Hey HO guys !?!?

Candy_Streeter Dec 22, 2011

  1. YoHo

    YoHo TrainBoard Supporter

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    Smokey is a lifetime member though he only rarely stops by now. Next time I see him, I'll tell him.
     
  2. Flash Blackman

    Flash Blackman TrainBoard Member

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    I'm planning to put some surface mount LEDs in my H0 engines. I'm not sure what I am doing so that thread will require a lot of input form the H0 members.
     
  3. Flash Blackman

    Flash Blackman TrainBoard Member

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    Those N scale layouts are easier to move around than H0 scale. Especially with the advent of T-Track.
     
  4. JNXT 7707

    JNXT 7707 TrainBoard Member

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    The domination of N-scale layouts in my area is amazing. Just a few years back an N-scale layout was a novelty, this past year there were shows without any HO layouts at all. I think even clubs that have the resources to build huge layouts are heading to N to create even larger empires.
    That said, the local railroad club building is still dominated by a HO layout, as well as the club in another city close by.
    Personally I don't see N ever matching or surpassing HO. To me they will always be too small to enjoy working with, and the level of un-prototypical detail necessitated by the scale (oversize railings/flanges/couplers/etc) just never look right to me, and I'm no rivet counter.
     
  5. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    Most likely a lot of what is happening relates to costs of living- Specifically, housing. There has been a significant drop, as years have gone by and not just the past several, in numbers of those who can afford a mansion and associated expenses. Until the market fell apart, we were seriously looking at downsizing. Anyhow, smaller potential layout space has channeled many I am aware of into N scale.
     
  6. DragonFyreGT

    DragonFyreGT TrainBoard Member

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    Then why do we keep making them so small you can't see them? I.e. T-Scale, TT-Scale, ZZ-Scale... Never understood that (Standing by my use of T-Scale as a "G-scale" train on a 1:29th Layout).
     
  7. CNW 1518

    CNW 1518 TrainBoard Member

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    You can make a T-Track similar modular system in HO. It wouldn't be that much bigger either.

    Plus you can run engines with more functions on that modular set-up.
     
  8. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    Just wait until we are all living in rabbit hutch sized cubicles. Someone will build a layout in a bottle cap, requiring an electron microscope or more powerful for operation. Complete with smoke and sound no less. :eek:
     
  9. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    Anyhow, the very best way to get action in the HO forum is to be active. Just keep chipping away at it. A good reason for folks to hop in and gab is to attract their attention.
     
  10. DragonFyreGT

    DragonFyreGT TrainBoard Member

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    I have to admit, Growing up in G-Scale, I never did much with HO, but there was something that drew me back in. Cost. It was cheaper to build my BN Passenger Fleet of ready made models in HO than to custom paint it in G-Scale. That being said, at 27 I'm the youngest person at my friends club during non member operating sessions. And I'm proud of that. It's time more and more people get involved in the hobby, old or young. different ages can bring different ideas and perspectives.
     
  11. ram53

    ram53 TrainBoard Member

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    I think of myself as an N scaler since time immemorial, but every once in a while, like now, for instance, I get very unhappy with the lack of product and lack of progress toward more detailed, prototypical detail. I spend almost all my hobby time "fixing" locos and rolling stock, ie. replacing wheels, couplers, lowering ride height, adding details, milling frames for speakers, etc. If I were in HO, I wouldn't have to do any of that stuff! The grass is always greener, you know...

    Still, I am continually surprised at the low participation in the TB HO forum. I've assumed that there must be other sites and that TB has somehow, over time, become the defacto N scale Mecca, but some of you say this isn't so--are you sure about that? Is it really that hard to find a decent HO discussion forum other than here or say Atlas?
     
  12. r_i_straw

    r_i_straw Mostly N Scale Staff Member

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    Like Boxcab stated before, some of us on staff, who review all the new members who join each day, notice that there are about equal numbers of HO and N scale modelers who join each day. The majority of both of these groups of new members seem to only lurk. For whatever reason, they do not seem to post much. Because Trainboard has so many more forum categories than the model company forums, modelers are more likely to visit and post in the various Railfan forums or places like the Inspection Pit, Layout Design etc. On other forums where I lurk, the members seem to stay much more segregated along the lines of their scale. Of course there are a few here who bookmark their own scale forum and rarely venture out. I never understood that. Maybe when a person has limited time, they have to focus more on a place where they feel they will find the most relevant information?
     
  13. Metro Red Line

    Metro Red Line TrainBoard Member

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    I used to be an HO scaler for around 25 years, but the tight radius curves and limited space made me frustrated as a model railroader.

