...Needs critique!! 9" rad, 2% grades, Wright Turnouts, Peco flex. Pick it apart, let me know what's wrong with it!
You will enjoy building it. You will get bored running it. Somehow I don't think you are really doing it for the running.
It's basically for my wife.. The real running layout will be the N scale one I'm going to start when I have a room to put it in.. It would be a neat show layout--the kids like seeing the roundy-round. Yes, it's short on sidings and spurs, but it's about all the turnouts I have in Z. Each turnout runs about 30 bones.....
hemi: The trackplan looks good to me. That's all you need in Z scale in the 2x4' space. I might do one in Z scale. I have some Z scale freight cars, etc. Stay cool and run steam.....
That would make a nice little layout one could keep tucked away and pull it out every so often. And like you said, it would be great for shows (easy to move).
Looks fine to me. The classic over and under loop plan is still the best, hands down, for small layouts when a decent main line run is a high priority. So I'd build it if I were you. Just go for it!
When it's done you could even drop it into a coffee table setup with a glass top... Then you can railfan while watching TV...
That's mighty tempting....... But then, I'd need a tablesaw to assist in building a new coffee table!
I just purchased some MT Z scale track and might try a small Z scale layout just to have a small layout. It should be very interesting. Stay cool and run steam.....
Yeah, that's the way I thought... What really happened was that lone Z Scale module I built to display a few Z Scale products on, turned into a passion over night! I was still deep into N Scale, but I slowly starting seeing my Z Scale as normal, and my N Scale started looking Horribly Oversized to me. Once I was in bed with Z, I never went home to N again. I really feel sorry for her, but Z is just too good to me. I feel young again. Remember the days when you first got into N Scale, and everything you did was a first. Nobody had ever built one of these or one of those, N-Trak was all the rage and everyone bought the handbook just to get ideas. Atlas published that "Nine N Scale Layout" book, and you read every page over and over. Well, after a few months messing with Z and you will find it hard to turn back. My Grandfather, in his mid 90's got bit by the Z Bug last year, and secretly started buying Z Scale. He built a 2x4 layout that he is scenicing right now. He calls me up ever few weeks to tell me of his latest purchases, and what he has done to his layout. I visited last month, and his HO Scale empire of almost 40 years now lies under 1/16" of dust in the garage... forgotten, put out to pasture, while the Z Scale layout gets all the attention. He was bit bad, and all it took was for me to send him a Z Scale Centerbeam Car, and NP Caboose to show him what I was doing these days. Hooked! Once you convert your first GP35 into a GP30, you won't be able to turn away. After the 2'x4' layout is running, you will find yourself giving less and less attention to N Scale. Maybe you will purchase a loco or 2, but you won't run them, instead turning to that sweet young thang called Z! Been there, Doing it now! Robert
Do not resist the dark side of the hobby (insert vader breathing here). Someday I do plan to build a small Z scale layout. Yes Pray, the dark forces of Z scale are chiping away at me . What I have in mind for way down the road is to build a small Z scale layout that I can operate while my fat butt is parked on our enclosed porch and that can be stowed away when not in use (wife has blessed the N scale layout in the basement and a future G scale garden layout (also years away from now). I think she would hang me if I setup another perm layout in the porch area ). So I can relate your motive Hemi. I like your layout plan, while it may be short in operations, it should be a fun little layout to play with from time to time. Now if only I can convince the wife to let me model in 1:1 scale
They want to wait until the NTS in July, so that can mean a September release. There is PS2 Covered Hoppers coming in April I was told. -Robert
I have a 10 year collection of N Scale, and all of it good stuff after having lost everything in a dirty divorce and starting over in 1995. I bought only quality equipment from then on. All of it is in boxes in the attic now, and I am truely addicted to Z Scale. It happens. I swore it would not, but it happens. Our club has about 5 hard core guys who all switched from HO, O, and N Scale. They were hard core supporters of their scale, but each one of them has boxed up their old stuff, and turned to Z. This is no joke, it is addictive! The reason you got into N Scale is because it was the smallest scale that offered what you wanted in model railroading. Small is cool, but you did not want European equipment, you wanted GN, then later DRG. After you mess with a bit of Z you will find it difficult to enjoy your N Scale as much as you did before. Wait and see! You to Bob! As soon as MTL comes out with those turnouts, you will build a small layout to run the equipment you have collected, then find you really like having the whole layout in reach. Next thing you know you will find yourself hooked. It's sweeping the nation right now! Modelers are turning to Z in droves. Look at the activity in the Z Scale forum this year versus 1 year ago. The GP35 was the trigger, just like the Kato GP38-2 in 1988 was the N Scale trigger. -Robert
Robert: I have some Z scal MT rolling stock. Now I have some MT Z scale track. Who knows. I have plenty of MT Z scale #905 couplers that I put on N scale equipment. I'll let it happen and go from there. Decoder installations should be interesting in Z scale. I do all my own installations in N scale . The cost of the JJJ&E per inch is prohibitive, so I don't think I'll ever pack it up and store it. Stay cool and run steam...
