I went to Warley on Sat and got quite interested in the larger scales ie G and gauge 1. I was quite puzzled by the lack of detail on the g gauge engines and the focus of the live steamers on the engineering over realistic modelling. Am I missing the point here ? Does anyone do both N and the big stuff and what is to be gained by dabbling in big and small? Has anyone downsized to N for any other reasons than the obvious ie cost and space ?

I do Live Steam in OO, and am interested in larger LS - apart from the price !!!  Although - a Papyrus in OO went for over £700 the other day ... so they're creeping up there 

Some of them do seem to be lacking in fine detail - they're mainly aimed at the model engineer, so the steam plant is the attraction there.

If you look around you'll find both in G. There is everything from the toy-train garden trains to superbly accurate gauge 1 models.

I picked N partly for size but I do find OO a rather awkward scale -- too big to be convenient, too small to get the right physical effects that you do in O. If 3mm RTR was common I'd probably have gone with 3mm which seems to be a nice balance.

Alan

I generally think that the larger the scale the higher level of detail required.

Personally I agree with EP, 3mm would be perfect RTR. I love N, but again, personally I get frustrated with some of the manufacturing defects that such a small scale throws up i.e. quartering, wonky chassis', mis-moulded wheel centres etc.

I look up to him because he is larger scale
He looks down on me because I am smaller scale
I know my place

The most recent N gauge locos do seem to be a bit over-detailed compared with even full size prototypes. A bit like HD television. All bristling with rivets and grilles that are too prominent to be in scale.

Quote from: edwin_m on November 25, 2013, 08:29:34 PM
I look up to him because he is larger scale
He looks down on me because I am smaller scale
I know my place

Quote from: stevieboy on November 25, 2013, 07:20:59 PM
I love N, but again, personally I get frustrated with some of the manufacturing defects that such a small scale throws up i.e. quartering, wonky chassis', mis-moulded wheel centres etc.

I don't think that's much to do with the scale - plenty of similar problems in OO etc - the same would happen in 3mm if that was widespread I'm sure.

Cheers,
Alan

I modelled in N for a number of years before switching to 5 inch Gauge Live steam and electric. having a number of loco's of all different flavours (FR Funkey, TR Dolgoch, BR class 08 x2, Freelance ‘polly’, Quarry Hunslet, NG Ruston).
In the larger scale the focus is generally on the loco, letting nature do the scenery, but there is an increasing switch to 'scale trains' in 5" gauge. see the GL5 for more info. Definately worth watching a video from Gilling.
I have swicthed back to N having sold my stock to fund a house move and a few other things. I will still keep my hand in with the bigger stuff (plan to build a Castle or an A4 as a long term goal) but will stick with N certainly until the kids are a bit more grown up and can play trains too!
I have seen some glaring errors on beautifully built loco's, almost like the details don't count one the engineering is done. I believe the opposite, a good modeller leads to a good engineer.
Steve

 A random provoking Continental European view of things just crossed my mind while reading this thread. If British mass produced 1:148 N gauge is doomed to forever beeing incompatible (scale-wise) with Continental 1:160 N gauge, could then mass production of British modells to 1:120 TT gauge be successfull - or would this fall into the same inner European conflicting scale trap?
Just a random thought... and maybe off topic

I realise that some will (probably correctly) disagree with my defining O gauge as in the "larger scale" category, but I have always had a hankering for some Diesel O gauge (smoke generators....mmmmm).

One day a garden railway in O will suit me very nicely.

I started in N because I liked the space saving, not because I had anything especially against OO. I think I am very lucky that in the last decade or so that choice has paid off with the quality and choice levels in N slowly reaching a comparable level to OO.

I am committed to N now, and I don't see anything smaller than O working outdoors (not that people have not made a success of OO outside, just that I don't trust my own engineering!).

Skyline2uk

Quote from: MacRat on November 29, 2013, 02:38:00 PM
A random provoking Continental European view of things just crossed my mind while reading this thread. If British mass produced 1:148 N gauge is doomed to forever beeing incompatible (scale-wise) with Continental 1:160 N gauge, could then mass production of British modells to 1:120 TT gauge be successfull - or would this fall into the same inner European conflicting scale trap?
Just a random thought... and maybe off topic

I think it's far too late. So much money and time has been invested in N Gauge, and even more time in improving N Gauge, that we'll stick with what we have and carry on trying to improve it.

Its currently more of a problem for continentals than for us - lots of our locos like 20s, 37s etc have gone overseas but very little foreign stuff comes over here.

I am quite happy to walk round exhibitions and see all manner of scales, gauges etc, and I appreciate and enjoy looking at all layouts, judging each one on its own merits!

However, my fiancee (who is fairly new to model railways and has mainly seen my N gauge stock) thinks that the larger scales look a little too 'toy-like' for her tastes - and the larger the scale, the more toy-like she feels it is! (She like N gauge best!  )

Quote from: Skyline2uk on November 29, 2013, 03:46:08 PM
I realise that some will (probably correctly) disagree with my defining O gauge as in the "larger scale" category, but I have always had a hankering for some Diesel O gauge (smoke generators....mmmmm).

One day I'd love a massive O gauge layout - a modern image version of Pete Waterman's layout! But I like decent scale length trains, and without tens of thousands of pounds (and a similar square footage!) that's not going to happen in O. So N it is!