I had purchased a Bachman Empire Builder train set when I was first getting back into model railroading. My thinking was I could have a layout to run in N scale, but was rather dissappointed in how poorly the Bachman locomotive ran. So, this set has been in a closet since June. I've been watching the incredible modeling being done by you folks here on TB and have been inspired to try my hand at a trying a little something in N scale. So, I put a diorama together with materials I had on hand. Lightly weathered the equipment. Put "glass" in the windows of the caboose and took a few photos. Here is a couple of shots from the N scale diorama.
Get yourself a good loco (kato, athearn, atlas) and never look back. I was worried about the same thing when I got back into the hobby. I was out for over 20 years and 20 years ago N scale was a horrible place to be haha. the new N Scale stuff has come lightyears since then. I love it. I was an HO person back then.. BTW, what are you using for snow?
Looks great! I agree....get a good Kato or Atlas or Bachmann 'Spectrum' model and you'll be amazed at the difference!
Thanks guys. I do have a Santa Fe Spectrum SD45 on the way. I'll have to change out the couplers, but look forward to seeing what I can do with it. I didn't do a "total" job on this diorama. You can still see some of the green of the foam board I used to construct it. But it was a good exercise in trying to work in a different scale than I am used to. JD, your line and the JJJ&D are the two lines that have continued to inspire me to give N scale a try. Yep, I remember back 15 or so years ago when I was working in a hobby shop. The only N scale I could recommend was Atlas or Kato. Both of which demanded a premium. I don't know where this fascination with N scale will go. For now, I'm just enjoying seeing what I can do with it.
Nice! N scale has really changed over the years. Quality is as good as in any other scale. Possibilities are unlimited. Boxcab E50 N scaling since 1972.
If that is a "thrown together" diorama using on hand materials I can't wait to see what your road looks like when you get to build something bigger! That is pheonomial!! I guess I need to work on my scenery more.
As others have said, most modern (say from 2000-on) N scale equipment runs as well as anything in any scale. If you are looking at the steam era, the Kato Mikado or GS-4 are both superb, as are the Athearn Challenger and Big Boy (if you've got the space for them), the Walthers Y3 (2-8-8-2), the newer runs of the Walthers 0-8-0, and the most recent Bachmann Spectrum steamers (the Heavy Mountain, Consolidation, and newest J). If you are looking at diesels, anything made in the past 10 years by Atlas, Kato, Lifelike are all superb. And now there are smaller producers (Intermountain Railway, for example) that also have terrific stuff. As for rolling stock, Atlas, Micro-Trains, Intermountain, Fox Valley Models, Delaware Valley, Bluford Shops and others are turning out stuff that is fully equal in detail to the best that HO has to offer. The days when N-scalers had to furtively admire the smoothness, detail and operational capability of HO or larger scales is long gone. And of course N scale has its particular advantage: size. For modeling something akin to prototypical-length trains in prototypical scenery, nothing else comes close. John C.
I would say get rid of that Bachmann. There Spectrum line is good, i would get a Kato, Athrean, Atlas, Life-like, Model power all have very good locomotives, Sparky(Jeff)
Thanks for all the kind words. I really appreciate the advice too. I made this out of the left overs from my HO photo diorama I built several weeks ago. The snow is baking soda. I used mist type hair spray to bind the "snow" and as a light adhesive. I need to do a LOT more reading on N scale layout designs. If I build a small layout, I'll want to be able to run up to SD40-2s and 86' TOFCs and have them look good. In HO I am modeling 1976-1980. I'll give some thought to modeling a different era in N scale. Just don't know. All I do know is I had a lot of fun building this little diorama. Any advice is very appreciated.
