For those who model in narrow gauge, HOn3, some fabulous news from Blackstone who has long been closed mouth and absolutely non-committal on their future motive power offerings. Much musing, speculation and guessing has long circulated among HOn3 buffs over what would come next.
Since 2006, when Blackstone introduced their D&RGW, K-27 “mudhen” mikado quickly followed by their, D&RGW, C-19 consolidation and gave the world its first DCC and Tsunami sound narrow gauge engines at a price MR’s could afford, HOn3 has exploded. As time went on they continued to re-offer the two models in different livery in a couple of cosmetic make-overs.
As these ultra detailed, die-cast metal engines were all made in China, manufacturing costs and other issues apparently affected future plans of Blackstone. Their future plans were not made known, creating much speculation. Still, with each re-release, the K-27 and C-19’s were gobbled up by an enlarging HOn3 community. These engines were all late 1800’s and very early 1900’s engines. Fortunately, the D&RGW ran both engines well into the 20th century and a few examples are still under steam in 2013.
HOn3 folks hungered for newer D&RGW motive power and a recent announcement is hailed as Blackstone has finally committed to a new release of the famed K-28, “sports model”, and K-36 mikados promised maybe next year. These engines, produced in the 1920’s and 30’s, saw service right up to the dissolution of the D&RGW in the 70’s and about ten of their total numbers survive and are under steam today on the Durango and Silverton and the Cumbres and Toltec tourist roads!
Blackstone also announced its own HOn3, Kato-like, road bedded, sectional track! This should be released in a few days. This has never been offered in HOn3 until now. Another Blackstone first.
While I agree that the Blackstone stuff is good, I find it hard to shell out $75 for an rtr boxcar. Yeah, I know that’s list price, but geez that’s expensive. I’m just glad that some inexpensive kits are still available. But then, you need to buy the Blackstone trucks at $12 a pair. At these costs, it is cheaper to model in Sn3! The same truck in Sn3, direct from PBL, is around 8 bucks per pair. I know the locos and structures cost a bit more, but they have a lot more heft to them. With the structures being larger, you won’t need as many! I started my first HOn3 layout in '97. At the time, who knew that it would become an rtr scale. Because of that, HOn3, to me, has lost its uniqueness. I like to have things that no one else does, so now, Sn3 works for me. Having said that, I mainly model in standard gauge HO. But when I need my narrow gauge fix, I enjoy building Sn3 cars.
Well, thanks for the big bucket of cold water[|(][:-^]
While cherry-picking one item for a price check is accurate I’m sure, I find it hard to believe that Sn3 is overall cheaper than HOn3. At least it wasn’t at the last NNGC I attended.
BTW, I still have no problem building things “that no one else does” in HOn3. Been doing that myself since the mid-80s. RTR doesn’t change that a bit. What I build is unique and all RTR does is give me more time to work on things I need to build and can’t buy already done. It sure doesn’t act as an excuse to keep me from doing so.
Then there’s the whole issue of why HO hasn’t lost its uniqueness for you, too, because there are way more RTR items available in standard gauge than there will ever be in HOn3?[^o)]
Personally, I share NGN’s enthusiasm. It’s a very exciting time to be in HOn3. And as it always has been, you still have a lot of choice. Now there’s even more with RTR. No one forces anyone to buy RTR and AFAIK, all the kits that were available before RTR as still being produced. In fact, I’d argue that RTR expands the demand for kits by bringing in new modelers who will almost surely build kits, too.
One can only build so many 3000 series boxcars before that becomes a chore, instead of fun. If I ever get to missing that, I still have kits for those on the shelf after thinning them out when Blackstone came along. Even at $75 list for a boxcar, if one values one’s own time, they’re still a bargain considering I doubt I can complete one in much less than 10 hours even building them in lots like I used to do.
