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009 Scale

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roxyguy

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I thought of using 009 track, which of course is scale 2ft gauge-ish, to accommodate British and mainland Europe interests, but building to a scale of 3mm, but eventually compromised. I got several Irish kits but for their scale they looked better on 00n3 track.

4mm SCALE Irish stuff on 009 track just looks totally wrong (hardly surprisingly; it is!)

So I switched to German / Austrian narrow gauge, with the advantages of good quality Peco 009 track and high quality RTR stuff from the likes of Roco, Liliput and Bachman. This survived two house moves and just as I was about to set it all up here, along come Messrs Worsley, Provincial, SSM, JM Design and others. Thus, the last of it is being taken in a padded box to the post office in about half an hour, while meantime Messrs ECM Trains and Baseboard Dave are in communication!

Here, of course, is the real advantage of 009. With Austrian, I can fit a continuous circuit with a sizeable terminus and junction station. With 00, which I'm returning to after an absence of about forty years, I can have a small fiddle yard to shunting terminus.

Edited by jhb171achill
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I suppose it depends, Roxy, on what end result you want. Austrian, German or some other mainland European theme, or Welsh narrow gauge (with or without slate mines) is easy - there's loads of RTR stuff. 

If you want to go Irish, unless you want to scratchbuild everything to a scale of 3mm to the foot, you're better off with 00n3 (12mm gauge) track. It's a bit bigger, but not much, so almost as versatile in confined spaces. As I said, 4mm Irish on 009 track looks plain ridiculous. Recent debates on this forum have examined the HO / OO / 21mm gauges for Irish models, and there's a clear advantage in 21mm from an appearance perspective, but practicalities and most people's skills, time and budgets heavily favour 00, even though it's not technically accurate.

Using 009 to represent anything Irish (or Manx) in 4mm scale is way, way worse! It's like putting the Flying Scotsman on scale 3ft gauge track, proportionately.

There are many Irish kits available - a very good selection in fact. They are all 4mm, thus making 00n3 track as good as obligatory. And now you can get Peco Streamline in 00n3, which you couldn't when I started narrow-gauging, years ago. Had it been available I'd have gone for it, and my dream of a complex Donegal or West Clare system in the attic would have come to pass....

 

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27 minutes ago, jhb171achill said:

I suppose it depends, Roxy, on what end result you want. Austrian, German or some other mainland European theme, or Welsh narrow gauge (with or without slate mines) is easy - there's loads of RTR stuff. 

If you want to go Irish, unless you want to scratchbuild everything to a scale of 3mm to the foot, you're better off with 00n3 (12mm gauge) track. It's a bit bigger, but not much, so almost as versatile in confined spaces. As I said, 4mm Irish on 009 track looks plain ridiculous. Recent debates on this forum have examined the HO / OO / 21mm gauges for Irish models, and there's a clear advantage in 21mm from an appearance perspective, but practicalities and most people's skills, time and budgets heavily favour 00, even though it's not technically accurate.

Using 009 to represent anything Irish (or Manx) in 4mm scale is way, way worse! It's like putting the Flying Scotsman on scale 3ft gauge track, proportionately.

There are many Irish kits available - a very good selection in fact. They are all 4mm, thus making 00n3 track as good as obligatory. And now you can get Peco Streamline in 00n3, which you couldn't when I started narrow-gauging, years ago. Had it been available I'd have gone for it, and my dream of a complex Donegal or West Clare system in the attic would have come to pass....

 

As an 00n3-doing person may I say the availability of kits varies all the time. The worst thing is that the Backwoods range is gone (though may re-appear), still the Dundas T&D vans are back, and we still have Worsley and Branchlines.

Re the other comparison - 4mm Irish on 9mm track is 3mm wrong , while 5' 3" on 16.5 is 4.5mm wrong, a bigger error but possibly a little better in percentage terms I suspect.

Edited by johnminnitt
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I'm no expert on any of this.  Given the lack of Irish RTR in the scale and the issues mentioned I'll probably buy some Roco European stuff and run that, I like the look of it.

My layout is just a big train set, not a faithful reproduction of anything. Also installing the line means I can run some n gauge stuff that's been gathering dust.

All that being said, I love the old wild west look of this.

 

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Edited by roxyguy
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The current RM has a fine article on a model of one of the Lincolnshire potato railways. Spud growing on an industrial scale and some very nice buildings & scenery.

 There is also another interesting piece showing a 6x4 layout in 00, which shows how it is possible to disguise tight curves. The design could be incorporated in other scales - notably 009 - and makes N gauge in 4x2 looking a tempting proposition.

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  • 1 month later...
On 1/22/2018 at 3:45 PM, David Holman said:

The current RM has a fine article on a model of one of the Lincolnshire potato railways. Spud growing on an industrial scale and some very nice buildings & scenery.

 There is also another interesting piece showing a 6x4 layout in 00, which shows how it is possible to disguise tight curves. The design could be incorporated in other scales - notably 009 - and makes N gauge in 4x2 looking a tempting proposition.

Ballinamore as siad above, but nothing to do with N or 009 of course being 3ft gauge.

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2 hours ago, jhb171achill said:

I read several years ago - somewhere - of somebody using 009 track to represent 3ft gauge, modelling locos and rolling stock to 3mm scale.

Did anyone hear of such efforts or have any experience of this?

Haven't seen it personally Brian McCann built a CDR exhibition  layout about 20 years ago in 3mm scale on N gauge track. Brian's modeling was/is to a high standard, think he modeled one of the villages on the CDR complete with station. The railcars were scratchbuilt in plasticard with Kato power bogies.

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I have to find the time and space to get started in 009!

I have several Chivers T&D whitemetal kits completed, or partially completed. I have Hunslet number 5 2-6-2T, and 4 of the 2-6-0T's. I do know the difference in height etc. however my aim is purely demonstration and a feel not complete accuracy.

Parkside Dundas have just released 009 T&D van kits that are relatively easy to assemble (plastic) 

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