxcab E50

[sterhogger]

Ok, here's a shot of it as it is right now. Sorry it's not a great shot. I'll try to get some better ones when i get my display layout set up. It still needs a roof, and some other work, but this was my first shot at building a styrene cab. It also has an on off toggle switch to allow you to run/shut off any engine, instead of having an isolated track.

Ken

[JCater]

Looks pretty darned good! Is that a scratch built ore car it is pulling? Some pics of that would be cool too :D :D
John

[BoxcabE50]

Ok, here's a shot of it as it is right now.

Fascinating! Please post further progress photos!

:D

Boxcab E50

[sterhogger]

Took this shot of the critter today, showing the back of the cab with the small toggle switch to turn it on and off. The other shot is of my other critter, with the hood off, showing some of the alterations that had to be made in order to have the operators area open. Had to cut away quite a bit of the weight, right down to the side of the motor, and expose one of the gears (under white cover on right side of loco) to make it more asthetically pleasing.

[sterhogger]

And here's a couple more shots. The first 2 pics are of my newest car, which i'm not sure what it will end up as. It is a bit longer than the others, and shows the car, and the underside construction. They don't take long to make, and are really cheap too. The trucks & couplers are the most expensive thing on them. pic #3 is an o scale hopper, that someone cut down from a 3 bay to what you see there. My local hobby shop had it for $4. You can't buy the couplers or trucks for that price.Pic 4 is of my snow plow. It started out life as a flat car, but i got bored with that so i built the plow. and the last shot is a group shot of all the equipment. Originally, the older cars were built to 1/2" scale (30" gauge track) but i wanted 2ft so i just changed the figures, and other accessories to something that worked with 5/8". A couple of the figures are seen in the photo. The one locomotive is parked on the turntable (which i'm still trying to figure out how to mount) In all, there are 4 flatcars, one boxcar, one snow plow, 2 hoppers, one work caboose (still in 1/2" scale) and 2 locomotives

Anywho, that's about all for now.

Ken

[BoxcabE50]

I like that "Peab Short" hopper. The remnants of lettering describe it well!

:D

Boxcab E50

[sterhogger]

I like that "Peab Short" hopper. The remnants of lettering describe it well!

Ah yes, but what you don't see is the other side that has "ody" on it. It's been spliced together right at the spot where the word was evenly split on both sides. I almost don't want to paint it.

[BoxcabE50]

I almost don't want to paint it.

The thought I had in mind, is it would be very John Allen. A humorous conversation piece on your layout. I vote to not paint it!

:D

Boxcab E50

[JCater]

Ken, looks great and I see you got the photos figured out!! Sorry not to respond, been at an archaeology conference since early Friday. That flat car looks really familiar!!
John

PS I vote no paint also!!!

[JCater]

Ken, I wiped out my PMs, sorry. I sent you a PM with info instead of to your personal e-mail.
John

[rudetrain]

as amater of fact i do have some Nn3 for sale - 1 engine some cars old some on e bay a little left-

[JCater]

Hi rudetrain! Say, could you post a link to the bay stuff? You might also think about posting it in the Yellow Pages forum ;) . I've always thought Nn3 was very cool.
John

[BoxcabE50]

Welcome to TrainBoard!

I know there are several Nn3 modelers with us. Maybe put a list of those items FS in our Yellow Forum? You never know if there's some out there......

:D

Boxcab E50

[fsm1000]

Currently I am making an On30 layout in my living room.
I have some pics of it on my website if you are interested at all.
http://fsm1000.googlepages.com
Have fun :)

[EricB]

Stephen,

Of course we are interested. I took a look at your site. Some really great tutorials on there. I especially like the stub turnout tutorial. I noticed that your track also looks handlayed. Great work.

Not too long ago, someone on the board was asking how sharp a radius the Shay could handle. I saw that you had yours down to 12". Man with a 36" door panel, you could have "wide" curves of 16" with clearances. BTW, welcome to Trainboard.

Eric

[JCater]

Great stuff Stephen, I like the videos!! Thanks for sharing.
John

[BoxcabE50]

Your site shows: "Me on May 28th 2006. Almost 46. Getting old aaaarrrrrgggghhh. LOL."

You are not alone! Only a few weeks left until I hit 55. :omg:

Nice site! :thumbs_up:

:D

Boxcab E50

[Bob Hughes]

I am collecting stock for an On30 project at some time in the future and also have a few operational NG layouts at the moment.

There is Green End Quarry (http://bobhughes.fotopic.net/c825694.html) in G scale representing a 3'6" mineral railway. Short Street (http://bobhughes.fotopic.net/c825733.html) is OO9 (4mm scale on N scale track), this little shoebox layout is powered by nylon fishing line. Hayfinch (http://bobhughes.fotopic.net/c825722.html) is Gn15 scale, this layout can be operated either with conventional two-rail powered locos or, like Short Street, with fishing line.

The fishing line powered layouts can be used, anywhere, without the need for an external power supply. This means that I can take them to shows as a secondary exhibit without needing to take another controller. Also, they can be used at village fetes and similar events where no electrical power points are available.

[fsm1000]

Wow thanks for the comments guys. In a forum this big I didn't expect it.:)
Eric, I even handlay the track in the tunnels. Sad I know LOL. I find it a good way to practice when I start a layout.
JCater (http://www.trainboard.com/grapevine/member.php?u=295) I would like to do more videos but the camcorder I got [someone gave it to me for free] really sucks as you can see. So until I get another free one [preferably that works] there won't be any more videos. But if I get one I would certainly love to make more free videos. I find them much more helpful in showing techniques then just pictures at times.

Boxcab E50 well 55 is not TOOOO bad LOL. Also I lost about 15 pounds since that picture was taken. Still over 225 so I have a ways to go yet. :S LOL

Thanks again guys for the comments. :)

[HoboTim]

As soon as I can machine the brass chassis and scratchbuild the body, I will work on a narrow gauge layout of the logging era in the mountainous forests of yester-year. All in Zn3!

Oh, sorry, forgot to say what I was building. When completed, hope to have a dual powered chassis of a Shay Locomotive! :teeth:

Hobo Tim

[pray59]

I have a bit of Nn3 stuff too, running on Z Scale mechanisms. Back in May, our club was one of 3 layouts running at the final GATS in the area. 2 of the clubs were running Narrow Gauge, and 2 were running on Z Gauge track.

The Nn3 and Z trains were actually running better than the O narrow gauge ones.

[r_i_straw]

I have a bit of Nn3 stuff too, running on Z Scale mechanisms.
Here is one of my Nn3 locomotives running on a Z-Bend layout. The mechanism is from a Marklin Z scale Mikado.
http://www.trainboard.com/railimages/data/585/ahj.jpg

[JCater]

Nice shot Russell!! You need some C & S action though :D :D
John

[EricB]

The fishing line powered layouts can be used, anywhere, without the need for an external power supply. This means that I can take them to shows as a secondary exhibit without needing to take another controller. Also, they can be used at village fetes and similar events where no electrical power points are available.

Bob, those are some really cool micro layouts. Really shows that there is no excuse for not building a layout. In regards to your fishing line - another good use would be when one goes camping. Hmm, how do I fit my layout in my backpack though :)

Eric