O'N' the gauge fe'N'ce!

[60163]

Please excuse the horrible pun.  It won't be used again.

Living in the United States, modelling British railways are almost unheard of. The area in which I live is apparently barren of modelers to begin with, with no dedicated stores less than a two and a half hour's drive away. How I wound up with an old, playworn Hornby train set as an American child in the 1990's I'm not particularly sure (especially considering it was from the mid-seventies, being a goods set with an ex-Triang 0-4-0) but ever since I've had the English modeling bug and after longing for a model railway throughout childhood, at college age I've decided it's time to finally move forwards.

However! The issue of scale still trips me up. Having asked RMweb for assistance based on my interests, I was generally pointed in the 4mm direction, but received a few pointers toward the N route. The scale is truly appealing and I'm giving it a great deal of thought.

I live in a small upstairs apartment. Although I plan on being here for as long as possible, I am in no certain terms in a 'permanent' home, and thus portability is a must. Influenced in no doubt by my childhood, I have a fondness for small stock. Although of course, by my namesake I adore the A1 Trust's fantastic creature, such an elegant beast should never be relegated to the shunting operations I have in mind!  All manner of variety of tank engines and small diesels are included as well, as I have a fairly broad interest era wise stretching from pre-Grouping until the early 60's. I doubt I would be using much passenger equipment, except perhaps 4-wheeled stock if modeling an earlier era. Most would undoubtedly be either private/Big Four short wheelbase stock or BR standard wagons dependent on aforementioned undecided era.

I want to pursue automatic uncoupling - I want to be able to operate the layout from a completely 'third person' perspective, with nothing but control panel and controller (i.e. without the hand of God!)

As I live in the US, second-hand equipment is practically non-existent, and few eBay sellers are an option thanks to high shipping prices. Major box shops like Hattons and Rails are great - when something's in stock, that is!

My general interests:

• Portability is a necessity. Must be of reasonable construction.
• Electrofrog with powered frogs and point motors; no greater than 6 points
• Short locos, short stock, slow speeds.
• Hands free uncoupling (Dapol Easi-Shunt?)

A few concerns with the scale I have are as follows. There appear to be dreadfully small production runs at any one time and a much smaller secondhand market. I loved the green whiskered 121 by Dapol, but I saw not a one so much as rear it's head on the internet since it's launch, as they were all pre-ordered! The Farish 3MT also seemed to come and go in a flash, as did a few other models.. how frustrating is it to obtain a model not currently in production over the internet? Almost anything in OO seems readily available, even if limited edition on eBay..

Secondly, I was told a member of the NGS and the 2MM association that "It is indeed perfectly possible to shunt in N scale but it is also not as easy or even satisfying as in 4mm." I'm curious as to this forum's opinion on the matter.


Your input would be much appreciated! Please don't mind my indecisiveness. 

[Richard G Dallimore]

Hello
Shunting is possible in N, as is hands free. Dapol have just released a new auto uncoupler, it is detailed on here and RMWeb. Good luck and enjoy N gauge modeling.

[Chinahand]

Hi and welcome to the forum.

Certainly auto uncoupling is possible in N Scale either with the new Dapol magnetic couplers or by one of the various types of self-assembly etched brass ones so that should not be a major problem for you. I actually use the MBD couplers from the N Gauge Society. The Dapol ones are currently only suitable for stock with an NEM pocket though they do say that they will produce one to suit the older type of Rapido socket.

Given your location, however, your are always going to find it difficult to obtain locos and rolling stock to suit your chosen period. Incidentally Gaugemaster have the Green Dummy Class 121 in stock and are taking orders for the powered unit. See the bottom of this page http://www.gaugemaster.com/search_results.asp?searchstring=dapol+&searchtitle=dapol&andor=view&method=kws_gauge&style=main&strtype=n&currentpage=8

I have had things sent overseas by them in the past so that should not be a problem other than in respect of cost. Since N Gauge represents a much smaller percentage of the market than it does in the USA, the production runs do tend to be small but production re-runs are not unusual where there is the demand.

You don't say what your size limitations are or if you want to run an end-to-end layout or a tail chaser though you have declared a preference for shunting, and I suspect you will want the former. Either way the obvious main attraction of N Scale over 00 is the amount of extra track you can get into a given space.

Good luck with your deliberations and I hope this has been of some help.

