Model Forum / General / Railroads / March 2008

1) Join the Yahoo N Gauge group, you'll get more support there.

No difference in ease of use or reliability. Code 55 sometimes looks better,
though arguably the turnouts look sightly worse than code 80.

Get something made for the job from a specialist, not "toy trainset" boards.
There are a handful of small specialist baseboard suppliers, not cheap, but
very good from what I've seen.  Or ask around to find a good woodwork
company who can help you (I'd probably ask a wooden boat yard if I was
stuck).

If its a large layout; plywood frames and top using a "space frame"
construction. Much stronger and lighter than traditional "2x1" and
chipboard. Infact, **don't use chipboard**.

If using ply, ideally should be proper Scandinavian birch throughout
(alternating thin layers of dark light through entire wood), not the cheap
red-centred rubbish sold by most DIY sheds and most wood yards.

If its a small layout, consider radical solutions, such as foamboard stuck
with hot glue gun, perhaps with some aluminium angle strengthening at
corners.

Many books by Iain Rice and Barry Norman usually cover baseboard
construction. Though typically writing for 4mm modellers, baseboard design
is the same.

Depends on curve tightness.  If planning to swing a train round on a 9 or 12
inch radius curve, then settrack is a lot easier to lay properly; tight
curves with flexi is difficult.  If wider than 18 inch radius then flexi
will give better results **as long as you make sure the curve does not have
kinks in it**.

Personally, I would avoid curves below 15 inch in all places, and ideally
set 21 inch as minimum.

Up to you.  Largely depends on the stock you plan to run.  If using new
designs with easy to fit chips, I would jump now.  With the right chips
(there are huge differences in the slow speed motor control between
different chip makers), DCC running is better than analogue.

If going DCC, be realistic about the controller requirements - do you really
need something which resembles an aircraft cockpit to control half a dozen
locos, will you ever need more than 10 or 20 locos, etc.  I use a cheap
(£35) DCC controller to run trains, and a Sprog (computer interface) for
programming.

The new Farish 37 (really recommend this as your first N loco assuming UK
diesels are OK for you) comes with an NEM socket to take a chip in 30
seconds. I recommend a Zimo MX620 or CT Elektronik DCX75 for really superb
low speed running, much better than a Lenz silver/gold.

The new 04 diesel shunter isn't too hard to convert.

But many older Farish designs, particularly the steam outline (and class 08)
are somewhat fiddly to convert due to requiring insulating one of the motor
brushes.

If planning to run mostly US or European outline stock, then I would go DCC
from day 1.

If wanting reliable running, diesel/electric outline in N.
Steam really isn't anything like as good, even with the latest new models
(which are a lot better than the stuff which preceeded them).

If planning to build your own locos, don't try to do it in N. 2mm Finescale
is a lot easier (can give detailed essay as to why).

- Nigel

On Mar 28, 9:18 am, Brian Whitehead <brianwhiteh...@hotmail.com>
wrote:

Code 55 is arguably more robust, especially at the edges of
baseboards. It is actually a similar profile to code 80 but is
embedded in the plastic sleeper web so that what is visible looks like
code 55.

If making your own, remember to leave the timber in the railway room
for a few weeks before using, to allow the moisture level to align
with the environment.

DCC is good even for small layouts and more and more new locos are
coming as DCC friendly (you have to wire in the decoder), DCC ready
(just plug the decoder in) or DCC fitted. Those terms do vary, and are
sometimes stretched if not abused, but you get the idea.

MBQ

I dipped my toe into n gauge waters for the first time about three
years ago and would recommend that you start off with something
simple. That means using Setrack and conventional DC control which
has the bonus that you get a layout up and running quickly. I'd try
to stick to diesels as they tend to run better although that might
be difficult for the time period that you want to model. Also try
to purchase only some of the more recently released models as they
tend to run a lot better than the older Farish designs.

As for a DMU, Farish have said they are going to release a N gauge
version of the class 108, although when it will be released is
anyones guess and the upgrading of their class 101 model has
been delayed yet again unfortunately.

Fred X