N gauge locomotive options?

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J

Jacob Z

Well-Known Member
I am designing my first-in-forty-years N gauge layout, and struggling with options for locomotives. The list seems pretty limited if I exclude the very large engines. (I grew up in England, so American locos in general seem huge to me, and I feel like a PRR T1 would look weird on my relatively small layout, although it looks beautiful.)

Am I missing anything?

Here's what I'm (pretty much) committed to:
- 32x64 benchwork
- Minimum radius 12"
- Incline grades of 3%
- DCC

And what I'd like to have
- 1940s/early 1950s transitional era
- preferably at least one steam loco
- Probably freight rather than passenger (because of the layout size).

I'm not committed yet to any particular road name. I like the idea of the ACL because it's reasonably local, but it would seem to be extremely limiting, so I will probably end up with a better-known name.

Here's what I found so far online:

Atlas
- S-2 and S-4 switcher​

Bachman
- Baldwin​

Broadway Limited
- Mikado light and heavy​
- Pacific light and heavy​

Kato
- NW-2 switcher​
 
My favourite has always been Atlas with Kato being a very close second.
Not a Bachmann fan at all and I’m kind of soured on BLI, in HO anyway.
 
I have Kato and Atlas mostly, with 2 ConCor E units and one Arnold/Hornby (hard to modify, but runs well).
 


Late to the party, but in N scale steam, the Kato Mikado is the Gold Standard that the others are measured against. The Bachmann SPECTRUM line is very good, their 2-8-0 is especially good. As said previously, Atlas and Kato diesels are great.
 
Any interest in European models? German, Austrian, or Swiss? Kato makes a really good ABe 8/12 Allegra, and it runs on standard gauge track for N scale.
 
Oh, if you want some great looking and running steam locos, Kato's Japan Railway models are great runners. The C50 with smoke deflectors and the D51 with the smoke deflectors removed, can actually pass for US ones if you're not a rivet counter and just want some smooth runners.
Also, avoid the older Bachmann steamers as it is not a question of if the the gears will fail but when.
 
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Thanks for the Kato recommendations. I confess, I had been disregarding Kato. I have some freight cars from them that are "just okay", apart from the couplers which are a bit dodgy and prone to spontaneously uncoupling, and I had assumed that their locos would be the same.

Anyway, on the basis of the recommendations here I will take a second look.

(BTW, I am modeling the B&O, transition era, but "allow" visitors from other railroads for sufficiently interesting locos. It seems that the Penny in particular has some very cool engines from the very end of the steam days.)
 
With a 3% grade, you'll probably be using Kato F units a lot. Almost any steam engine with enough cajones to pull more than two cars up that grade will be very large.
 


bnsf971 said:
With a 3% grade, you'll probably be using Kato F units a lot. Almost any steam engine with enough cajones to pull more than two cars up that grade will be very large.
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Wow, that's surprising. Even with the traction tires? I don't know what a 3% grade looks like. The only thing that I have that has grade is the viaduct set. Gotta look that up now.
 
Kusojiji said:
Wow, that's surprising. Even with the traction tires? I don't know what a 3% grade looks like. The only thing that I have that has grade is the viaduct set. Gotta look that up now.
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3% grade is a 3 inch rise over a 100 inch run. It's very steep for a railroad, they try to limit grades to 2% or less.
Then add in rolling resistance from curves, and that 3% can easily top 5% effective grade, which is the steepest mainline railroad grade in the US.
 
I watch ngaugeusa on the utube and he says that his is 5%. He runs his UK stuff up that hill with loads. Now it is a straight line, but he's doing it.

I need to have something in front of me to visualize it. I'll break out my inclinometer and make a test track.
 
Kusojiji said:
I watch ngaugeusa on the utube and he says that his is 5%. He runs his UK stuff up that hill with loads. Now it is a straight line, but he's doing it.

I need to have something in front of me to visualize it. I'll break out my inclinometer and make a test track.
Click to expand...
I think it's fair to say that maximum grades and minimum curve radii on our models would not be possible in the real world.
 


Woodland Scenics makes incline risers in different grades. I limit my layout to the 2%. Oh and make sure you use easements on elevation changes.
 
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