Hey, everyone. You may recognize me for my N scale SP tenwheeler. I'm now considering going out on a limb and returning to my misadventures with the Pacific Coast Railway in TTn3 as a side interest to the SD&AE in N--TTn3 is 1:120 proportion narrow gauge on n scale track. I have relatives in San Luis Obispo and the scenery there is just beautiful, so the PCRy was a no brainer for me. I've scratchbuilt several PCRy cars last year at the age of 15 (a baggage, caboose, and a couple gondolas) and even kitbashed a nice PCRy 2-8-0 #106. Unfortunately, only the caboose and a couple carbodies remain. However, with the new bachmann 4-6-0 in N scale, I may give this engine a try: #111. Anyone want to steer me away from this trip over to the "dark side" (as hminky said on his PCALRy site) of model railroading? (Don't worry; the actual model won't have that wicked bend in the siderods. It's only a preproduction model.)
Go for Nn3 Your already half way to Nn3 plus you can buy PCry Nn3 items from MT Been watching your threads,keep up the great work.
I never used "dark side" on my PcalRwy site, On30 is too main stream. The Sn3 site I said it. TTn3.5 is truly a "dark realm". People will not even say anything just turn away. Nice to see someone whose brain is out of the box. Why be ordinary? Harold
I've considered Nn3 but I don't really know where to find loco mechs from marklin, and N scale mechs are much cheaper and I'm more familiar with them. Also, 1:120 scales out to 1 inch=10 feet, and since most of my equipment would be scratchbuilt, this is a perfect scale to work in. Want to make a 33-foot caboose #2? It's 3.3 inches long. Have a 60-foot wide wharf shed to build? 6 inches. Simple. However, if you can give me places of where I can purchase z scale 4-6-0 & 2-8-0 mechs, I'm happy to give Nn3 a try! Maybe I can even add an Nn3 loop to my existing SD&AE layout, and I'd just call it part of the US Gypsum ops in the desert area out there. Or now that I can make a tenwheeler in N, maybe I can muster up the courage to regauge and fix the pickup on a bachmnn 4-4-0 and model an earlier era in Nn3. And maybe I can go crazy and redo the wheel arrangement on the 4-4-0 into a 2-6-0 for a Thos. Paul & Son Mogul #5!!! And at a cheap price, I can butcher a bunch of them in case I screw up the first two (or 3+) times. Anyhow, I've got to finalize what I'm gonna do with myself, or I'll never get anything built!
Oh, yeah, it was Sn3. It's been a while since I've checked your sites. Anything new in 55n3 lately? BTW Here's my new gameplan for PCRy steamers in TTn3: 1890's 4-4-0's and 2-6-0's from the Athearn/ MDC mogul in N scale. These are superb runners and have close boilers to the Thos. Paul & Sons engines the PC bought. The smokebox just needs to be shortened, new cab, headlight, and stacks need to be fabricated, and tender details would also be nice. Also, do you know what the paint schemes for these locos was in 1895? I know they were painted over in black with gold "Thick and Thin" lettering at some point, according to the PC book by Kenneth E. Wescott and Curtis H. Johnson. (I LOVE the scale drawings of engines, cars and structures, plus track diagrams!!!) Here are my digital kitbashes of these engines. You can do the same thing with the HO MDC/Roundhouse 4-4-0 & 2-6-0, too! Hold it--Two completely obscure scales have something in common? No way!
Always wondered about the "Darkside" Conspiracy crap with On2-1/2, it had been in the model press since the Pine Cone Valley in the late 1940's. A scale is all about loco mechanisms, wheels/trucks and drivers. Nn3 worked because there were Marklin mechanisms. That tent has folded. My 55n3 and trains are on hiatus until the Ragweed season passes. Ah-Choo! Never could understand why everyone recommends other scales. It is like people know more than the doer. Harold
Don't know... Reserve funding for my hobbies has been depleted for a while (After finishing my N scale layout and my N scale tenwheeler), so once I save up money, non-whimsical models (like the PCRy mogul and american) will be first on the list. After that, I need to scratchbuild a roster of rolling stock and some structures for TTn3. I'm actually considering making a TTn3 layout for them now. But all of this can't start until I have a treasury with which to fund it. I already have all the electrical and most of the necessary scenery materials for a new layout, should I go that route, and just need track, benchwork, and wood/styrene/brass for buiding Trains. I figured TTn3 would stretch my "dollar-hours". That is, I would get more time in building stuff with the same money, rather than buying RTR and prebuilt stuff just to realize I need more.
