Hello to you all.

I'm just starting to put together an "N" layout and started out with a s/hand farish set with a  basic oval. ( works great ).

To make it a lot more interesting I then bought some more N track including points and fishplates.

A few questions for a newby to N

Would Shinora track fit in with Peco?  And should fishplates be used all the time for N ? Finding it a bit of a bother linking track ( more specifically the points ) !!  Got Shinora and Peco points ( Used to OO ).

My layout is on top of the sideboard and about 5' X 18"    Do you have to buy N specific trees as well for scenics?

Sorry if these are basic questions but trying to find my way in N and thanks for any help

Hello and welcome

I am pretty sure you need fishplates to join rails on any track I have seen.  It is fiddly, but you can try to widen the very opening of the fishplate to help it slide onto the rail.  Be careful though as you don't want to open it much as it will form a loose contact and the rails need to be securely electrically connected.

You will find a lot of N-scale trees, but small OO trees are just twice the size in N... Generally trees are 10-60 ft high so 20mm-120mm will be OK scale wise.  I have a bunch of beautiful JTT trees and they are sold as e.g. 4" Ash 59' N scale and 29' HO scale.

Hope that helps.

There are a lot of helpful people on here so you should get plenty of advice.  The only dumb question is the one you don't ask!

Quote from: nscot on January 02, 2012, 12:20:51 AM
Would Shinora track fit in with Peco? 

Do you mean Shinohara?

If so you may have trouble as Shinohara use code 70 rail (0.7mm high) and Peco will be code 80 (0.8mm high) if it's Setrack you've got, so there will be a 0.1mm 'step' between the two. Doesn't sound much but that's a big step for an N Gauge wheel 

As for fishplates I've so far never seen an track system in ANY gauge that doesn't need fishplates, or more correctly rail-joiners 


Paul

Quote from: Sprintex on January 02, 2012, 01:13:42 PM
As for fishplates I've so far never seen an track system in ANY gauge that doesn't need fishplates, or more correctly rail-joiners 

A lot of finescale  relies on the track being properly secured to the baseboard and has no fishplates (or has purely cosmetic fishplates - which in N are very small indeed. For a layout where the track is fixed rail-joiners are a handy convenience only.

Didn't know that 

The OP appears to be talking about setrack-type systems though rather than finescale track  Even the Peco 'finescale' code 55 uses standard rail-joiners though 


Paul

Quote from: Sprintex on January 02, 2012, 02:37:10 PM
Even the Peco 'finescale' code 55 uses standard rail-joiners though

I was talking about finescale track, not Peco code 55, which is neither fine nor scale. Cheap, robust, easy to use and a reasonable compromise yes, fine and scale nope.

When I started out I also purchased a Farish set secondhand. I then bought some s/h track from a toy fair and had the devil's own job joining it. Turns out I had Farish track (whoever makes that) plus Peco Setrack and Streamline, plus some semi-flexi Italian track. Have now seen the light and got rid of the lot and gone over to one type. Will not try to influence anyone to use any one brand, but suggest opting for the one that looks the best and meets YOUR needs.

Quote from: EtchedPixels on January 02, 2012, 02:57:06 PM

Quote from: Sprintex on January 02, 2012, 02:37:10 PM
Even the Peco 'finescale' code 55 uses standard rail-joiners though

I was talking about finescale track, not Peco code 55, which is neither fine nor scale. Cheap, robust, easy to use and a reasonable compromise yes, fine and scale nope.

Ah, in which case I have no idea what you're talking about 

I know Peco code 55 isn't perfect or to scale, but does that really matter when we make so many other compromises in building a layout? 


Paul

Quote from: Kipper on January 02, 2012, 04:47:54 PM
When I started out I also purchased a Farish set secondhand. I then bought some s/h track from a toy fair and had the devil's own job joining it. Turns out I had Farish track (whoever makes that) plus Peco Setrack and Streamline, plus some semi-flexi Italian track. Have now seen the light and got rid of the lot and gone over to one type. Will not try to influence anyone to use any one brand, but suggest opting for the one that looks the best and meets YOUR needs.

Poole Farish was their own track along with their 'super liveway' points. Something they discontinued quite early on and left to Peco. Bachmann set track I suspect is their own but mechanically and geometrically its Peco compatible (same radius, same sort of rail profile, compatible fishplates).

Some information on that well know Irish brand of points, Shin O'Hara.
http://www.nmra.org.au/Hints/Turnout_Tips/Turnout_Tips.html
http://homepages.paradise.net.nz/~rdmurg/clinic/points.htm
http://homepages.paradise.net.nz/~rdmurg/clinic/electpop.htm

Thanks for all the answers people.

Today I realised the Japanese just wouldn't work with my layout.

I managed also to ruin a Peco rh point when trying to fix the rail joiners !!  Wondering now if theres 2 types of joiners ?

I've ended up with a track like a very large "C" and that'll need t do for the moment untll I have a better understanding of what goes with what.   The Point I did manage to put on worked as long as I didnt switch the point, and then it went dead when I tried to go in reverse trying to take the train back off the straight ( its an electrofrog s/h ).

Thanks Kipper for telling your similar experience - I might buy a new set of Peco track which goes for £47.00 on Ebay - but not sure if thats the best idea?

BTW the farish set I bought was a Prairie tank set numbered 370-075    No idea how old that is ?

Quote from: nscot on January 02, 2012, 07:50:15 PM
BTW the farish set I bought was a Prairie tank set numbered 370-075    No idea how old that is ?

Thats a Bachman era one so post 2001 or so (all the Bachmann models are xxx-xxx format, most of the Farish ones are four digit sometimes with a letter tacked on)

Quote from: Sprintex on January 02, 2012, 01:13:42 PM
. . . Shinohara use code 70 rail (0.7mm high) and Peco will be code 80 (0.8mm high) if it's Setrack you've got, so there will be a 0.1mm 'step' between the two. Doesn't sound much but that's a big step for an N Gauge wheel 

"Code" is in thousandths of an inch, so the diff between 70 and 80 is 1/100 inch, or about 0.4 mm - which is a very big step for an N wheel!

- Michael

Knew it was something like that 


Paul

Quote from: nscot on January 02, 2012, 07:50:15 PM
Thanks for all the answers people.

Today I realised the Japanese just wouldn't work with my layout.

I managed also to ruin a Peco rh point when trying to fix the rail joiners !!  Wondering now if theres 2 types of joiners ?

I've ended up with a track like a very large "C" and that'll need t do for the moment untll I have a better understanding of what goes with what.   The Point I did manage to put on worked as long as I didnt switch the point, and then it went dead when I tried to go in reverse trying to take the train back off the straight ( its an electrofrog s/h ).

Thanks Kipper for telling your similar experience - I might buy a new set of Peco track which goes for £47.00 on Ebay - but not sure if thats the best idea?

BTW the farish set I bought was a Prairie tank set numbered 370-075    No idea how old that is ?

Before you buy off ebay, decide what layout you want and get an idea of the cost to buy the actual track you need. I bought a Peco track plan book and used that to make a list of what I needed, worked out quite reasonable for a double  track layout with sidings.