Not trying to be negative or start any kind of a fued here, but holy cow!!
I was asleep at the wheel the other night and bought an N scale AB set on Ebay. I must say the guy was super nice and told me he understood totally and to just forget about it. In fact, he was so nice about letting me off the hook I went ahead and bought it anyway. I figured I’d display on my nic-nac shelf. Sort of wanted to see what one looked like anyway. It just showed up and my gosh!! that thing is small! I have a hard time seeing how people actually run this stuff. Anyway, it’s on my display shelf …I think …can’t really see without my glasses. It is a very cool little piece but I’d go insane trying to do a layout in that size.
I run some N gauge trains now and then. It’s actually the gauge I started in 30 some years ago when it was “new”. They are small. The most annoying thing is bumping the layout and all the train cars fall over. Surprisingly my 7 and 10 year old kids have no problems putting them on the track. I think kids today have refined motor skills from playing all the video games.
That reminds me I had a small set of them too & they were made by Strombecker back then & called Postage Stamp Trains ! That name never stuck I guess. That’s when I raced slot cars, too .
I got back into the model railroading hobby in N scale, and really enjoyed working with it for a number of years (still have a number of Conrail locomotives and a lot of cars left over from my earlier collection).
I’ve been fairly active in Z scale since the scale was first introduced by Marklin, and am still interested in that scale. I have a fair number of Z scale items, including a cast-foam layout (by Noch) that I still have to complete one of these days and several other Z layouts–all easily stored when need be.
I’ve been wearing glasses since I was a kid, and now wear bifocals, but I sure don’t have a whole lot of trouble seeing either N scale or Z scale. I even custom-paint most of the structures that I work with in those scales. No big deal at all, and the small size sure allows for packing a whole lot of railroading into a very limited space, or a HUGE amount of railroading in a generous space.
Some of the Z scale stuff offered by Kadee, AZL, and others in Z scale these days are superb runners–as good as, or better than, just about anything you’ll find in any other scale. And Z scale has been growing in popularity at a rather phenominal rate (with N scale still ranking as the second most popular modeling scale, behind HO).
So even though some in the toy train (O gauge) crowd enjoy looking down their noses at the smaller scales and poking fun at them, the fact remains that these scales are not only popular with large numbers of hobbyists, but they are also growing at what is likely a faster rate than O gauge/scale in contemporary times.
And since I’m also an avid Large Scale collector and operator, and big fan of garden railroading (the most healthy and realistic way to enjoy model railroading) I would hasten to point out that O gauge is pretty darn tiny itself alongside a 1:20.3 or 1:32 scale model.
The same thing happened to me a year and a half ago when I got an N scale starter set to use as an XMAS table top decoration. After setting it up I was off for a station kit and a couple more cars. This led to an N scale collecting binge. It’s a small, futzy scale to work with but you can do a lot in a small space. Plus it’s easy to sneak in the house. The quality stuff made by Atlas, Kato, and Microtrains runs really well and the detail is incredible.
Please don’t include me in that crowd of “looking down their noses”!!! I don’t!! I play with toy trians for a hobby. How can I look down on what anyone else likes to do!![;)] I’m just amazed at how small this thing is. Very cool, but small!
well im not downing the n scale as it was the first scale i started collecting but i figured out rather quickly that n scale is harder to work with but if you can get it to work and work properly the n scale is the best to look at and you get the most awes when you have friends over to look at it when they have never seen trains in either scale. but you have to be really careful not to bump the table as the slightest nudge will cause all the cars to derail and its a pain in the [censored] you know what to get them back on the track. but as in space wise you can get a whole lot in as compared to o scale. but o scale i think is the way to go speaking for long term or long run as once you get upper in age it will be alot easier to deal with the larger trains as the smaller. as right now im trying to sale my n scale and deal with mostly o scale.
I too rentered the hobby through N scale; and built a 3 ft by 5 ft fold-away layout was really nice. I saw the “handwriting on the wall” for me personally when I found it pretty challenging to work with the innards of the engines with DCC and all - I have ten thumbs, do you know… And then I had these old Lionel trains from my dad in these boxes…
Around my house, N scale is referred to as cat toys. Part of the attraction of O, as well as the fact it is really fun, is that critters cannot make off with rolling stock or locomotives.
LOL…If you think N scalers are fussy, check out the TMCC II threads being plaster all over the O gauge forums. For some, it’s life or death. Seriously, N scalers are nice folks as well as O gaugers for that matter.
N-scale got me into the hobby as an adult, 22 years ago. The quality of N was terrible then, I got out and into 3-rail. Now I have a 3-rail layout with an N-scale layout as an upper level backdrop (set on a hill running across the back of my big layout table). The newer N-scale runs MUCH better than the old stuff.
I got interested in “N” when I used it to build a ammusement area “kidee ride” on my “O” layout. I then made a little 2’x4’ “N” layout, to sit on my desk. Great fun! Just be sure to get a high quality loco, especially if it’s “steam”. I used Kato “snap together” track with built-in roadbed. Joe
I went from O to HO and finally N when we were really pushed for space and seemed to be forever moving and I had hoped that the small size would allow me to have a really nice yard to do lots of shunting but I found that the trains were far too easily derailed, especially with three youngsters charging around the place. On the plus side the couplings were good and the remote uncouplers worked well, also the drive mechanisms were amazingly smooth. As far as appearances went, well, they’re small but they are good.
However I’m a hands on bloke, I like to build my own stuff and modify things and I found even in my thirties that it was at the limit of my fine motor skills, my big fingers just couldnt work accurately at that small a size. It was N gauge that made me realize I needed bifocals! Thanks for nothing and am I the only one who’s discovered that bifocals have a sort of ‘blind spot’ right exactly where you most want sharp focus at that distance?
The main downside of N apart from size is the sensitivity of wheelsets to almost any foreign materials, a crumb of cork, a misplaced piece of ballast, even hairs can really jam up things. Also most of my rolling stock was top heavy or so it seemed and that made shunting problematical, so all in all it didnt fulfill my needs. My conclusion is that N would be ideal for a relatively large layout with permanent trackwork to a well designed plan, its not a good choice for endless rearrangement as it doesnt stand up too well to that, especially those thin connector plates and its very finicky about lumps and bumps
Thor, have you tried monovision? It is a scheme in which you have one eye focused for distance and the other for reading or other up-close seeing. Your brain ignores the blur of one image and gives you the impression that both eyes are in focus. I have been using it with contact lenses ever since the onset of presbyopia, over twenty years ago. I recently had cataract operations on both eyes and had the doctor implant lenses for permanent monovision. It beats bifocals or swapping glasses hands down.
As Joe mentioned, it could be incorporated into your O layout. I have seen a layout on “I Love Toy Trains” in which the guy had a N gauge line that ran around and through a amusement park and had O scale people riding on top. Looked very nice.
