I saw one new thing announced at the NTS for narrow gaugers, anything else? Bachmann is making 009 (HOn30) WWI equipment. A tank 4-6-0T engine and some cars. I'm looking forward to seeing this equipment show up as much as the Minitrains stuff. Now there are 2 larger manufactures out there working in a small scale. I think good sales of this might spur Bachmann to make more equipment in 009 as well. Maybe not American prototype, but alot of 30" railroads ran alot of European equipment. Here's a link off to the new line... http://www.bachmann.co.uk/details.php?id=188 I'm sure there's also going to be conversions for these from some companies for different cabs and 4-6-0 with tenders. Can't wait! Art:teeth:
I think I just had a nerdgasm reading that. That is great to hear and I am so hoping they do a Baldwin 2-6-2t. Next up, getting the Meridian models OO9 trench railway kits assembled.
Oooh. They could completely capture, and really grow this market, with quality items, plus being readily available, and affordable to the masses.
I'm hoping they do more. I think the HOn30 scale is gonna grow with them if they do more. More than likely, they are using Farish chassis for these. Those have been getting better and better. And I'm hoping they either go with DCC onboard or with a 6 pin plug.
So are these meant to be run on regular N scale (9 mm) tracks? Would sure be nice. I presume there is extra HOn30 track as well for so-called prototypical tie spacing? But after having started to use TT (1:120) scale tracks for my HOm (1:87) Swiss NG trains (12 mm), I started to check those prototypical tracks a bit more than before. And it turns out that there is a great amount of variability, at least here in Switzerland. Actual size of the ties may be more of an issue, but that is less obvious on the layouts. I should add that I'm also very happy with my Bachmann On30 mallet running on my HO tracks. Sure, I have a mix (or mess if you want) anyway. ;-) Running engines of three continents simultaneously, at times.
I've not heard if that is intended, but I'd sure believe they'd stick with what already works and thus these new items would be good to go on N track.
The Meridian Models 2-6-2t uses a B-Mann 2-6-2 prairie as its base so it would not surprise me if B-Mann went in that direction. A little FYI for those who don't know about OO9. While they both run on 9mm guage track, there is a difference in scale between OO9 and HOn30. OO9 is 1:76.2 (4mm scale) which scales out to 9mm gauge track being the equivalent of 27" gauge and HOn30 is 1:87 which scales out to 9mm gauge track being the equivalent of 30" gauge. Peco makes 9mm gauge flex track with tie spacing appropriate for OO9/HOn30. Andy Tetsu Uma
I'm just hoping there will be items of obvious North American influence. My days of bashing things are winding down, as my arms slowly fail me. Maybe they'll even make a side trip into critters.
That's kind of a gray area. The Baldwin 4-6-0t locomotives were built in Philadelpha for the British and other U.S. manufactured rolling stock was purchased prior to the U.S. entering the conflict in 1917. The American 2-6-2t was almost a carbon copy of the British 2-6-2t, including the round windows in the cab. The American Expeditionary Force quickly discovered that boxcars had a discomforting tendency to tip on the rough 600mm gauge track so most rolling stock was flatcars and low gondolas, which if I recall correctly, were made from flatcars. Since everything including drinking water had to be hauled to the front, a lot of those boxcars had low water tanks on them. Point is, AEF and Allied flatcars looked pretty much the same or close enough so that I wouldn't quibble. For anyone interested in 60cm gauge trench railways, I recommend, Narrow gauge to no man's land: U.S. Army 60 cm gauge railways of the First World War in France by Richard Dunn. It includes operational details, pictures, and drawings.
What I am thinking about is outward appearance. For example, such as cabs. The example photo Art linked above showed a very European appearance. As does those saddle tanks. Changing them would alter appearance greatly. But that would depend upon a deteriorating ability, which worries me.
I'm following you now. I was planning on running them as is in their guise at trench railway locomotives. The U.S. Army did use leftover 60cm 2-6-2t locomotives on various bases through WWII. There is a video on Youtube entitled "Ft Benning, Georgia Railroad" that shows Army trainees learning how to operate the little locomotives in the early 1940s. It would make a cool module or two. The Army also sold some to construction companies around the U.S. in the 1920s and 1930s so it would be plausible for them to turn up almost anywhere.
So it is like OO (or 00 in Europe) and HO (H0) which also have the same scale difference. I must admit that I had never heard of OO9.
Many folks just do not worry about the difference between HO & OO. Others are a little more fussy, and do care. HOn30 is a more whimsical pastime, so the differences are mostly ignored.
Narrow gauge version of 00. I like the Bachmann 00 stuff. An old friend had a good collection of it that we would run on our old clubs "free run" days.
OO9 is a narrow gauge version of OO and HOn30 is a narrow gauge version of HO both using 9mm gauge track. Because of the difference in the scales, OO9 looks closer to 2' gauge. From what I understand, OO (4mm) scale is found primarily in the UK (and maybe some related former colonies).
I think that is correct. Though, when I started as a little boy in the mid 1950s, OO or rather 00 was what we called it also in continental Europe. But I think it may have been HO(H0) already. At least it was then that a stronger emphasis was put on the 1:87 scale. But Fleischmann and I think Rivarossi kept some OO scale models in their HO catalogs for quite some time. Whether it was really OO, I'm not sure, but the scale was at least close to it, resulting in somewhat oversized models among the true HO crowd. I believe Fleischmann had some 1:79 models, which would be a bit smaller than OO. Possibly a compromise to suit modelers both on the continent and in the UK.
I just inquired about this line of narrow gauge models over on the "ask the Bach-man" forum, and was told Bachmann had not announced any HOn30, HOe, or other small narrow gauge trains at the NTS, although they are now showing some Thomas NG items in their 2015 Catalog. Up until now, I had missed the fact that it was actually Bachmann UK that made the announcement. I wonder now if this was really announced at the 2014 NMRA National Train Show, and who actually made the announcement, since Bachmann UK doesn't sell their goods in the USA, and apparently, neither does Bachmann USA? bill in FtL
