Oops!!!!!! That would not be (36" gauge track width) HOn3. The one which uses N scale (30" gauge) width track is HOn30.
Well, even though you're being a girly and giving up on N-scale (joking, of course... well, maybe...), that sounds like an excellent plan. Definitely keep us informed and post some track plans! (and hey, it's still not too late to mail me your unwanted, poor, old, fiddly N-scale... I promise to put it out of your misery! :tb-tongue. In fact, I'll trade you a custom-designed track plan made to fit exactly in your space for some N-scale equipment. (my budget prevents me from getting new stuff, but I'm quite capable and equipped to do some serious track plan designing)
I loooong got rid of my n scale stuff.. funny thing is.. I can't get it out of my head even now.. I think I need to go down to my lhs and touch some n and some HO and see what I like,.. I keep thinking wow, what I couldn't do in a 12" x 12' space in N !!:tb-ooh:
and now I have more questions. In the past I used atlas code 55 - I love that track... but I was looking at a n scale suplier online and there was a big notice that said MT cars wheels are not compat. with atlas C55 track! --- would cars run better in general on say the atlas c80? I can't stand that other already made stuff, it looks so toy like. This will be a very simple layout, nothing heavy and I want the scenery and track to look stellar - I think it helps a small layout look bigger that way.
You know, with 12 feet and 12 inches, if it was a switching layout, you could even use tight-radius compatible locomotives (like the 44-tonner and similar) and even have loops on one or both ends. LOTS of possibilities! As for N-scale body-mounting of couplers, I'd hold off until you decide exactly what you want to do with the layout. I'm doing a tight-radius layout myself (5.5 inch minimum radius) and have decided to keep the truck-mounted couplers to help compensate for the curves.
Yep, MTL's can and often do bottom out on Atlas Code 55 track. They work pretty well on Micro Engineering track (smooth in general running, barely bottoms out when pressed down) and just perfect on Peco track. So go with either of those and you'll be fine. (I'm using Code 80 because my budget won't support anything else, and also because the ties on the tracks on my layout will be sunk into dirt, ash, weeds, etc. since it's an old harbor rail yard). Here's a video comparing the three tracks using MTL cars: [video=youtube;T_yEypyxW9c]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_yEypyxW9c[/video]
Rice gruel made with year old badly stored rice and cooked in bog water. Sorta a moldy fishy taste not to my liking. And what voltage. In the cave the only light you get is from the phosphorescent bat droppings. If you want to run trains you have to fly a kite with a key tied to the string in a storm, Very hair raising experience.
Luxury, pure luxury. We had to tie a string to someone else's kite string and key, only we couldn't afford string so we cut off all our hair and weaved our own until our fingers bled, which of course we used to paint our kitbashed PRR locomotives, only they weren't locomotives, they were dead rats with the tails cut off...
I switched to N scale about five years ago from HO. If by "fiddly" you mean "The trains are small and hard to handle," then you just need to get used to it. I like how Code 55 is more prototypical than Unitrack or regular Code 80, and proportionately it seems like HO to me after a while. I also forced myself to not depend on rerailer ramps and learn to put a loco or rolling stock on the track with my fingers. Now HO trains are huge and clumsy
That is definitely a different sounding ALCo! I'd never heard one which sounded like Springsteen......
Amen OC, Everytime I visit an HO layout, the thought always occurs "Wow, Imagine what this same space could be in N!"
In any scale it's Model RRing. I just bought my first pieces of track and couple pieces of rolling stock just to see if I wanted to go N Scale. It is small but back in the day to me N Scale was still toy like, todays materials and quality have brought it to a new standard. I went N Scale for this same reason "I chose N because of more bang for the square inch.". Someone said that eailer in this thread. To me a crowded 4x8 layout still looks toyish but to each his own and that applies to the "other" scale also. I can't wait to compile all my track, switches and Locos but times they are well you know.... One last thing; I've noticed that when I log in and look at the main thread headers there are more viewing the N Scale threads than any other! That says something.
yep, I think you guys nailed it!! N Scale more bang for your buck! I'm tight on space so.. with a 12-14" wide space by 12'4" I can have a rockin N scale layout! Someone said I can actually turn around in 12"?? I thought I had to have 18" as min. 9" r this is what I remember from the past anyway.. dadburn it now you guys are getting me all excited about N again.. I new I should have bailed sooner
9 3/4" radius is your general minimum for most N-scale, but your smaller units (especially the little switcher units like the 44-tonner) can happily go down to about 5 to 5 1/2" (10-11 inch loop). I just scratch built a boxcab that'll do a little over 4 inches complaining and 5 1/2" easy as cake. So if you're going to do a switching shelf layout anyway, if you do a nice urban or dense industrial one, that'll work nicely. I guess sometimes you need to go to the edge and look over before you can appreciate what you've got. ;-)
I'd like to chime in on the Atlas code 55-Micro-trains issue.... atlas code 55 isn't that friendly to microtrains 'regular' wheelsets...those flanges are pretty deep!...micro-trains low profile wheels have NO issues with atlas code 55 track!...I change my micro-trains wheelsets to low profile versions as soon as I acquire them...they look considerably better as well! Sincerely, Bruce
wow fantastic news... I didn't know there was such a thing... I would love to use Atlas C55 track... I'm thinking of the KATO NW2 with MT cars - I would think a combination like this would take a lot of fussiness out from the beginning?