    Then, five years ago, I became a Born-Again Model Railroader, and I chose N as my personal scale.

    You can be saved too! :)

    But in terms of Trainboard, though there are more HO scalers than N scalers in the world (or at least in North America), if you look at the demographics of each group, N scalers are more
    technologically-savvy than HO scalers. I believe the per-capita percentage of DCC adoption within N scale is higher than in HO. Also, HO scalers have the support of the NMRA, the mainstream model railroad media (MR/Kalmbach) and megamanufacturers like Walthers. The NMRA, Kalmbach and Walthers hates N-scale -- that is a known fact, and there is no need to waste everyone's time and try to dispute that. So us N-scalers will gravitate to where we find support and are not ignored...We are not ignored here, so we like coming here.
     
  14. hawk

    hawk TrainBoard Member

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    im 18 and started out in ho scale then about when i was 10 i moved to n scale and never seemed happy with what i had, then about 2 months ago i moved back to ho scale and im already happier with what i have than i ever was in n scale, i never post much as i dont have much to contribute but i spend 70% of my time in layout design because thats what interests me the most. i also think i am modelling a minority prototype on tb as im australian and am looking at australian prototypes. really i think it comes down to personal preferences.
     
  15. brakie

    brakie TrainBoard Member

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    Of course you have guys like me that models in both HO and N..

    However..

    I am thinking seriously about dropping N Scale for several reasons.
     
  16. NYW&B

    NYW&B Guest

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    Addressing the OP's initial question, this is not the first time such has been asked on this forum. I would note that, in my experience surfing multiple-scale model railroad forums TrainBoard's situation is almost unique in that N scale posters dramatically out number their HO counterparts. Certainly, the situation is not simply a reflection of interest in N scale today rapidly grow, or anything like that (as I've seen suggested several times previously). In fact, a hobby survey published this past year by our leading model railrioading magazine indicated that HO constituted 81% of hobbyists, N 24%, while LG, O, S, and Z combined garnered just 5%. That the total exceeds 100% is reflective of there being a small percentage of cross-scale hobbyists. The point here is that the distribution between HO and N is just about the same as has been reported for decades. So, while the total number of hobbyists is shinking, the distribution of folks between the scales has remained essentially constant for a long time now.


    So, the reason for N scalers' dominence of this site likely is just a matter of N scalers happening to have found more folks with a similar interest on this site than was apparent elsewhere early on in the site's historty and this strong interest drew more and more like-minded hobbyists...the situation is just a quirk and nothing more.

    NYW&B
     
  17. CNW 1518

    CNW 1518 TrainBoard Member

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    How in the world is that true? Biased much?
     
  18. DragonFyreGT

    DragonFyreGT TrainBoard Member

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    I disagree about MR/Kalmbach. All I ever see in MR these days is N-Scale, N-Scale, N-Scale. Nice as it is, it's honestly too small for my taste.
     
  19. NYW&B

    NYW&B Guest

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    Actually, the preceived HO bias attributed to the NMRA and MR derives from the fact that for several decades in the past HO and N respresented two distinctly different and separate hobbies. HO was based largely around craftsman building/modification/kitbashing of motivepower, rolling stock and structures, along with a high degree of realistic "operations", while N was much more centered around running long RTR trains and collecting. The only true common ground between them was in the fabrication of terrain in layout construction.

    Of course, the entire situation has altered dramatically over the past decade, or so, and there is now far more that unites HO and N than separates them. That said, I very much doubt that any degree of technical savy between the two groups even enters the question.

    NYW&B
     
  20. Tracy McKibben

    Tracy McKibben TrainBoard Member

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    It's a known fact, I read it on the Internet: http://www.trainboard.com/grapevine/showthread.php?138469-Hey-HO-guys-!-!&p=832504#post832504

    Crap like this is exactly why my participation here has declined so much. It seems that no matter what the discussion is about, somebody comes up with "facts" or "statistics" to support their favorite conspiracy theory or opinion. Walthers does not hate N scale - Kevin Copsey, the VP of sales, spoke at the 2011 TLR convention, and said that they are looking for ways to bring more N scale product to market. MRR does not hate N scale, there are N scale layouts in nearly every issue. The NMRA, on the other hand, is a different story. At every division and regional board meeting, we plot new ways to keep the N scale guys down. At the national level, I keep looking for ways to keep N scale stuff out of the "Members Only" section of the web site. We're busted, you've got us, congratulations...
     

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