Lack of space. If I had room, I would build a large 00 layout but we don't have much space in our small bungalow. So my current N layout is about 6' long by 2.5' wide, but I still have a 8x1' 00 shunting layout. So hopefully these two options will satisfy me.

Space
For eyesight and dexterity at the age of 58 it can be difficult in N. I'm a bit surprised O gauge is getting more popular. For some reason my brain thinks Steam locomotives especially large ones look less realistic than non steam! Especially going round bends. Front bogies look really toy like.

Quote from: David Bale on November 28, 2020, 01:01:54 PM
I'm a bit surprised O gauge is getting more popular. For some reason my brain thinks Steam locomotives especially large ones look less realistic than non steam! Especially going round bends. Front bogies look really toy like.

Ah but you'll probably find a lot of O gauge modellers go for a terminus to fiddleyard layout with no sharp curves, in the same sort of size you might have an N layout or an OO end-to-end.  They only need one or two locos and a couple of wagons and coaches, and they can indulge in more detail in the models and scenery.

If you want a roundy-roundy in O then join a club!

I think I'll have to stick to N but before farish and dapol started doing Dcc ready or Dcc decoder fitted I found fitting decoders very difficult.

I initially went with OO gauge, but in a small space, wasn't really keeping my interest, with N Gauge I can run more realistic trains and do some scenery etc, just need more variety of locos, seems OO gauge gets the variety whereas N gauge seems to be an after thought.
I keep hoping a dutch liveried 47 might come along.

I use n gauge because it allows me to model a really busy layout - a 4 track mainline with branchline and realistic curves, whereas 00 gauge Id only really get a twin track secondary line in, with train set curves in the space I have. There is something to be said for an express train going at scale speed around a realistic track.

My recent purchases of Dapol DCC locomotives has not been overwhelmingly positive, they were pretty good but not as good mechanically as kato and Fleischmann. I am moving to OO gauge.

Mainly space. 
I have a 10' x 6' room which is  a shared use for my Kit building as well, a lot of 1/35 Artillery and Tank kits and quite
a few aircraft hanging from the ceiling. 
Can do a lot more in N Gauge in a small space, plus the availability of really great RTR stock today, is fantastic, compared
to even just a few years ago.
Fully committed now.

I bought a hornby class 71 which I had to fix to stop it jerking quite badly. After a few weeks I changed my mind again, I am now back to N but concentrating on continental manufacturers  and Japanese. Quality of running wins it again for me. Plus N gauge = space

Quote from: David Bale on May 05, 2021, 09:40:54 PM
I bought a hornby class 71 which I had to fix to stop it jerking quite badly. After a few weeks I changed my mind again, I am now back to N but concentrating on continental manufacturers  and Japanese. Quality of running wins it again for me. Plus N gauge = space

That's very interesting and I agree completely about running quality.  From my own experience of 'N' gauge, Kato and Union Mills both give the consistent quality of running I like to see.  Although very different undertakings, I think both manufacturers have something in common.  The commitment of the person at the top of the firm; Mr Kato and Mr Heard.  We 'N-gaugers' are in their debt.

Best wishes

John

It is often strange the way model locomotives are designed. On the hornby class 71 it had circuit board which I took off but I realised it was impossible to put back on because about 6 wires had to sit in the right place naturally for the board to go back on. The board never did go back on properly but it worked better!

Space I suppose.... plus an opportunity to play with scenery (space involved too). My Dad brought TT-3 over from his business trips to England as of 1959 when I was between baby and toddler until 1965, his last trip across the Channel. He finally had an excuse to start playing with trains! I still have it & am "working" on a layout. Plus some H0 inspired by a Dutch preserved railway. Must brush up my UK inspired N gauge Little Wicket and finally extend it though! Plenty of ideas....

A mate of mine of many years decided to start modelling in 00 gauge and asked if I had any advice on railways in general (as I am a train driver) where as he works in a different field. Found his ideas very interesting and thought more and more of doing something myself. Spoke to the mrs about it, and she thought it was a great idea.

Saw there was a prototype HST in N gauge, and because the HSTs were the best things I drove in my career, and realised as I could probably eventually run the thing as a full 2+8 set (which would be too impractical in 00 gauge) bought it. From there I picked up a few other locos I liked the look of (mainly BR diesels) and finally started my first layout over the last couple of weeks, and have really been enjoying myself.

Oh and I'm a Linux user and my music tastes vary from The Smiths through to hard 200bpm+ gabber ravey stuff, so I've always been a bit alternative anyway, so I suppose N gauge fits in with that!

Like many, I went to N from the 'usual' 00 'train set' I had as a child so I could do more with the available space.
I did have plans to build a 00 layout in my garage roof, based on the Watford Tunnel entrance and the access bridge I used to sit on watching trains as a teenager. I saw Pete Waterman's layout at the Great Electric Train Show on Saturday, and was taken back to those times when I saw the Watford Tunnel on there; I even got to chat with PW for about 45 seconds!
I am now retired, and my first project was to build a 2.5 X 2 metre shed to house my layout. I have a lot of vintage 00 from Hornby-Dublo, Triang, Triang-Hornby, Wrenn, and Lima; so there is a loop of 00 round the perimeter of the shed so I can run some of this occasionally. The N gauge layout is two boards of 1200 x 600 in an L shape, with a helix off one end giving access to a lower reverse loop and storage area; unfortunately there was no room for a twin track helix, hence the reverse loop arrangement. The reverse loop is automatic by use of MERG kits, and there are sensors on each storage road at the end and mid positions for monitoring. The control and monitoring is via another MERG system. I have set the loop so the trains always run round in the same direction to keep all the trains facing the same way.
I could go on for much longer! I am intending to write a backstory to explain the imagined history of my layout, and how it became a museum with a main line connection.
One day maybe I'll post it on here.
Cheers
Keith
NGS 21472

I started in 009, moved to 00 and sold everything to go to N gauge in the late 80s - bad choice as Farish at their worst then.  Eventually sold that, got married had kids etc and somewhere in that time Dapol launched it's N gauge range and I was back.

Several restarts over the years at building a layout but wasn't until 2014 I had a layout in a room that I could play with by which time I had too much stock muddled over regions and eras.  Somewhere in the recent past Kernow brought out the Well Tank and the 02, couldn't resist them and for a few years I swapped to 00, all the N went back into their boxes.  Then I had to move rooms and despite having more space I needed to build something smaller again because it was now also my office so the N gauge came back and a sale of some of the OO stuff and older non dcc N gauge allowed me to convert over to DCC and sound which is where I am now.

I must admit in all this time I have always found it easier to sell my OO stock than any of my N gauge, I hold greater affection for my N models even though sometimes they can be a PITA to run.  So at the moment, it is blue diesels, a terminus station in the North West and a bunch of steam engines waiting for their chance on this layout.