If you want to work in 1:120 scale, I say go for it. If anyone can make it work, I think you can. Just to be clear on a couple things though. 9mm gauge scales out to 42.5" in 1:120 so what you would really be working with is TTn3.5. Personally, it wouldn't make a big difference to me but to others . . . . Having said that, the non Shinkansen portion, i.e. the vast majority, of Japan's rail system is 42" gauge and as you might imagine, they make some really excellent (and very expensive) scale models of Japanese prototype steam in TTn3.5. (They call it "TT9") However, the Japanese are also consumate kit builders so there is quite likely lot of kits and detail parts in that scale. You might want to contact some of the Japanese hobby shops that can communicate in English as a potential source for parts and kits. Here's a TT9 D51 2-8-2 with sound. It doesn't say the manufacturer but I would guess Tenshodo. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pz7B1yAxQg Andy "Tetsu Uma"
TTn3 is actually TTn3.5. It runs on N scale track (I plan on using atlas code 55 track) and will allow me to use great running n scale mechanisms like the athearn/mdc 2-6-0, kitbashed of course. I've built a couple models, including a caboose, baggage, and pc 2-8-0, in TTn3 before. It is possible to do, and it's the perfect size. (I just call it TTn3 because Nn3 isn't called Nn3-1/3--there's 40 scale inches between the rails using z scale track)
I say these things so every one is clear. That scale 6" doesn't phase some people and bothers the stink out of others. Since the British used 42" gauge in a lot of places throughout their Empire, the Australian and New Zealand guys might know some TT9 sources as well. I had never done the math before but 6.5mm gauge scales out to right about 41" in 1:160. Now if someone brought out a Garratt in Nn3 . . . .
While the gauge of the N scale track may be usable, you may find yourself dissapointed in the ties. Besides being undersized in width and height and the wrong length, the Atlas c55 track will have a tie spacing of only 16" in TT scale. Jason
Well, hminky used atlas HO code 100 track on his On30 PCAL railway, and they looked just fine to me. I don't see why I can't do the same in TT. plus I've done a bit of TT narrow gauge in the past and atlas code 55 looked OK. I'm not really picky about the track as much as I am locomotives, cars, and buildings. Plus I can at least increase tie spacing by cutting the plastic under the rails to space 'em out if I want. You should go to sdsons.org and look up Pete Peters' TTn3 stuff under member's equipment. He uses atlas code 55 on some parts, and his scratchbuilt engines are beautiful, including west side shay #12 and even a TTn3 heisler from brass and styrene. TTn3 can be done!
I looked at the pictures and can say with certainty that the top three pictures are c40 Micro Engineering track. The advantage to ME track is that the ties are actually too long for N scale so it does give an appearance like narrow gauge track. The ties are still really narrow however. If it works for you, then go for it. Jason
N Scale track will work in 120n3, probably a better designation than using TT because there are more than one scale used for TT. It is a 3/4 ratio between Scale120 and Scale160, see how clearer that works than letters. It is like that of S scale using HO for Sn3-1/2, which is .735 of HO. Using HO track for On2-1/2 was a reach. It worked much better for narrow gauge track in S. The Roundhouse locos work in both Scale64 using the Scale87 and Scale120 using the Scale160 as narrow gauge. Harold
Resurrecting 106 GOOD NEWS, EVERYONE! I'm on a bit of a money restraint now, but I dug through my scrap box and found an old athearn 2-8-0 mech, so I'm now in t he process of resurretcing it into PCRy 2-8-0 #106! However, i need to remotor it, a skill I need to learn anyway. I think I may have a bachmann 2-8-0 motor lying around somewhere. Maybe that'll work with the universal joint connector from the mdc driveshaft and flywheel. I'll post pictures in a bit!!!! Pacific Coast TTn3 (120n3, according to harold) will be a reality!!!!!!!!!:tb-biggrin::tb-biggrin::tb-biggrin:
Pacific Coast Ry 2-8-0 #106 in Progress!!! Here's how far I got. Dimensions and driver diameter are near perfect in 1:120 scale. But it still needs a bell, whistle, more piping, cab interior, generator detail, paint, and lettering, and a tender oil bunker. The motor is dead, however. When I get money, I'll buy another 2-8-0 and swap out the tender for best possible running. Here's some stuff I'm workin on: And here's a sentimental piece I found: my very first TTn3 car I built; made it about a year ago (and this is also my first completely scratchbuilt car) PCRy caboose #2. I'll build a better version with correct dimensions, free-standing grabirons and full interior later... Anyone want to try this now? It's easier than it seems, like Nn3 with more detail, plenty of N scale stuff to work with, and no crazy prices or hunting for marklin z mechanisms. $80 a pop for athearn 2-8-0's or moguls!! Athearn connies can make c-16's, 17's or 19's, or maybe even C&S 2-8-0's as well. MDC moguls can make old-time engines as mentioned earlier. Model Power moguls may be made into C&S moguls with new boiler shells, etc, and tenwheelers will be possible (like RGS #20, or the SP #9 "slim princess") once bachmann releases their n scale tenwheeler. East Broad Top mikados may even be made from the silk-smooth running kato mikes. Shays are simply atlas models with new cabs and stacks. The upcoming n scale 70-tonner can be made into 50-tonner SP#1, too! THE POSSIBILITIES ARE ENDLESS! DON'T YOU SEE THE POTENTIAL TTn3/120n3 HAS TO OFFER?
