These trains run on “any N track and Peco HOe” (HOn30). I want to lay good looking HOn30 trackage in case I replace the Minitrains some day with more realistic models. I have no narrow gauge experience and think Code 80 might look too big compared to Code 70 or 55. I also think mixing N and HO is bad. This part of my layout will circle a wharf scene.
Q: What Code rail and supplier would you recommend? The choices seem very limited.
Thanks.
“I like pigs. Dogs look up to you and cats look down at you, but pigs treat us as equals” - Winston Churchill
While I don’t have any direct experience with the ‘new’ Minitrains, there is an HOn30 line of track on the market from Tillig/Pilz (I think this is a German firm) that’s supposed to be very nice. Peach Creek Shops in MD carries this line (look for it online at http://www.peachcreekshops.com/genprods.php3?val=HON30_Track ) . Give 'em a holler, they should be able to answer your questions in detail about the track and Minitrains as well since they carry this too.
This an H0 narrow guage model, not N scale. It just happens that H0n30 or H0n2 1/2 has the same track guage (width between rails) as N scale track, however the size of the ties and the distance between them is not H0 scale, but the more economical N scale track can be disguised and modified.
I just got my flyer from Peach Creek Shops: http://www.peachcreekshops.com/genprods.php3?val=HOn30_Minitrains I remember the old model from back in the 70s and it ran pretty decent for the times, It is a model of an industrial Plymouth switcher, it could benefit from some wire handrails and maybe some other details and most definitely some MicroTrains N or maybe even Z scale couplers. The ad (click on the image in the link) says the model has a new “modern” motor, which I take it to mean a can motor, which should make it run a whole lot better than the original. I’ll be getting a set on payday. For track I’ll mostly use N scale code 55 track, removing every other tie (where visible) and burying most of the rest of the ties in the ground or pavement. Micro Engineering has code 70 H0n2 1/2 (aka H0e) flex track and there is of course the Peco stuff and I think Shinohara may have made some, but I’m not sure there. The other option of course is to hand lay your own. Does Fastracks have H0n2 1/2 jigs?
I like the Peach Creek Shops line of HOn30 trackage much better (except now it’s got me thinking DUAL gauge). I especially like the “rail exchange” for loading docks on both sides of dual gauge. I’d hate to someday replace tracks on a wooden dock because of poor planning.
You might consider how the final product will look before proceeding down the visualized path. At a transfer facility, the most common arrangement would be to have narrow gauge on one side, and standard gauge on the other. This is particularly true with the smaller narrow gauges.
Car loading heights (box car doors, flat car decks) were generally lower for narrow gauge cars. And the distance from the track centerline to edge of car is also smaller, shrinking with gauge. Thus, a transfer facility with dual gauge track was not necessarily more efficient or useful than keeping the track gauges separate. With narrow gauge on one side, the elevation of the track and distance to platform could be optimized for easier loading/unloading. At the very least, the common rail of dual gauge track would be closest to the platform to somewhat even out the platform horizontal clearance.
For large bulk loads that were usually transferred one way only - ore, logs, oil, lumber, coal - an elevated ramp would often be set up to make gravity transfer that much easier. Again, dual gauge trackage served little purpose in these situations except perhaps at the throat to the load/unload tracks.
Final consideration is that 30" gauge is especially close to 1/2 standard track gauge. Dual gauge track in that situation tends to look like 3 rail track with a center 3rd rail. I’m not saying it didn’t happen in the prototype, but more of the folks viewing your layout, including model railroaders, will think the track is a 3 rail toy train track a la Lionel