Hello, I am new to this website and I just had a few questions about N scale model railroading. I am a previous HO modeler but never got to deeply involved with it. I always came to a stop. I have the room for a small layout, about a 5 by 10 connected in an “L” shape with a 4 by 8. Anyways when I modeled with HO I could never accomplish what I wanted in that space. With the size of the scale it always seemed like everything was too close together considering the size of HO. I could never get the amount of track, scenery, structures, ect… to all fit. So I was thinking of dropping down to a smaller scale such as N scale so I would have more room for what I wanted, and overall more fun. My question is what do you think a good size of layout would be to try out N scale. I was thinking a 5 by 10. Anyone have any suggestions?
Hello Fire, welcome to the forum.
You can certainly accomplish a decent N layout on a 5 x 10. Based on your comments about the lack of success with HO you have an idea of what you want in the layout in terms of scenery and trackage. Have a go at some planning for that space and see if you can accomplish what you want. If you can’t fit a plan to meet your needs then you will have to decide to compromise either by increasing the space you need or reducing the plan.
Hi Fire, welcome to the forum!
Obviously you’re not a complete newbi, just new to the scale. Thats good, 'cause now you can get right to the nitty gritty.
You have some ideas on what you’d like to do and thats good. It gives you a “jumping off point”.
N scale is a great scale, but it also has some limitations. Since our models weigh considerably less then say, a comparable HO scale loco, pulling power is affected. Thing is, the cars weigh less too, so that helps. Gravity doesn’t know scale though, so traction tires are quite common. If you want steam power, expect to run traction tires and get electrical pickup on as many wheels as possible for any real reliability.
As to the size of your layout, a 4x8 or 5x9 requires an awful lot of space. See, you have the 4x8 (or 5x9), and then you have all the space around it to walk. You have to be able to walk around the two long sides and at least one short side because otherwise you wouldn’t be able to reach for derailments and maintinance at the back of the layout…unless of course your knuckles have calouses from dragging the ground when you walk. This reality is what has made the around-the-room idea so popular. Same size overall area, but more layout. Check out this link to see what I mean: http://home.earthlink.net/~mrsvc/id28.html .
Alot of N scalers can’t even give up that much living space though. They don’t have a whole room to spare, so many of them build their layout on a door. Dave Vollmer from this forum has an excellent door based layout, check it out: http://kc.pennsyrr.com/layouts/dvollmer/index.html .
There is also a thread just for N scalers in the general forum that you should probably check out. It’s moderately active and is loaded with info. You can find it a
How about some “N Scale” data-mining? Here are (2) “n scale” searches on this forum.
General Discussion…
http://www.trains.com/TRC/CS/search/SearchResults.aspx?q=n+scale&f=ODg=&u=
Layouts…
http://www.trains.com/TRC/CS/search/SearchResults.aspx?q=n+scale&f=MTE=&u=
If you have an hour or so of browsing time, you can bookmark many specific N Scale threads for future reference. Note: Each search will take 30 seconds to search & load.
See what you can do in N Scale…
[1] Spookshow’s N Scale Layout(s)
http://www.visi.com/~spookshow/trainstuff.html
Spookshow’s website is written in a frank and refreshing style from a lot of trial & error with more insight than you can imagine - especially after you go back your second and third time.
[2] Dave Vollmer’s “Pennsy Middle Division”
http://kc.pennsyrr.com/layouts/dvollmer/index.html
[3] Rick Spano’s “Sceniced & Undecided Railway”
http://www.scenicedandundecided.net/
[4] Mississippi Valley N Scalers
http://mvns.railfan.net/home.htm
I’m getting a spare room ready for a multi-level 9&#