small layout help


I was out today doing some Xmas shopping for the wife and I "happen" to be in my local train store when she called me! I told her I was checking out some N scale stuff and yelled at me "Don't do it ,I got you HO stuff for Xmas!"
Anyways the N scale Atlas stuff looks pretty good. The code 80 track looked OK also. So what is considered a tight curve in N scale?
Well, back to planning my switching layout in HO. If I can't get a good plan I might have to look at N scale.(my wife will kill me!)
 
the Kato n scale stuff=far better than atlas at this point, IMO. I'm running 20" radius stuff in N scale, easily running SD90MAC's.
 
I want to do switching on my layout. Are N scale engines good at slow speeds? I want to keep the shelf benchwork at 2 feet wide. Could I get a curve to fit in that? Continuous running would be nice or some staging tracks. I never used N scale before and worry about the slow speed operation. My space is 8 feet by 9 feet by 6 feet.
 
Slow speed operation is the one area that HO still excels at from my experience. N scale is much improved from the days when it was either off or 120 mph but the best N scale locomotives still have a starting speed of 4 or 5 mph. This is not bad for switching but not as good as my P2K GP-7, which will roll flawlessly at walking speed around my entire layout. It will run so slowly in the yard that I can watch every wheel of every car as it traverses the frog in slow motion. If ultra low speed operations are really vital to you, HO still holds the edge there.
 
Any chance of you adding a drop leaf for a turn that folds down when not in use? That would allow a decent curve for a reverse loop or dogbone style run.
Would a hidden hole in the wall to a closet work? Feasible if the wife goes shopping for etended periods of time only!
 
Rico said:
Any chance of you adding a drop leaf for a turn that folds down when not in use? That would allow a decent curve for a reverse loop or dogbone style run.
Would a hidden hole in the wall to a closet work? Feasible if the wife goes shopping for etended periods of time only!
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The layout will start to the left of the bedroom door, run 8ft the tuen left for 9ft the turn left for 6ft. It will end at the front window of the house.(wife said I can't block the window. I could add a drop leaf of 4ft at both ends but I have to keep it a shelf disign of no wider then 2 ft. I think I can get a good switching layout with the space I have.
 
UP2CSX said:
Slow speed operation is the one area that HO still excels at from my experience. N scale is much improved from the days when it was either off or 120 mph but the best N scale locomotives still have a starting speed of 4 or 5 mph. This is not bad for switching but not as good as my P2K GP-7, which will roll flawlessly at walking speed around my entire layout. It will run so slowly in the yard that I can watch every wheel of every car as it traverses the frog in slow motion. If ultra low speed operations are really vital to you, HO still holds the edge there.
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while this may be true, my Kato sd90mac on 128 speed step DCC runs at speed 1 as smooth as can be. VERY VERY slowly. Ridiculously slowly, actually. It takes minutes for it to make the entire loop around my track. which is about 12' long on each side and about 4' wide at the loops.

It allows me to continuously loop a train while I screw around with laying more track or what not.

Scored a Kato SD70MAC last night for $50 with MT couplers at my LHS, and ordered the decoder from fifer :) If the SD70 runs anything like my SD90, I'll be hard pressed to buy any locos other than Katos for a while.
 
UP2CSX said:
N scale is much improved from the days when it was either off or 120 mph
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True enough! Thank the Lord above!
but the best N scale locomotives still have a starting speed of 4 or 5 mph.
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Not even close to true. I have a Kato Mikado that I've had crawl 1 foot and it took almost 12 minutes. Is that slow enough? And I have several other loco's, all N scale steam, that are in the same ballpark. It's all in the setup and break-in! (just like in the big scales strangely enough!)

N scale gives up nothing to HO when it comes to switching. That wasn't always true, for sure, but N scale ain't what it used to be! I know....I've been in N since the mid eighties. I know a bit about what a nightmare N used to be.
 
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Phillip, don't tell me things like this - you're making me even more sorry I didn't switch to N scale. :) While I will concede that Kato and a few other high quality N scale engines will match HO slow speed performance, I think you'll have to agree that there are more companies making engines in HO than N scale that still have a lower average starting and running speed.
 
UP2CSX said:
Phillip, don't tell me things like this - you're making me even more sorry I didn't switch to N scale. :) While I will concede that Kato and a few other high quality N scale engines will match HO slow speed performance, I think you'll have to agree that there are more companies making engines in HO than N scale that still have a lower average starting and running speed.
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but those good HO scale locos cost more than our good N scale counterparts!

*stirs the pot*
 
Jim, OK, I'll give you that......but you've got to admit that the difference is getting smaller all the time!
 
My eyesight isn't what it use to be. I do like the HO for the detail. Also I want to try to add sound to some of my engines. Those N scale are kind of "cute"
 
I’ve been going back and forth on the N or HO scale issue for some time now. I’m going to model in HO because some friends who have been into Model Railroads for a long time and they talk about the ability to see the details and what not on N scale as they find themselves older (as we all are). Second I’ve just spend the day at a train show and found that the details in N do not match HO. In not only the trains but also the structures and other accessories, you can purchase for your layout. I know I’m going to move and that will get me more room so I’ll be able to expand the layout then so I’m going to build my layout in phases and know that I’ll have a better layout one day. I know how I could do so much more modeling if I did my layout in N scale but the scenery is as important to me as the rail layout.
dhd
 
Good Luck dhd . I do Ho because of my eyesight and my hands find it hard enough to do the little things. As I get older I now think maybe O scale or Standard would be better yet!!
 
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