I’m a beginning N scale modeler. I want to use locomotives from a specific railroad…haven’t decided exactly which one yet. It will be one of the CSX or NS predecessors. My problem is that in looking around the internet and magazines I notice a lot of railroad’s locos available, but not as much on the ones I might be interested in. ACL and SAL are two that I’m very interested in going with but I don’t see much available. As a newbie, I may not be looking in the right place. I need some suggestions on how to source a road once I’ve decided. I know you can paint a scheme on a locomotive to make it any road you want but I don’t think I want to do that right now. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Have you tried the Walthers and Horizon (Athearn) sites and putting your road name in the search? Also, set up a saved search on ebay in your scale, again with the road name. They will send you a notice each time one comes up, saves checking the whole list daily.
Good luck,
Richard
This is the collecting part of the hobby. You didn’t mention what time period you were interested in either but I see in your avatar that there is an e-unit. Is that the time you are looking at?
Anyway if I was a newbie just starting out I would recommend to myself to do this the opposite way. I would study books about the railroads I’m thinking about and choose from my research. Then I would begin the quest for equipment. In fact these could over lap a bit. example - Oh I like the ACL E6 locmotive. Has anyone already made this in N-scale? How common are they? Put a search in ebay and see what comes up over the period of a month. Oh no one has ever done that or they are extremely rare. Put points against chosing that particular road. end example. This way after I finally choose I would be focused and not just buying anything with my chosen road name on it (experience speaking).
Unfortunately I know very little about the ACL or SAL other than purple & silver diesel locomotives, a lime green sort of colored one, and a brown and yellow scheme. Seems like they ran several joint passenger trains the Champion comes to mind. I know that Intermountain has announce the FT locomotive for ACL in both the purple and black schemes. They are due in February.
As fallen flag railroads they are always going to be harder to find. Even with the popular railroads one finds it necessary to renumber and paint as well as add details at times. Don’t be afraid to try. I would buy a very cheap car or two to practice and develop skills before tackling a more expensive item. Just because you have never done it before doesn’t mean it is all that hard and people here can walk you through the steps
OK… eBay auto search, research my ideas about what I think I’m interested in. Also, I think that’s a great idea about practicing my scheme painting and decal skills on cheap cars. That actually makes me want to try it. I’m going to read up on that and get back to the forum if I get stuck.
Thanks guys!
Call Esthers Hobby Shop in Milvale Pa. just outside of Pittsburgh. Big N scaler. He might be able to help. 412-821-2415
Joe C
The assumption is that you are pretty much diesel oriented. Old ACL and SAL diesels in N scale might be tough. If you were in HO or larger scale, I would tend to advise getting a period specific loco you liked and decorate it yourself. N scale is a bit small to decorate from scratch, (though it can and has been done by advanced modelers).
I get the feeling you are looking for RTR stuff, however. All the best in your quest.
Yeah, I was looking at an N Scale Alco RS3 in the local train store today and thought it was an awful small space to work in…but it was Southern and DCC friendly …so, that’s a NS fallen flag…thinking hard about Southern. I’m from Asheville…kinda fits in.
thanks for your thoughts
Thanks for the lead. I’ll give them a call.