WANTED n gauge locos

[Peter]

Hi folks.

 

I am wondering if anyone out there has a Dapol class 66 or Life-Like SW9 loco? I am going to buy a 3d printed model or models from Shapeways and these are the recommended chassis.

 

Thanks,

Peter

[dropshort105]

Hi folks.

 

I am wondering if anyone out there has a Dapol class 66 or Life-Like SW9 loco? I am going to buy a 3d printed model or models from Shapeways and these are the recommended chassis.

 

Thanks,

Peter

 

I'm fairly sure that I have one knocking about somewhere, not sure what kind of knick its in, I have some shapeways loco bodies too, a few points, coaches, some wagons, tiny little cars too, I played around with N Gauge a couple of years back and gave up out of frustration, just too bloody small for me to work with, anyhoo, yours if

1, I can find them

2,if you want them.

[jhb171achill]

I had often considered Irish "N" gauge, Dropshort, but like you I would find it too small....

 

With space an issue for many nowadays, I wonder is there, however, a future in it?

[GNRi1959]

I'm considering N-gauge at the moment but to be honest I would need to see a layout and handle to stock. I've only ever seen it in catalogues/on line. I'd imagine that it really cuts down of availability of everything Irish - and thats not easy in 4mm either as it is.

[Mayner]

N gauge appears to be a very under-rated scale by Irish Modellers. I turned to N in the late 70s out of frustration trying to build a OO gauge layout in a 10X6 box-room and my limited kitbashing/scratchbuilding ability at the time.

 

Turning to N gave me the ability to build a more realistic railway than I could fit in to a similar space in OO, locos and stock became secondary to operation, structures, buildings and scenery.

 

I built a point to point shelf layout along 3 walls of an 11X11 bedroom, with a medium size terminus station, and a small intermediate station junction for a goods only branch.

 

The railway has an operating sequence similar to the Sligo or Mayo Line with passenger, mail, liner and loose coupled goods trains loading up to 6-7 coaches or 15 wagons, something I have never been able to achieve in OO let alone 21mm gauge.

 

 

I was content enough to run re-painted rtr BR stock for several years before I got around to kitbashing Atlas SW1500 switchers into B121 & 141 diesels.

 

I became hooked on American N in the late 80s with the new generation of Atlas & Kato diesels and highly detailed Microtrains freight cars. The American N scale has been in a hiatus for the last 10 years as it competes for time and space with other modelling projects although I could say that about my Irish modelling projects.

 

American and Continental N is built to the correct scale of 1:160 for standard gauge and does not have the narrow gauge look of the British 1:148 stock.

Edited April 8, 2017 by Mayner

[jhb171achill]

It's that "narrow gauge" look which is very much what would have put me off trying to do anything Irish in "N".

 

For American layouts in smallish space it is of course ideal.

[GNRi1959]

My only problem with N-gauge is the difficulty of the size vs. my eyesight.

[Broithe]

People with 0 Gauge eyes living in N Gauge houses......

[dropshort105]

I have seen N gauge layouts, some look really great, but using ready to run stock, it is kit bashing Irish stuff that caused my frustration, the shape ways stuff is nice, but of course I was trying to fit loco lights and all that, I'm sure had I kept it simple I would have had more success, mettcalfe buildings looked really good, I just got annoyed with the finiky engineering.

[murrayec]

Hi All

 

Just setting up my Gauge N test track to run a ICE 8 coach train very kindly given to me today, and I saw this discussion....

 

This is a 1200x600mm board which sits nicely on the coffee table, I have 3 of them but this is the only one with track on it. They were built for a bolt together Gauge 00 layout but was a bit ambitious- Borithe, I live in a Gauge N house!, so I decided to change it to 3 N layouts

 

 

 

 

It's a two track system DC or DCC with a station, goods dock, 2 two loco sheds and a bit of a fiddle yard. I do have buildings for it but they are up in the far reaches of the attic....

 

Here it is with a bit of Irish on it

 

 

Eoin

[Peter]

Thanks for the reply dropshort. I would be interested in the shapeways loco bodies, coaches, wagons and cars.

 

I'm in rented accommodation at the moment so n gauge is the only scale I can realistically work with, and even then it's taking up space in our shared garage. I like the look of n gauge. I'm not worried about everything not looking totally prototypical. It's a representation of the real thing, it can be a little abstract :-) I'm in my 30s so my eyesight is still good too. Bonus.

[richrua]

I never realised British n gauge was also a botch job like oo. Surely it didn't need to be as the excuse for OO was that the motors wouldn't fit, I Believe, ??

[Broithe]

I never realised British n gauge was also a botch job like oo. Surely it didn't need to be as the excuse for OO was that the motors wouldn't fit, I Believe, ??

 

It was the motors again, the British loading gauge is a good bit smaller that the US one and so the internal space in the model locos is correspondingly smaller - too small at the time...

 

Essentially the same problem as had occurred with 00.