Hey gang, Wanted to drop a line on any south Florida N scalers on the board. With limited space, I can't create my dream layout yet... but I could create a few sections of a fun to run layout. Any interest in a few folks getting together to do some modular modeling? Post a reply! There's a few standards out there that range from prototypical running to tons of trains. I was thinking one that has fewer tracks than NTrak to allow for more scenery. Shawn
Up in Northern Florida & Southern Georgia, there are a group of guys into Free-Mo. Although they do HO, there are a few N scale guys around. Check out the Free-Mo stuff for other interested modelers. Free-mo N scale (Free-moN)
Have you checked out the Florida East Coast Railroad Yahoo group? http://groups.yahoo.com/group/fecrs_N/ They use oNeTrak, a very nice standard for home.
Hey Shawn, Welcome to Trainboard... !!!! I haven't been to the BP&S club in over a week. I'll stop by Tuesday and discuss the possibility of building some oNe-trak or N-trak sections with you. I had discussed the possibility of doing modular at BP&S before and there wasn't any real interest... but.. since you have experience from your former club... maybe we can generate some interest??? All it takes is a few to start making sections and suddenly others will want in.
I am planning to visit BP&S Tuesday night, so I'll see you there. I want to get the stationary layout moving along there but also like the idea of have some modules that can go places or offer a longer mainline to run on time to time. My problem is I switched to N scale because of space but bought into the whole long train thing... ;-) The scale is smaller but the ambitions have grown!
N & Z together??? Same here... got into N because I lived in a studio apartment 23 yrs ago. N and Z scales are meant to be enjoyed with grander scenery and longer trains. Bring your module so I can see what you did and we can discuss some module standards. I have the N-trak and oNe-trak booklet somewhere... and there may be one at the BP&S club. I have Z scale equipment as well... maybe we could make dual scale modules... N on the lower level and Z on an upper level? I'll be at BP&S around 7:30pm.
Cal, this kind of talk just warms my heart!! :angel: Hi Shawn, I couldn't resist chiming in. Check out the Z_Bend_Track standard: double track mains, and no other substantial restrictions other than at the module ends (but wide radius curves are encouraged). By all means, you guys should at least incorporate Z, if not just convert altogether. There's plenty of N scalers left that would take all that old N stuff off your hands! mg: It's a great time to be Z! And now back to your regularly scheduled topic.
Yeah, I would recomment looking into Z as well! If you want to do modular operations, then you can get much more bang per square foot of Z than N or HO. It's so much easier to deal with, and Z-Bend Track is a perfect standard for breaking the monotony of the 3 track roundy round N Trak modules. Each ZBT module is like 2 sides of an N Trak module, except there are only 2 tracks per side. You can run some long trains, and still only be using a few modules.
I believe the club that set-up at the 2002 NMRA convention at FT Lauderdale was a Z-Bend track group from Texas. IIRC the layout was essentially a whole bunch of double sided modules which wound around an area of about 20' x 40'. It was very impressive. There are other 'closet' Z-scale people in S-FL... one of them is Ken Willamen aka: Steamguy who is a member of the Deerfield Beach Railway Museum. It would be nice to get a group together that would share both N & Z scales as a common ground. I'm too heavily 'invested' in N scale to really drop it altogether. Z scale is still a bit under-supported by manufacturers and there are lots of areas where new products would improve the status quo of the scale. I would be a bit left out in Z scale... I need a Kato-like California Zephyr consist that doesn't cost an arm & a leg.
That's correct, Cal. That was a Z_Bend Track layout, and it was made up of several different module groups from around the country. Have you by any chance seen pictures of our Z_Bend display from NTS Cincinnati 2005? It was Ft. Lauderdale times four. Truly amazing to participate in. Come over and check us out more often at the Z scale forum. We'd love to have you!
Sneaky Z spying. I peek in and lurk around from time to time. I'm sure that I'll participate more if I begin to build a Z-scale layout... or a dual scale N&Z module.
Good discussion going today, I see. Calzephyr, the club I was in owned the modules so there's nothing in my possession. But that's okay because it was NTrak and if I did a module I would want it to be Bend or oNeTrak. Tony, thanks for the FECTrak recommendation. Small world because I met a member of that group last year and inherited a module that was just getting started. I let my membership with the FEC Historical Society lapse, which is the first part of being a member of the oNeTrak group. Their goal is to model the FEC line from Jacksonville to Miami. I chose initially to go with the location the guy I got the module from chose but maybe I need to pick something that interest me more to get back into it. Lastly, who knew that in 2006 there would be enough Z scale folks to be able to pull the N is big card and lump it with HO. ;-) Shawn
We knew it was gonna' happen, Shawn. We knew. As much fun as we're having, it had to rub off onto others eventually. And now we just want to share our Z joy with everyone. Lots of new stuff already here, and LOTS more new stuff on the way. :thumbs_up:
Y'all need to point me in the direction of these convention photos! I keep hearing about how great the layout looks, yet I can only find a handful of photos at best. Shawn