[zwilnik]

When I first built Ives Yard I had a similar issue of space and portability as it needed to fit on the back of my work desk (and around/over the base of my iMac).

Originally it was set up as a 6ft x 1ft layout on 2 boards that split in the middle for packing but I then decided I needed a main line running along the back to run the bigger trains on a constant loop so I put a single track line along the back of the scenic section and extended the board backwards another 6 inches so I could have a return line behind the scenery (actually under it, as the village of Ives End overlooks the railway cutting). At each end it connects to a loop of Kato Unitrack to make it a dog-bone loop but with the option to take up the loops and just run the yard on its own.

Thread on Ives Yard here..

http://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/index.php?topic=54.0

[Dock Shunter]

Hi and welcome aboard........
I and others understand your frustration at not being able to get some models before they sell out.There are many this side of the pond who didn't manage to get the green 121.Unfortunately....especially in Dapols case they only have very small production runs...(sometimes as low as 250 units).
If you intend running small wheelbase loco's....03 04 08s etc then electrofrog points are a must.
Just to add my preference for hands free shunting into the mix....i use and am very happy with DG couplings see this thread for a short vid...(nothing prototypical i just installed some electromagnets on my micro layout to test the DGs)

http://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/index.php?topic=1396.0

If you would like any more info on DGs i'll do my best to help......

[lesmond]

Welcome along! If you can't get the help you need from this forum, you won't get it anywhere.

Thankfully with the easy availability of (most) things online these days your location isn't a huge problem, except for postage costs. (I've found a similar problem in trying to get thing sent the other way (US - UK)).

Shunting is entirely possible in N; as long as you have patience and something suitable to actually work the couplings. I've a .303 cartridge filled with lead, with a piece of gently curved brass to do the job, provided there is a bit of weight in the wagons this works a treat. I'd be interested to see how you get on with automatic uncoupling, although the hand of God doesn't worry me too much.

Les

[Dock Shunter]

Welcome along! If you can't get the help you need from this forum, you won't get it anywhere.

Thankfully with the easy availability of (most) things online these days your location isn't a huge problem, except for postage costs. (I've found a similar problem in trying to get thing sent the other way (US - UK)).

Shunting is entirely possible in N; as long as you have patience and something suitable to actually work the couplings. I've a .303 cartridge filled with lead, with a piece of gently curved brass to do the job, provided there is a bit of weight in the wagons this works a treat. I'd be interested to see how you get on with automatic uncoupling, although the hand of God doesn't worry me too much.

Les

Great to see you back posting Lesmond.......

[lesmond]

Cheers - been doing 6 day weeks for a while, and keeping domestic bliss more or less intact on Sundays, but there was a hair dye disaster by my sister in law last night, so the mrs is away to try and sort it out. Happy days for me, as I get some time to catch up here

[Newportnobby]

Welcome back, Lesmond. You've been missed

[H]

Time to get off the fence - it must be horribly uncomfortable being on it for so long.

H.

[EtchedPixels]

Time to get off the fence - it must be horribly uncomfortable being on it for so long.

H.

Or asking to get arrested for handling stolen ...

[H]

Time to get off the fence - it must be horribly uncomfortable being on it for so long.

H.

Or asking to get arrested for handling stolen ...

.... shouldn 't take of'fence'....

H.

[60163]

Time to get off the fence - it must be horribly uncomfortable being on it for so long.

H.

That it is - or was, properly, my tail 'Nd' being good and sore! 

I say was because I've decided in no small part thanks to the encouraging support this community has to offer to give N to temptatioN and go the way of N gauge! I think the challenge of meeting my desires will prove more satisfying an accomplishment in a scale where such things are no small feat, save for feet. After all, things can only improve for the hobby from here, right? 

Thank you all for your input and your senses of humor. I've had a warm welcome indeed.
Great temptation was overcome in not N gauge-ing in another pun. . . oh, hell!

[H]

Thank you all for your input and your senses of humor. I've had a warm welcome indeed.
Great temptation was overcome in not N gauge-ing in another pun. . . oh, hell!

Welcome to the wonderful world of N.
I hope you 'N'joy you new chosen scale; you'll definately find it 'N'gauging.

'N'ough for now.

H.

[Lawrence]

I'm all punned out after reading this, but it confirms that this place is indeed inhabited by Nutters.

I'll get my coat