I built several HO layouts more than 20 years ago, but have been inactive in model railroading since the late 70s ... I'm ready to get back involved, but I am looking for some definitive reading on comparing N and HO scales. Does anyone have any suggestions? Or personal experiences that dictated their decision on which way to go? Thanks ...
Posted by shamus (Member # 657) on :
Hi, I started with 0 scale at the tender age of 7, then went to 00 by the time I was 12. Later in life (Now 65) I had N-scale for quite a number of years, then changed to HO and back to N-scale, and now back into HO for life due to needing reading glasses to see even HO properly. Maybe I should change to 0 again. Hmmmmm
Shamus
Posted by slimjim375 (Member # 199) on :
Why do you think I went from HOn3 to Sn3 Now I know that car is around here some place.
Posted by Seacoast (Member # 1028) on :
N Scale has come a long way since the 1970's! Engines are reliable than before and there is much more of a selection. The nice thing about N is that you can have a small room with a 10 or 12 foot run with some nice long trains with multiple engines. Also since the scale is much smaller than Ho you can compress great scenery into a small space although personally I like long trains with impressive scenery in N. Try looking into N Trak if your interested in getting involved with a club they have clubs in almost every state in the USA and usually have huge layouts at train shows that often have 100+ freight and 15 long passenger consists
[This message has been edited by Seacoast (edited 08-31-2001).]
Posted by Chuck Walsh (Member # 677) on :
I have been doing HO for 4 1/2 years and during that period both N & HO has made tremendous advances in quality. There's no comparison between todays superior products to those that were made back in the 70's. Go to a hobby shop and look at both the N & HO catalogs for product availability. I'm happy with the HO and still need the assistance of a magnifing lamp/glass to assemble. At my age of 62 my fingers couldn't handle N.
Posted by lynn (Member # 533) on :
I started with HO about 15 years ago, then wanted more in a smaller space, so got all N. I coldn't see to work on them very good, so started back with HO. These 71 year old eyeballs don't work like they used to did. The crowning touch, was, a loco stopped, and would jerkj to go, forward and back. Had to take it all apart and found 1 single grain of ballast in the gears. That told me that N was too persnickety for me. I dumped them and now stay strictly HO.
Lynn
Posted by Konstantin (Member # 18) on :
N-scale is a little less than half the size of HO. That means you can fit almost four times as much into the same area using N-scale rather than HO-scale.
N-scale is good for running long trains over long stretches of track. HO is a better scale if you are thinking more about finely detailed scenery.
Now I know that car is around here some place.