Recently I went to my local hobby shop to purchase an NMRA Standards Gauge. The owner said I was the third person to ask for one…IN THE 16 YEARS HE’S BEEN IN BUSINESS!
According to him, since most people now use already made track instead of laying their own there isn’t a need for the gauge. I asked about checking the wheel sets on cars and locos. He said the way manufacturers are building them today there was no way to adjust the wheels, so again no need for the gauge. Then I asked about the turnouts. His reply was to use a car to check the distances and again says that they are made much better these days than years ago.
I have Atlas turnouts and one tends to derail the tender on my brand new Athearn Big Boy. It happens when it is going through the straight section not the diverging track. You would think just the opposite. Anyway, I want to check the track and the wheels to ensure everything is in gauge.
Does anyone know where I can purchase the standards gauge online?
At the risk of being excessively blunt - your dealer doesn’t know much about troubleshooting model railroad equipment if he thinks you don’t need to check trackwork or wheels with the correct tool for the job. While it is true that some wheelsets aren’t adjustable, most are, and none are immune to manufacturing defects. The same goes for premade track and switches.
I went a long time without an NMRA gauge. Now I’d never it up - it is the most important tool for diagnosing operating problems.
One other probable reason that there’s not much demand for them, other than people not knowing what they’re for, is that they’re made of stainless steel. With proper care, one can last you a lifetime.
And I agree with the above post. Your dealer’s statement that the new stuff doesn’t need checking shows his lack of knowledge of his products.
Once you get the gauge, check the flangeway width on the guardrail opposite the frog on the side giving you trouble. I’d be willing to bet it’s too wide.
The hobby shop is only five miles from my home, so I thought I was really in luck. I stopped in the first week in January and asked to see some loco’s. He said that he didn’t have much left due to the Christmas rush. I still figured I’d check out the store.
They had a spot in the middle of the store with a 4x8 layout that was under construction. The store is about 20’ wide and 60’ long, not really a large store but there is enough room to have a reasonable amount of stock.
Their not exclusively a train store they do sell other hobby items. However, the shelves were pretty empty. So I figured they would get some things in within a couple of weeks.
I revisited the store about a month later to find the layout had not changed neither did the stock. The shelve had a little more stuff on them but not much. The prices were list prices no discounts on anything. Matter of fact I think some things were list + priced. $15 for a five pice HO tressel assembly made of plastic that stood about six inches in height.$25 for the exact same thing in N.
Your LHS obviously never reads any of the Magazines he sells in his store (I assume he sell Model Railroader.) MR occasionally publishes a survey of available track and turnouts (I do not recall when this was last published). The last survey provided columns with various allowable dimensions of the turnouts along with the dimensions of the actual brands. There were quite a few turnouts that had at least one measurement out of tolerance.
His statement about wheelsets may have been true when manufactures offered only molded plastic ones. However, metal wheels have to either be mounted on a plastic axle or have at least one wheel insulated from from the metal axle. This means that the wheels (or, at least one wheel) are press fitted on the axle. The gage of the wheels can be adjusted, albeit with a little effort.
I participate in this forum because it puts me in contact with people whose experience can add to mine. I would not patronize a hobby shop run by staff that would steer me in the wrong direction. If this LHS knew what he was talking about, he would have sold a lot of NMRA gages.
The hobby shop is only five miles from my home, so I thought I was really in luck. I stopped in the first week in January and asked to see some loco’s. He said that he didn’t have much left due to the Christmas rush. I still figured I’d check out the store.
They had a spot in the middle of the store with a 4x8 layout that was under construction. The store is about 20’ wide and 60’ long, not really a large store but there is enough room to have a reasonable amount of stock.
Their not exclusively a train store they do sell other hobby items. However, the shelves were pretty empty. So I figured they would get some things in within a couple of weeks.
I revisited the store about a month later to find the layout had not changed neither did the stock. The shelve had a little more stuff on them but not much. The prices were list prices no discounts on anything. Matter of fact I think some things were list + priced. $15 for a five pice HO tressel assembly made of plastic that stood about six inches in height.$25 for the exact same thing in N.
As far as I’m concerned, the standards gage is a life-saver. That nonsense about it not being useful for premade track, baloney. I’ve had premade track with attached roadbed be out of gauge right out of the box! It doesn’t happen much, I’ll admit, but now I check every piece of track before I put it down and after it’s in place. Any piece that’s out of gauge can easily be fixed with the use of a hot soldering iron. That LHS dealer wouldn’t know a standards gage if it came up and bit him!
Thanks to everyone for the suggestions. I just ordered one from Fast Tracks for $14.95+$4.13 shipping. $19.08 total.
I don’t know how the hobby shop has stayed in business for so long. The owner is a real piece of work. Not friendly at all. Very short with his answers. Doesn’t seem to know much about model railroading. I guess there’s somehting else keeping him going.
There is another hobby shop that is about 60-70 miles north of us that I have gone to that is well stocked and the people threre are helpful and knowledgable. Problem is they’re 60+ miles away. I work in the vicinity but don’t get off in time to make it there on weekdays.
Driving 55 miles back and forth every day up the I95 corridor from Fredericksburg to Washington, DC is not fun. If you live in this area you know what I mean. Weekends are no different than rush hour during weekdays. So weekend trips north don’t happen unless it’s absolutely necessary.
So it’s online ordering unless I absolutely have to have something from the distant hobby shop.
Even with good quality rolling stock, you should check the gage of the wheels of locomotives and rolling stock with the NMRA standards gage. It is not uncommon for me to find a wheelset out of gage, if only be a small amount. A little twist with a push or pull in the correct direction will correct the problem on all except all plastic wheelsets. They should be replaced with something better quality anyway.
In the past 10 years I have found 2 wheelsets with a bent axle. One on a Walthers car and the other Branchline. The W and B replaced the wheelset with no question or problem. The bent axle makes the wheelset in gage at one point and out of gage elsewhere. When you do the check, run the gage all the way around the wheels, don’t just check at one point and assume all is OK.
Since January of 2006 I’ve been trying to buy an N scale NMRA Gauge with no luck. The 3 LHS all have them on back order and still do. I’ve tried ordering, 4 times since February, from Micro-Mark and each time received a back-order notice. Just called and they said they can’t get them from NMRA. Tried 2 OLHS with the same results, on back-order.
I’ve even joined the NMRA and ordered 2 from them and not received them.
What in the world is going on? Does anyone really know? Not guesses, not maybes, not opinions, but really, really, know what’s the story with these gauges?
That price does seem awfully expensive. I am pretty sure my last was in the 5-6 dollar range. I ended up buying a second one about 6 months ago. I had the Mark III, but with this layout I found it easier to keep one on the layout for track laying and a newer one just for tuning cars and engines. Except for the need to clean it all the time after checking track etc., I would agree they last forever.
That almost sounds too weird to be true! I can’t believe a hobby shop owner would say something like that. Is it a train store or a hobby shop with a train section? That might make the difference. I bought mine from Micro Mark. Couldn’t run trains without. (or wouldn’t want to really…)
It is a hobby shop and they have a train section. In the counter / showcase and behind the counter hanging on the wall they have train supplies. They have a couple of rack / shelves near the rear of the store for train stuff as well as the rear wall of the store. The second shelf and the far wall across from the counter is for other hobby items they sell.
So the hobby shop is not just a train store. They did start building a layout in the front center of the store but it has been sitting since January without any progress. They have started tossing junk in the center of the layout. I get the impression that they will never do anything with it.
I didn’t think the owner knew what he was talking about. That’s why I got on here asking the questions. This website is a great place to find answers. There are so many knowledgable people here always willing to help out.
