hey i’m mike. im 16, I play guitar in a hard rock band Carnival Of Sins, and I’m still heavily interested in trains(yea i’m one of the few). I’m currently getting ready to start the construction of a layout. For years, I’ve used HO scale, and have bought locomotives from manufacturers such as KATO and Atlas, and rolling stock from Walthers, Athearn, Atlas, ect. As it stands, I figure I have between $1000-$1500 worth of locomotives and rolling stock. I’ve never really done anything with any of it except just running it around a 4x8 loop on a platform in my living room. Now that one of my garages is cleaned out for the most part, I’m FINALLY going to start construction of a true layout. The space I have is pretty restricted for the type of design and operation I’m looking for. The dimensions of the room are 12’ 6"x13’ 6", and I’m looking for a point-to-loop style design, with a yard as a terminal for trains heading out and recieving in both directions. Once out of the yard, the mainline is continuous run, and switches will control traffic moving on and off the mainline to the yard. I dont want a simple track plan found in a track plan book, I’m designing my own custom plan, most likely a dual-level configuration(I’ll discuss the layout design specifics on my next post). Now after reading all this background info, I’ve finally gotten to the REAL QUESTION in this post. Due to space limitations and my desired track plan and operation, I’ve been debating on whether or not to sell all of my HO scale equipment and to begin taking up N scale modeling. Being 16, eyesight issues aren’t a problem, and I will be modeling present day mainline railroading of eastern railroads, mainly Conrail, CSX, and a little bit of NS here and there. I’m completly open to selling all of what I have to buy new equipment in a new gauge and start over completly. So I’m just wondering everyones opinion whether I shou
I think that N scale is a serious consideration if you are modeling modern railroads with their large engines, are interested in operations and space is a consideration. From what I have observed, modern N scale diesels perform very well and rival their HO counterparts. It certainly greatly expands the type of layout you can build. If your passion is detail, prototypical accuracy, or smaller steam (2-8-0’s for example) then HO is the better route. It sounds like N scale would have lots to offer you, if you can get you HO equipment sold for a good price and relatively quickly. Since I am interested in turn of century steam shortlines, N scale is not going to work for me, but I sure envy the space advantages of the scale. - Nevin
In the big scheme of things that is nothing, and should not be a consideration for your decision.
Since you are 16 and this will definitely not be your final layout, why not switch? Do what you want. Later, when you move away from home to your own place, you can stay in N or switch back if you want. No sense in limiting your options on a temporary situation.
First of all Mike…Welcome to the forum. In my personal openion your decision has to come from within you, do what you feel is right for you, weight as many factors as you can, space, finanaces, what you have on hand and the pros and cons of both scales, as you will get a lot of great advice on this forum, The key thing is that this is a personal choice, remember a lead guitar leads, back up gits… follow…so that being said when you make a sound decision let us know… Your post is very refreshing to me, your 16 (Gads that was one half a century ago for me) and have the inteligence to go to the direct source for information…Thats cool…enjoy the hobby…John
Well lets see your not to far from me in the age group im 18 and i completly love trains ive been in ho scale since my first train set when i was 4 but anyway n scale is alright but there very delicate ive tried to model n scale but they were just to small for me and some of the locos ive heard can cost as much as a detailed ho model but really its personal preferance do what you want but if you do stick to ho you could save some money by keeping the equipment you already have which can be a plus in the long run but remember its all about what you want to do!
Hope you have fun with it thats what its all about!!
Later
-Kade
For the love of God…use punctuation! It is really difficult to understand what you are saying without having to read it 4 times.
David
You sound like a good candidate for switching, but as suggested by an earlier poster, you really owe it to yourself to determine it in a concrete way, and to make up your own mind.
A useful way to answer your main question definitively is to seek out others locally who use N-scale trains and ask to meet with them. Also, if possible handle and operate the equipment for a night or two, and then go back to your HO stuff to see if there is a difference. Also, as a young, learning, upwardly reaching, heuristically inclined person, you probably get used to and bored with things easily once you have mastered them. So, while you can compare N to HO, but use someone else’s N scale stuff, returning to your own familiar stuff may not give you an unbiased opinion. It would be better to go to an unfamiliar HO layout and compare having controlled for your bias or boredom with your own HO trains.
Just a thought.
Yep. HO versus N is almost a religious argument. Both have their good points and bad points. I was in HO for many years, got into N, and after I finish my current N-scale layout, I’ll probably do a small HO shelf switcher too.
Perhaps you ought to consider a small shelf layout in both, without investing a huge amount in either, just to see if you prefer one to another. A couple of tracks and spurs, an engine for each and a few cars, just for comparison.
JMHO, but since you seem to have a good handle on the type of layout you want, get one of the planning software packages and see if you can fit what you want in HO, in the space you have. If not, then I’d say N is your best bet. With my tiny space, after a year or more of unsuccessful trying to come up with a viable way to make HO fit my space, for what I wanted (light weight 50s/60s passenger train), it came down to N or nothing.
I am in a similar situation, I’ve found myself without enough space for HO.
However, you can still use HO accessories. I’ve found that using HO signals and buildings at major terminals (My main passenger station is actually a lionel) it creates a sense of varied depth an importance. Big HO signals control the mainline, while approperiate N scale signals control sidings.
Allright, I’ll finally weigh in on one of these debates as I have been torturing myself with this same debate for some time now. I much prefer operation over watching ‘em go round. I’m slowly leaning toward HO. I thought I had my mind made up and was going with N but for some reason I have slowly began talking myself out of it. One of the questions you have to ask yourself is if you have any other modeling interests outside of trains themselves. I for one also love construction equipment, semi trucks and things of that nature. Way easier to get that kind of stuff in HO. I know some will argue that its out there in N but to me 1. it looks ridiculous 2. its much harder to find 3. its much more expensive. For instance I can run down to the good ol’ mega mart (whichever you prefer) and pick up 1:87 equipment (really good looking cars, dozers, trucks) for way cheap. Cant do that in N in most LHS. Another way of looking at it is if your main interst is in operation what do you really gain from the smaller scale? Does the ability to fit 4 cars on a siding instead of 2 really add that much to the operation? Or does it merely add twice the cost? Unless you really are pressed for space and can’t fit anything but the small stuff in a N or Nothing type of situation, to me, you dont really gain that much. How long is an 8’ train in Ho and how long is an 8’ train in N? Some would say the the N scale one is twice as long as the HO but I say they’re both still 8’ trains and nowhere near prototypical. If I want proto length trains I play with Trainz railroad simulator. I can run 120 car trains down the mainline all day long. Until I fall asleep at the controls that is. Real locos have alerters for a reason. BORING!!! It’s often been said that scale is as much of an emotional decision as it is a logical one. I grew up with my dads HO layout which was a 4x6 spaghett
This is neat suggestion that many would overlook.
I think N is ideal for younger folks because space is almost always an issue. Start your N scale collection early on, build a small layout, etc. Then someday when you have a huge basement, you’ll already have a fleet of N scale equipment ready to go!
I switched from HO in 2002 and don’t miss it at all. N scale has been everything I hoped it would be.
Mike,
At 16 don’t be afraid to try new things! Learn as much as you can by building in as many different scales as you can to decide which you prefer, within your financial limits. You will probably be building many more layouts as your situation in life changes over the years. Each scale presents its own unique challenges and rewards, many of which can only be discovered by experience.
Happy railroading,
Jim