Why N Scale?

Ya, you and me both.

 

Started in Ho as a kid in the mid fifties and still have my first engine shell. A rubber band drive GP-6. When I got back in the hobby in the 80's went N as I like the smaller scales . When asked how to secede on a layout for N scale I tell people to find a HO plan they like then build it that size but use N scale. As most HO plans even today have way to much track to open space and room for building and scenery.
rich
www.rslaserkits.com

 

I've been in both HO and N SCALES,and after trying again to see if I could do an HO layout in my allotted space,I came to realize that the only way for me to have the layout I desire is to do it in N.N SCALE will allow me to spread out the towns and industries,and have a decent amount of scenery and distance between towns.since I am creating a freelance shortline,I can now include staging,and working interchanges I couldn't with HO.

 

My Dad is an HO modeler, he was the one who started me on the N Scale path. when I was younger, it gave me room to run.

Later I heard a summary that has stuck with me:
If you want to model an engine: O
If you want to model a train: HO
If you want to model a railroad: N

I think I've done a pretty good job of modeling them all in N...

 

Limited space.

 

This is why for me. Modeling these 500' badlands towering over the mainline is more believeable in N. Add to that the amount of RR ina given area, and the quality of the new locos and equipment and it's all good!!

 

For most of the time I was a model railroader, I was into HO scale. I started modeling seriously at age 9 and had built two layouts. I've always been a modern-era modeler, I find railfanning inspiring to me to model what I see.

But in the middle of building my 2nd HO layout -- a 4x12', I was dismayed to learn that the 18" radius curves on my layout were not good enough to run the long autoracks and intermodal cars I wanted to run. It was discouraging enough that I had to return some rolling stock and for most of the '90s my layout collected dust.

What's funny was I've always had a stray eye towards N scale, but was turned off at the toylike quality, ugly couplers and lack of availability of the trains I wanted to run. But I always kept taking a peek in the N scale section of hobby stores just out of curiosity...

Finally, in summer of 2006 I was laid off a job that I enjoyed very much. I had saved a good deal of money so my finances were not an immediate concern, but being laid off nevertheless made me feel depressed. One day while looking at my HO layout, I decided to dismantle it, salvage certain scenery items and sell off my HO collection. Then I would build a new layout in N scale.

It just so happened the timing was right -- modern intermodal items were already available in N scale then, and newer models had much better detail, and amenities like low-profile metal wheels and body-mounted couplers were starting to become more commonplace. And that awful Rapido poor-excuse-for-a-coupler was finally close to extinction. Best of all, instead of N being more expensive than HO, it was either equivalent or cheaper n price! So I made the switch.

The anticipation and planning changed my mood immediately and got me out of my funk. By early 2007 I was already laying track, and made sure to go the Code 55 route.

I still have 18" radius curves on my layout, but in N scale, they're considered wide -- I can run anything on my layout, from autoracks to large steam engines. I've never been happier as a model railroader.

I've also noticed that the ranks of N scale have grown considerably in the past 20 years. I think part of that is because new houses are getting smaller, and some people might not have the time for a layout, so they'll either do the temporary Unitrack thing, or join a modular club. And in my part of the country, nearly every modular club is in N scale. I'm also meeting more model railroaders who are N scalers. Yes N is the #2 scale, but it was #3 or #4 just a generation ago. With no more TYCO train sets to start younger modelers off like in my generation, I'm hoping N scale can capture that market somehow and maybe surpass HO one day.

Now I feel HO is just too big. N looks and feels just right.

 

Cause I have no space. And I love to be frustrated at the availability and quality of steam engines.

 

I think that one's ability to work with small parts is an important consideration, especially for those of us with aging vision and grey hair. I've been nearly a lifer in N Scale and have no thoughts of changing, but I must wear magnifying eyewear to do most any repairwork or painting in N Scale these days. I'd love to build another N Scale railroad someday, but my building pace would certainly be slowed because of my eyes.

 

When i was young, My sister and Father didn't connect to make sure i had one train set. I ended up with a 4X8 layout with a 027 and a s gauge american flyer. Later as a 12 to 14 year old i get a Ho set. That didn't last long as i could only build the layout at my sisters. They had to move and that was the end of that. Before i went to the military i had a n scale layout with a oval track. I had it packed in a box for about 2-3 years and just too much time i didn't have. After several years now i started a N scale layout that just wouldn't work in a Motorhome we were living in. Needed a larger area than i had. So when it got destroyed, I started up a design for a small logging camp that evolved into the present layout i have now. I am in a 5th wheel trailer and if i have to ever get another home it will still be the same size it is right now. I would never be able to do this layout in the same space with any other scale but Z scale and i have enough trouble handling the N scale, so Z is out. It took a few years with atlas track software and then Scarm. Even with scarm it has taken me a few years now to come up with this layout. even then, i had to make some changes to make it work on the layout i have now. I am into the N-ormal scale. If i had a larger area i maybe could switch to HO but i don't think that will ever happen. I had and am still having fun building different "models" in N scale. I can find most in Ho but for around five buildings. They were only made in N scale. I don't know of anyone else but two other fellows one here that have layouts in our rv's. They both use N scale. If i had the room and time to do it i would have started this layout in Ho but because i didn't my theme has been in N and Now i doubt i will change. Have two much in this layout to start over all the way.

 

Well my answer is simple. The amount of scenic expression in a small space.; along with the level of detail that N Scale has evolved into

 

My layout....like a lot of others...is only 32 inch wide. Even in N Scale...sometimes space is an issue. Z is to small for me. Like others have said...the track to scenery ratio is pretty darned good.
Normal Scale fits like a fine leather glove.

 

I kept trying to N scale, but I like small, older, branchline steam, and what little there was operated like....well, not very well. I did HO scale earlier on, but really did not have the space. I don't want anything huge and not maintainable, but you can do some really nice work in a lot less than 4 x 8 - just about the bare minimum for HO steam, I think. Now, with the Athearn/Roundhouse 2-8-0's, which can be pretty easily modernized to 1900, 1920, 1940, and the new Bachmann 4-6-0 and 2-6-0, and the older Bachmann 2-8-0, the Atlas Shay, and the Model Power 2-6-0 and 4-4-0, there's enough available reliable motive power as good starting points for something in the 1920 - 1940 era, that I'm starting back up in N Scale.

 

I'm another "never really switched" guy. We had an American Flyer S scale set when I was really little (3 years old) and my older brother had HO, which I thought was neat, especially the sound that Tyco A.T.&S.F. F9 made (I found one at a hobby shop in Chicago a few years ago so, if I want to, I can hear that sound again), but I got a Lone Star Treble-O-Lectric set for Christmas 1962 and that was it. Atlas in 1967 and it's been N scale ever since. I never really considered switching to HO even though I liked it.

I think, like others, it was the ratio of trains to layout space that kept me.

Doug

 

George, your layout is only 32 inches wide but isn't it about 100 feet long?

Just kidding.

Doug

 

Because 1:400 scale model railroading doesn't exist commercially as of yet.
So... for the quality of running, availability of products and ability to almost reasonably 'model' a railroad.. this is the best available.