Mike has a point. Sn3 is expensive overall and probably the rarest of the narrow gauge venues. Unique it certainly is and it is one of the few endeavors where hand building is demanded in most instances. I take my hat off to Sn3 folks, but Sn2-1/2 or Sn2 modelers put even those to shame. Pure up hill fight in every department…Unique among the unique
I still enjoy the La Belle wooden car kit construction and kit bashing stuff into HOn3. Fortunately, the need for 180 pieces of rolling stock just doesn’t exist in any of the many scale’s narrow gauge efforts. Narrow gauge never ran huge trains and most NG layouts in the under 10X15 sizes would need only about 20 or 25 cars to look real. Three passenger cars was a tremendously long passenger train and two with a baggage/RPO car was the norm on “named train runs”, locals and short hops on some roads ran a combine and a box car or two.
No need to load up on NG rolling stock or engines. It is part of the charm & draw of the narrow gauge, its dinky operations, people sized trains and cow pasture pass throughs to rugged mountain terrain. Sway-back truss rod cars parked on weed infested sidings. Leaky, moss covered water tanks.
Narrow gauge… It is all waiting for the committed modeler who is tired of 80+ car trains filled with 75 foot special flats, bloated tank cars and no caboose on the butt end of the train.
I’m not sure who the market will be for narrow gauge sectional track, but hats off to Blackstone for taking a chance and offering it. Most narrow gaugers are die hard model builders. I’m not sure the need is there for sectional track but I will be interested to see how it plays out.
As for the cost of Blackstone,
Locos: the locos run perfect (I know about the over oiling in the first run). HON3 hasn’t ever really had an rtr loco that wasn’t finicky brass and the Blackstone locos come in at way under brass prices for great detail, excellent running characteristics and sound installed.
Other rolling stock: The detail and accuracy of the cars is excellent. Many modelers would be hard pressed to match the quality of these offering by building from a kit.
The stock car in this pic is a Blackstone. check the detail including cut levers and very fine detail.
Don’t mean to throw water at HOn3! I do still build the occasional car kit, but with Sn3, you get so much more for right at the same cost for most things. Another comparison is the 3000 series boxcar. In HOn3, a Rail line kit, Blackstone trucks, MT couplers and Microscale decals, you are over $30. The same kit in Sn3 from PBL includes everything…trucks, couplers, decals…is only $29.50. They offer flextrack and turnouts which are all close to the HOn3 prices.
Motive power is one area that HOn3 has the lead. No argument there, but Sn3 stuff is roughly the size of HO standard gauge, so there is a lot more heft. Railmaster models, amoing a few others, offers steam loco kits and conversions for HO locos. That is one way to get started in Sn3 without getting too up there in price.
Mike, I love standard gauge modeling and HO is right for me. I do make sure that I run things that I’ve built. I only have a couple rtr things and I make sure they are modified in some way.
No problem, I was mostly tongue in cheek there, although I know some HOn3ers do refer to Sn3 as the “dark side.”[;)]
That wouldn’t work for me anyway, as I like to model the standard gauge/narrowgauge interchange point and dual-gauge track. That’s get’s real complex and scratchbuilt in S scale, but is a breeze in HO. I do envy some of the vehicles available in S/1:64, though.
I suspect most of the price differences where S come out ahead is because PBL has had those on the market for some time, so the dies were cut, etc during an era when costs were lower, plus they’ve likely sold enough now that there’s no need for a price increase – unless a mold breaks[:O]
Blackstone’s work is all within the last decade, so a higher cost structure to amortize than PBL has.
What has really taken off is On30. Back to HOn3, Blackstone has really killed the resale of brass, recently seen going on e-bay for half Blackstones prices, nice detail too. I recently started selling off my HOn3 collection as I went another direction and was surprised at some of the prices I got, especially for trucks, didn’t have much in motive power luckily!
Well, I just ordered the starter pack from MB Klein. It looks to be quality stuff, and the price is no worse than the Kato stuff for HO or N.
With no layout, and no real possibility of one on the immediate horizon, it will be really nice to actually see this stuff run on something larger than a test track. And after all the hand-wringing about operation that never seems to materialize at the local club, I’ll be happy to let a train just chase it’s tail for a while.
