For those who don't know me I'm a G scale person and have been on the board for a while. I couldn't help noticing that the N scale forum is a booming place and seems like most people have N scale just by looking at the visits. So curiosity has gotten to me. What makes N scale so popular, is it the size? If it was size you would think HO scale would be the most popular, but it's not if you look at the visit stats to each scale section. I run G scale because I have slight vision problems and could not see N scale properly at close range. I also see where some N scale people even custom paint or modify N scale trains, to me this is amazing considering how small it is. Do they make DCC and sound for N scale? I'm not getting into N scale, just a curious G scale person. We are all in essence model train enthusiats, so why not get to know each others scale.
For me, like G Scale trains running through vast scenery outside, N Scale layouts can have trains and grand scenery in a small space. (Or Large too.) Plus I like the fact that you can run a long train and not have the 'chase-your-tail' look on a layout. Not many HO home layouts can run long trains and look right like you can do in N Scale. But, I think all scales have their strong points and are all great!
I've dabbled in everything. When I was a kid, I had Lionel plus an old Standard Gauge Flyer set and at least one hand-me-down S gauge item. I also had some early N. After the typical early/mid life model train hiatus (i.e. college/career/kids/etc.), I bought an HO engine with the intention of going that direction. A bit later, I bought an G gauge Aristocraft passenger set when my kids were young. It was fun at Christmas around the tree. Finally, I decided I wanted to spend some time on a more permanent setup and N scale was the obvious choice. Here in Arizona, we don't have basements and back in the day garages were a rarity. Now I've been able to carve out one room of the house for trains, and have a round-the-walls shelf layout that allows for long N scale trains. I'm a passenger fan, and the thing I like most about N scale is the availability of full length, prototypical passenger sets. :thumbs_up:
Here are two videos of N scale locomotives I've installed DCC and sound in: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fkry8wrCiLI http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1RbmYZ4cBg
I like the fact that I can put a lot of scenery in a small space. Look at some of the HCD layouts that show up here. I have a HO set that has never been out of the box; the plastic wrap is still on it. Before anyone asks NO it is not for sale. Furthermore I have O, S, and G. If I had to start over I might consider a different scale, but N is where I have been for over a ΒΌ century so I doubt it. It is hard to teach an old dog/man new tricks. Gary
HO scale is still the most popular scale, but I believe that N is king on this forum mainly because: - N scalers are slightly more technologically literate than HO scalers - HO scale dominates the Model Railroad print media (MR, RMC), so that N scalers are hungry for an alternate source of information - Because there's more HO scalers, N scalers tend to want to congregate around other N scalers - Although HO is the most popular scale, N is the fastest growing; home sizes are getting smaller in North America and space is at a premium. Not many people have the room for a large HO layout anymore. - Today's society is used to handling micro-thin cellphones and memory cards the size of a cornflake. N scale fits with that just perfectly.
In reply to the OP, yes they make n scale DCC and sound, although if I wanted it in my units I'd probably have to murder the frame to make room. As to the size, I think that is the main reason most people choose it. unless you have a real vision problem, it's not hard to see (I can see it just fine but then I'm 15, no offense meant to anyone here) and the track:scenery ratio is par none except to Z scale and the lower scales, but those trains are SERIOUSLY small (once again no offense meant to you folks in Z scale) and I think I myself would have a tough time seeing the details etc. Also with n scale the offerings in RTR and kits are starting to match the HO market, but you can still find plenty of scratchbuilding projects. the kits are also great for kitbashing if need be, and there are two competing modular building systems (DPM and Walthers). All in all, I think N scale is just the best compromise of everything desirable in a model RR scale.
Currently working on my 3rd HO gauge layout, this one as for the previous two HO and one N gauge layout (early 1970's) have been designed for operation, and are/were operated as close to prototype as possible. One reason I see for the popularity of N gauge is the growth in size of the prototype. Many people in the hobby now grew up where a short car was/is 60 ft. long quite a change from what I grew up with and want to model. How many are much longer than that - from my observation, quite a few. My current layout (HO) is by far my largest but two of today's "TechnoToasters" and 5 or 6 TTX or auto-rack cars would quite overwhelm it. In N scale, not so much. As the era of the 40 ft. car and old duffers like me recede into the past I would be very much surprised if N did not replace HO.
I think the best definition I ever heard.... "If you want to model a locomotive, choose O scale". "If you want to model a train, choose HO scale" "If you want to model a railroad, choose N scale". Because I like the entire scene to a prototype - not just the trains - I'm in N.
I like long trains. When NTRAK came along, I was able to build a few modules providing a small portion of a "layout" yet still be able to run long trains when hooked up with other modules at train shows and club meets. For a few years I helped my dad build his HO layout. I kit bashed structures and built up passenger trains and locomotives for him. We had fun but when I started modeling my on stuff, I gravitated back to the N scale that I had back in middle and high school.
