Iron Horseman
Well-Known Member
I keep getting out of N-scale and it keeps coming back. Last year I made a hospital size layout for my father. Got two Bachmann DCC equipped locos so we could both run trains together.
New guy here. Looking to learn about N scale, where do I start?
- Thread starter MaxZeus
- Start date
My advise is to pick an era and location you'd like to model. Stay focused on simple equipment for the first layout. For example: 1950's Santa Fe in Southern California. Build your first layout almost as a modular thing, so you can incorporate it into a larger project if you enjoy the medium you are working in. Plus, your skills can be developed if you start small and actually FINISH the layout. That way you learn scenery, wiring, framing and track work.
I made several very nice layouts with Atlas track and manual turn outs. While they may not have looked prototype, they functioned well and looked OK. I have a bunch of Kato track and will probably use that for the re-entry layout for ease of use and wide variety of radius track. Then again, I may go back to Atlas track if I can't acquire the space I'd like.
My biggest point would be to learn good bench work and keep the first layout simple and focused.
I made several very nice layouts with Atlas track and manual turn outs. While they may not have looked prototype, they functioned well and looked OK. I have a bunch of Kato track and will probably use that for the re-entry layout for ease of use and wide variety of radius track. Then again, I may go back to Atlas track if I can't acquire the space I'd like.
My biggest point would be to learn good bench work and keep the first layout simple and focused.
Night Train
Member
Bear in mind that the pleasure you get out of your layout is directly proportional to the work you put into it. I've been working on my layout for just over two years now. I chose to build a fairly challenging layout, the Philadelphia-Reading layout I found in that 101 Track Plans book by Linn Westcott and just now am finally finishing the last of my yard area.
It's a layout that you cannot simply let trains run by themselves; you have to actually operate it throwing switches and stopping trains on sidings until others pass by, backing trains into and out of the yard area and deciding which locos I'm going to use to get a load of freight or passengers from one place to another.
Now if I'd settled for a quick snap together layout that could be put together on a table top in a couple of hours, sure, I'd have been up and running a whole lot sooner than it's taken me for what I have now. But by taking the time to do the bench work correctly, the roadbed, the track work, the wiring, the switches, and everything else, I have a pretty complex layout that is a joy to run. I can run a combination of routes and trains and not have to see the same thing twice for a long time. Watching the trains as they pass each other and crossover and under is to me what it's all about. The concentration required to run 2 or even 3 long trains at the same time can be pretty challenging too. Thank God for DCC!
In the end, you really do get out of it what you put into it. Good luck in choosing and let us know what you do.
It's a layout that you cannot simply let trains run by themselves; you have to actually operate it throwing switches and stopping trains on sidings until others pass by, backing trains into and out of the yard area and deciding which locos I'm going to use to get a load of freight or passengers from one place to another.
Now if I'd settled for a quick snap together layout that could be put together on a table top in a couple of hours, sure, I'd have been up and running a whole lot sooner than it's taken me for what I have now. But by taking the time to do the bench work correctly, the roadbed, the track work, the wiring, the switches, and everything else, I have a pretty complex layout that is a joy to run. I can run a combination of routes and trains and not have to see the same thing twice for a long time. Watching the trains as they pass each other and crossover and under is to me what it's all about. The concentration required to run 2 or even 3 long trains at the same time can be pretty challenging too. Thank God for DCC!
In the end, you really do get out of it what you put into it. Good luck in choosing and let us know what you do.
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