Hi all, New to the site and looking to learn, seems like a great crowd here for that. Pretty much starting from scratch, i have a ~25 year old HO Bachmann kit that was hidden away at my grandparents recently found when the farm was sold. A gift from years past, currently in storage but im sure missing parts. Was one of the simple oval kits with a CN Diesel, 4 cars and caboose if memory serves right. I have been trying to sort what direction i wish to go, if to stay with HO or go N. I will be wanting better track i know, and lots more of it ha. I do know i want to be running strictly DCC, using DCC++ and JMRI. Tying points and block detection into JMRI. I have not decided on a layout size or plan, still looking/reading on thoughts and ideas from the community like - The best radius is the largest you can fit - and others that come with years of building. Anyways enough rambling in a single post, Cheers all Joe
Hi Joe Welcome you might be able to meet some fellow modelers around your area. If can see and operate on layouts of both scales. Can see what you like best without buying both scales.
If you want to compare different scales, become a Snow Bird and visit coastal Mississippi. I see lots of Ontario plates on the highway. Our high temp today was 81*F. Though the other reason is to visit the Mississippi Coast Model Rail Museum in Gulfport. We have every scale on display and operating, Z, N, HO, S, O, Lionel Standard, and G. You can even ride on a 7-1/2" gauge train. Send me a PM if you want more information.
Thanks all, Thought i would drop in an update, as i had time to pull the set out of storage 45km away. I was wrong on CN though its CP, and has 6 rolling stock Engine GP35 CP 5004 Boxcar CP 202143 Livestock CP 203581 Quad Hopper CP 359163 Gondola CP 5322 Tank SCCX 1754 Caboose CP 438862 Missing a truck. Track is in rough shape, fairly corroded and a few locks broke and a few connectors missing. I cleaned up 18} of straight and that took a fair bit to get clean. its the standard 12x 18" 30* curves, 3x 9" straights and a 9" rerail/power section. I ended up pulling the loco fully apart an cleaning pickups and re-soldering wires as 2 were off from crappy solder joints. I will be staying HO, no point in changing to N. Upside is that a DC to DCC conversion on this loco will be simple. Only one truck is motorized, and its all externally wired/isolated from the track. Most likely i will be switching to Atlas or Peco track and turnouts. Still a ways out for a build tough. Cheers all, Joe