Had the usual 027 stuff as a kid and loved it. I think I had an HO set when I was about 5 and ruined that somehow. Then when I was about ten a cousin had this small trainset that is known as treble O, the fore runner of N scale. I was hooked! My first set was an Atlas set I bought at a discount store for I think $12. Track, transformer, engine and a few cars and caboose. I think it lasted about a week and the motor burned up. That didnt phase me. I bought another cheap set so now I had more track and cars. And the motor burned up. Still not smart enough to figure out that this early stuff was pretty much junk as far as the running of the engines was concerned. By now Im getting in my teens and I found Model Railroader. There was a place that advertised in there that had these full page ads with really good prices and I had some spending money and I somehow stumbled on some Trix diesels. A quantum leap forward in quality at the time. Soon I got old enought to drive and the trains took a back seat to girls(or should I say the girls took a back seat?). Anyway I never got over the N scale bug and eventually I married and before kids came along I swerved back into trains. I remember buying an MRC 2-8-8-2. Another leap forward in quality in steam in N scale. Being a C&O fan since the line ran by our farm in Indana it just so happened there were a few C&O engines on the market in N scale along with some passenger equipment and a few freight cars. Just enough to keep me hooked. Then the kids came along and I was constantly broke so the trains went into hibernation. Then the kids left for college and I had more space and a job change brought more money and the trains came back out. I sort of missed a decade or two in there so then I spent a lot of time collecting all the C&O stuff in N scale I could find along with a new layout. And enjoying every minute of it. At 54 I find N scale a challenge as my eyesight isnt what it use to be, but still love it just the same. And on occasion I run a 100+ long train because I can! N scale has come a long way in 45 years abd I cant wait to see whats around the corner.
Space restrictions, scenery to train ratio, long trains, the camaraderie created long ago via organizations such as NTrak... Thirty eight years in N for me. Boxcab E50
I concur, I like N because I can fit an entire branch line in the amount of space it would take to park a G scale train.
Thing is, Z scale, although growing a bit itself, is still a niche market, mainly because the selection of trains is thin, and that the scale space advantage isn't that much greater than N scale. But it looks like Z scale is where N scale was in the late 1980s.
N is great because it can start small and grow as large as you want it to. And the bigger it gets, the more like running a real railroad it feels. And full size passenger trains and long freight hauls are just amazing to watch.
I've always been at a disadvantage in the amount of living space available for a layout, therefore, the logical choice for me was N scale. Many folks who were HO, O and perhaps even G scalers over the past few decades may have found themselves 'downsizing' from large homes to smaller dwellings. As a result they may have also downsized there scale to compensate for less living area to run those larger scale models. While it is possible to be a model railroader in any scale regardless of the size of ones home, there are certain limits to how much you can do as the scale of the trains gets larger. N scale gives a broader range of model railroaders the opportunity to represent their idea of a model railroad... whether it is a shelf switching layout to a multi-level pike that traverses mountains, canyons & rivers without selectively compressing the scenery beyond plausibility.
Well aside from the space/scenery/train length comments, you dont see reasons like mine too often, so I'll share as well. When I was too young to remember how old I was, I loved watching my fathers HO scale trains run in the basement. This was around the same time I enjoyed playing with micro machines. Well, those darned HO trains were too big for my micro machines. One day my father brings home an N Scale Bachmann Santa Fe F unit. It was perfect. I could hold it in my hand, unlike those giant HO things, and I could set up my micro machines and simulate little fake car-train crashes. (That's probably what planted the first seed in my chosen profession. I loved pretending to have my toy trains, cars and legos blow up! Now I pretend to blow real things up for movies. ) Anyways, after that, the size of N Scale has simply just been the size that my eyes are drawn to.
I think a couple of people above touch on the increase in N-Scalers. I think a lot of it has to do with the great increase in quality. Not only does everything from track to engines to rollingstock to kits look better... the running parts run GREAT! Back in the dark ages of N-Scale it was hard to get anything to run smooth and look god doing it unless you were a mechanical eng. Now off the shelf n-scale engies usually run great. I believe THIS is the golden age of n-scale.
With HO scale our eyes have a view of a Sparrow, with N scale we are Eagles . N scale makes our rooms look bigger .
Standard gauge fell to O Scale because people moved into smaller houses. O Scale fell to HO Scale because people moved into smaller houses. HO Scale fell to N Scale because people moved into smaller houses. Z Scale won't get far because they are too small to be seen by parents, who provide the money for their kids to buy trains. Microsoft Train Simulator is responsible for the baby boomlet (teenagers) in N Scale, since the trains on the screen were about the same size as N Scale trains. Outdoors, if you have the room, it's more fun to ride on top of the trains, and that means 1/8 scale fits the bill, with N Scale indoors in the winter. And so, we come back around in the full circle of life...
