Narrow gauge. For modeling I like the idea of the ole’ broke down railroad scratching to get by. The small steamers wandering through the country side, having a purpose in a community such as milk runs, local passenger service and the mail. There’s a certain charm to it that to me, mainline railroading lacks.
My HO trains are all standard gauge steam, I don’t run them. Plus i’m not a big fan of diesels. To me, they are kinda boring. (again, shut up rooster)
Terry
I do narrow gauge; like Ken said, my first locomotive was NG.
However, it would be cool to have a standard gauge boxcar (in 1:20) for comparison…
Bruce,
Build you one of those ‘Hogshead’ cars Southern/NS had. They will dwarf the NG stuff even in 1/29.
Bob C.
Steve and Vincent - me too.
tac, ig, ken the GFT and The Malheur Lake Boys
I run mostly standard gauge although I do own a few narrow gauge engines and rolling stock (a mogul and an Annie- for a future project). Mrs. Diesel loves narrow gauge. I model more for the era (Architecture, Auto’s, etc). I always liked the look of mid-century America. Big steam engines and diesels side by side, Art Deco buildings, cars with tail fins, drive-ins, you get the idea.
-Kevin.
Standard gauge for me, as narrow gauge is a little to narrow for me.
Nick
Bruce Chandler said:
…
However, it would be cool to have a standard gauge boxcar (in 1:20) for comparison…
I got one running in my (NG) hopper train …
I just added the Pennsy decals that Stan did for me:
(http://www.largescalecentral.com/public/album_photo/b0/b3/01/1b0fe_c7c6.jpg)
Clem has a std gauge and a dual gauge siding on his portable show layout, with a Saxton std gauge boxcar on it.
I’m a steam era short line fan so gauge isn’t the main criteria for me. The simple fact though is if you like small and/or geared steam engines then narrow gauge is the only game in town as to locomotives unless you “roll your own” with few exceptions.
Standard gauge models whether in 1:32 or 1:29 are mostly diesel and of the steam locos about all are big mainline engines except for maybe a switcher or two. I love the 3 footers such as D&RGW and EBT as much as I like the standard gauge Sierra RR or the Ma&Pa.
For a 1940 (or earlier) short line narrow gauge is the most expedient route. To me operation is the number one priority with plenty of way freight type trains and a more casual style. Thus running 1:22/1:24 on 45mm track equaling 42" gauge or thereabouts doesn’t bother me as much as it does some although I like the 1:20 offerings very much. Too, it’s a lot easier on the nerves to have cheap and durable 1:22 rolling stock caught in the rain or knocked off the railroad and mostly just snapped back together than to see the same happen to a $100 plus piece of rolling stock do the same.
Steve Featherkile said:
It depends on my mood. I run both.
Me too. I do tend to run the narrow gauge stuff more since that’s what my operations program is set up for and I really like the NG locos and cars I have. Haven’t run a standard gauge train yet this year.
Narrow gauge, but in 1:24 (ish) as that around around this neck of the woods is 3’6". If you wanted other choices, in addition to 4’ 81/2" you could I suppose choose to model 5’3" (1:35 representing broad guage in South Australia and Victoria) or 2’6" (1:17, Victoria narrow gauge and some cane lines in Queensland) and some people do, or at least variations around that, but I’ve always liked the relative freedom that narrow gauge gives while for the 3’6" you can still run pretty big trains if you want. I was strictly a prototype original standard gauge modeller when I was still heavily into N, and got a bit bored with the rivet counter approach.
Steve
My Standard Gauge diesels get the call to work while the narrow gauge steamers come out to play. I often run both togther and they look fine unless the 38 ton Shay is out there.
I model narrow gauge in 1/24th scale, which as Steve pointed out, is 3’ 6" (or 42") gauge when using typical “large scale” 45mm gauge track.
I love small, funky trains, whether narrow gauge or short line, and the narrowish gauge fits in well with the rugged topography of my desert mountain themed layout.
I especially love steam, but I do occasionally enjoy other forms of motive power so I extensively kit bashed an Aristocraft RS3 into a fictional narrow gauge variant. And I have a scratch built Model T railbus. I also plan to eventually build some other, smaller diesel or gas/mechanical locos.
