I had an N scale train set give to me last night. I had lot of track with it and looked to still be in pretty good condition. I have about 4 loco's and 8 cars with it. I thought about changing scales last night to N. But wanted to find out a little bit more about the scale before I start investing in this scale. I recently had been collecting HO rolling stock and locomotives until I could get to a HO layout. So I have few questions. What gauge track in N is equalled to our Code 83 in HO? Whatat is the general consensus as far Curved radius and turnouts Such as HO it is #6 turnouts and 18 radius curves? But I plan on running a lot of long equipment such as autoracks and 89' Boxcars and also lots of stack trains. Also in N scale is all the cars use truck mounted couplers. I know in HO it is no no to use. Or do they use the Body mounted. What manufacters are suggested for better quality and good running cars and locos in this scale? Thanks for any info you can give me on this. As feel as am learning all over again with this Scale. I know a lot about HO but nothing on N scale
Well, Since c83 in HO is about 115# rail, c55 in N is about the same. C80 in N is about 155# rail. About the heaviest rail in existence is 136#. I use c80 because it is bulletproof. It's hard to kill. I am in the military, and can move a lot. In N, curves can vary as much as in HO. Sure, you need an acre of spaceto make a curve in HO look good with autoracks, big 6-axle power and such, but N has it a bit better. an 18"r curve in HO is extremely tight with the above mentioned equipment. In N, autoracks look good, and almost at home on 18"r. My layout is based on a 18"r curve minimum. 15"r is about as small as you want to go with autoracks,a nd other long equipment. I have seen other layouts with tighter curves, and autoracks run OK on them, but for visual appeal, 18" is the way to go. All curves larger than 18"r are, of course, gravy. As for turnouts, make #6 your minimum. No N 6-axle loco I have runs reliably over #4's. I use Peco turnouts exclusively, and they are dead reliable. Truck/body mounted couplers are a big issue in HO, but in N, it's not as big a deal. Granted, if all your equipment has Micro-Trains *the Kadee equiv. in N* trucks/couplers, you should have no problems, unless you back an empty stack train thru reverse curves and a crossover. That's just asking for trouble. properly weighting your cars will for the most part eliminate most of these problems. Car/locos: This topic starts more flame wars on the Atlas forum... The top 3 loco makers, in mo particular order: Diesel--Life-Like, Atlas, Kato. Also watch Intermountain, Micro-Trains, Bachmann's Spectrum series. Steam--Kato, Bachmann, Life-Like. Cars: There are MANY to choose from, I'll categorize them by cost. Cheap: Atlas, Model Die Casting or MDC, Life-Like, Industrial Rail, Bachmann, Model Power. Mid-range: Atlas' latest offerings, Red caboose, Trainworx, some Micro-Trains,some Intermountain, Con-Cor's earlier stuff, among many others I cannot think of... Pricey: Intermountain, Red Caboose, Micro-Trains, later Con-Cor stuff, Kato. Passenger: At the top of the quality heap, Kato. (usually most prototypical for UP roads)Then comes Con-Cor close behind(proto mostly for Great Northern), model power, and bachmann distant last.
Thanks for the reply and the info. I will probably end up running about 20 to 30 car trains and doing a lot reverse movement to do yard switching and other switching manuvers. That is why i was concerned about bodymounted couplers. How much wieght should I add to the cars to keep cars from jumping track for the long reverse movements. I really only forsee problems in the yards were most reversing on crossover turnouts take place.
Weigh all your cars to NMRA standards for N scale. NMRA If you still have problems, even after body-mounting your couplers, you need to look at wheel guage, track guage, and other problems with each offending car. HTH!
Thanks. Is there any manufacters that have the body mounted couplers already. Or do I replace them all as buy cars. Also what wheelsets do you recommend. I would like to run metal wheels in mytrucks. [ 17. August 2003, 16:11: Message edited by: Jack Doran ]
Right now, I cannot think of any factory installed, body mount couplers in N. Several manufacturers build their cars to allow easy installations for those of us who do switch. (I do.) Micro-Trains and Deluxe Innovations are a couple of examples. Metal wheels. I have always used the plastic Micro-Trains. In N scale, there have been cars from the factory with metal wheelsets. But cheaper quality brands. So I don't even buy them. Boxcab E50
