I have finally acquired a few pieces of Nn3 and Z rolling stock especially for testing and demonstrating various small power trucks I have been developing. What first appears is a great similarity in size and I'm aware that some of the trucks are the same as well as couplings and coupling height standards. This has led to the question, are some of the Z pieces the same as the Nn3 pieces? Or are some of the Z pieces usable as cores that with minor tweeks can be converted to Nn3? One in particular would be tank cars. Also, the physical size, at least, of box cars. The reason I ask is I don't have examples of each to compare. I acquired several Z tank cars but none in Nn3 to compare. And I have several Nn3 box cars but none in Z. They sure look to be very similar in scale size. Anyone with experience that could shed some light on this for my own general knowledge going forward?
The answer is yes. The tanks, reefers and stock cars are Z, the flats, boxcars, gondolas and caboose are N Scale.
Thanks for the response. When you say above that the flats, boxcars, gondolas, and caboose are N scale do you possibly mean Nn3 or actual regauged N. It seems that they might be particular to Nn3. Maybe not by overall general dimensions but certainly by vintage and style.
I was seeing that and frankly, was surprised. It seemed, without giving it much thought, that regauging wheels would be a large part of Nn3. But further scrutiny left me with what should have been obvious from the start, that the whole thing was just smaller. And the ratio falls about right for the difference between Nn3 and Z. I thank you for your reply helping to clarify this. I would welcome any additional thoughts or specific info that anybody thinks might be useful to someone coming from my displayed naive, but rapidly learning, position.
Today at my LHS I did a side-by-side comparison of an Nn3 scale boxcar I had purchased at a show, and a Z scale stock car they took out of the display case for me. The 30' boxcar and the 40' stock car were exactly the same length and width, the only difference was that the Z-scale stock car was actually taller than the N-scale boxcar. I wouldn't feel bad about running some of those stock cars on my upcoming Nn3 layout.
Thanks for the replies. I'm getting a better feel for this. I'm also a bit shocked at the prices for Nn3 and Z rolling stock. I'm used to N scale stuff which has a large used market where many things can be found at a decent price. Not so much for this stuff unless I just don't know where to shop. Ebay doesn't seem to have much at anywhere near the prices I've become used to in N. Maybe I'm just spoiled. I did see Republic Locomotive Works and they have a lot of neat kits, many at what seem to be fair to even decent prices.