I have some micro-engineering track and switches stockpiled, but for now this will be plenty for me. I don’t see it as a permanent solution at this point.
As Richard noted it’s “Kato-like.” Which is not surprising that it’s that quality. Kato is actually making the track for Blackstone. I’ve got a loop and a few extra straights ordered so I can throw down an HOn3 demo track anywhere.
On the layout, I pretty much stick to Shinohara turnouts and ME track. The latter just got a little harder. Apparently, the mold used to produce the code 70 HOn3 track is damaged and ME is virtually impossible to find. I was lucky to come up with a couple of bundles of weathered ME this week after consulting my narrowgauge brain trust…
I you need any, look around ASAP to see if you can find it. Otherwise, it’s ME code 55 or Peco or Shinohara track in code 70.
I will agree with Milepost and Mike. The sectional track may just bring in new HOn3 folks who are R-T-R types and just want to get the look and feel of NG under their belts on a table top 4X8 layout before going to Flex track or hand laying rail on a magnum opus NG layout.
It is very true that the vast majority of HOn3 model rails are amused and laugh at the thought of HOn3 sectional track, but hey, it is the first modern sectional, narrow gauge track offering and that is a milestone! It shows that narrow gauge is working into the “under the christams tree” railroading.[:)]
Narrow gauge has for too long been the domain of special giants… of the custom build, kit bash and hand laid track, master craftsman type. It can now embrace a far greater number of model rails and that will benefit all from the old MR master craftsman to the newbie R-T-R type.
As Bachman and others feed the On30 crowd so Blackstone, micro trains and others expand the HOn3 world. No matter what, Sn3, and to a lesser degree, On3, are for the man who seeks out and values the rarest of NG modeling experience, in spite of some good rolling stock kits and a few favorable prices on same. Folks in the (n2) world, regardless of scale, might be counted on one’s fingers and toes and are probably vastly outnumbered by those still in TT.[:D]
All the best to all the narrow gauge guys out there from Fn3 to Nn2.
TT has its place. It works great – what can be found – for “Newfoundland standard gauge” (42") or HOn3.5 or HOn42…I can never keep them straight.[:o)] And the folks who model it are probably even rarer than the n2 folks.
I did hear that Peco code 70 is probably compatible in rail section to ME and Shinohara for those who were wondering if it was one of those weird English rail types. It’s not, just regular ol’ T-section. ME and Shinohara aren’t exactly alike, but do fit up against each other, so guessing that Peco is the same type of deal.
In looking back, some older brass narrow gauge loco models were done in HO standard gauge! Any idea why? My guess is that there might have been a wider audience to have those old beautiful locos run on their standard HO layouts. The practice was rapidly dropped, anyway.
Now, I think Bachmann or somone like that makes a kind of dinky train set currenty offered in standard HO that represents the Durango and Silverton passenger train.(narrow gauge) The engine, a consolidation, isn’t even close and probably is some generic overstocked HO unit they slapped in the set.
Today this same practice is absolutely the norm in the giant scales G, F, etc. There is no attempt to make a true narrow gauge track or cars in these scales. Again, probably because of the extreme expense of the track and if you already have a garden layout you can pretend that your track is NG track and run those trains as such. That being said, the detail on some of these giant $2,500.00+ narrow gauge locos is fabulous. They are seen offered as electric, live steam or radio controlled/battery powered models.
Mine arrived today, and except for being branded Blackstone Models on the bottom, this stuff IS Kato track, right down to the connectors. Should have it running tomorrow night.
I have not seen any switches offered By Blackstone yet, but I am sure they are on their way, somewhere in the pipeline. Right now though, it is Christmas tree oval time and little more. For some, that might be enough to get them fired up about NG railroading without the expense of a table layout.
Give us a report on what you think of the track, Mike. NG folks are finicky about there track’s smoothness at switches and track joints. Nothing is worse than to see an engine take a quick jerk on a guard rail or misaligned joint.