I model the E.B.T. in Fn3 and plan to model some standard gauge F scale rolling stock.
To avoid the situation in the picture below the EBT devised a way to lift the standard gauge car, remove the trucks and replace with narrow gauge trucks. One standard gauge car (on ng trucks) could be moved in a train. The standard gauge car was placed first in line behind the engine. Special aluminum coupler adapter castings allowed the sg couplers to mate to the ng couplers. Standard gauge boxcars, gondolas, hoppers and tank cars were moved along the EBT.
I have been working on a project to introduce a 1:20.3 model kit for the X-29 boxcar pictured on the right. The kit will be designed to run on either standard gauge or narrow gauge trucks. Some of you may have seen the “volume study” that I displayed at the last ECLSTS. It is BIG.
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7370/9733310837_25a5e984c0_c.jpg)
Chuck Cole said:
Hi guys,
What are you running or building or collecting?? Standard or Narrow gauge and what made you decide on one or the other??
Despite my huge SG boxcar running with the Fn3 hoppers, I also have a select few SG trains in 1/29th [would be 1/32 if the manufacturer had picked the right scale.] The Aristo pacific, when it came out, was a steal at $300 (and still is great value for money.) The Heavyweight coaches are an amazing piece of injection molding, and now we have the NYC Dreyfuss Hudson on the way.
Whoo Hoooo !!
Geoff Ringle said:
I model the E.B.T. in Fn3 and plan to model some standard gauge F scale rolling stock.
To avoid the situation in the picture below the EBT devised a way to lift the standard gauge car, remove the trucks and replace with narrow gauge trucks. One standard gauge car (on ng trucks) could be moved in a train. The standard gauge car was placed first in line behind the engine. Special aluminum coupler adapter castings allowed the sg couplers to mate to the ng couplers. Standard gauge boxcars, gondolas, hoppers and tank cars were moved along the EBT.
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7370/9733310837_25a5e984c0_c.jpg)
I’ve heard of a couple other narrow gauge roads that interchanged with standard gauge by swapping trucks. One thing I wonder about is how they handled the brake hardware when making these swaps? Surely they didn’t just leave the brakes disconnected when they put on the SG trucks, but it seems like it would have been tricky to connect them to mechanisms that were designed for NG.
Is/was there really a difference between the air brakes of different guages??? Or was it just a matter of undoing and reconnecting hoses…
They didn’t have to do anything to the hoses. They were the same on standard and narrow gauges, so they’d attach together just fine. The brake rods on the standard gauge car attached to the brake rigging on the truck itself through a clevis and pin arrangement, so when the crews dropped the trucks, they merely pulled the pin on the clevis that attached the brake rod to the rigging on the standard gauge truck. When they rolled the narrow gauge truck back underneath the standard gauge car, they attached the brake rod to the rigging on the narrow gauge truck.
In response to the original question, I model narrow gauge (East Broad Top) because I’ve just always been fond of narrow gauge railroading. I’ve always liked the uniqueness that surrounds narrow gauge railroads–no two were alike, and each seemed to do things their own way, which makes modeling them fun because if you want to build something quirky, there’s plenty of fodder for ideas.
I do enjoy standard gauge railroading, but I think it takes a certain kind of railroad for modern mainline trains to “look right” in a back yard setting. If I were to do standard gauge, I’d still probably model a short line with smaller locos and short trains.
Later,
K
“I’ve heard of a couple other narrow gauge roads that interchanged with standard gauge by swapping trucks”
Anyone ever see a model of a Ramsey Transfer, which is one way of swapping the trucks? It would make an amazing model. [EBT used a crane - not half as much fun.]
(http://www.midcontinent.org/rollingstock/builders/Images/ramseys_carshifter_ad.jpg)
(http://www.stremy.net/SRA/Misc/Prototype/Ramsey%20Phoenicia%20Large.jpg)
Re: brakes after the swap - I always assumed that the brake pipes ran through the car from end to end anyway, so even if the swapped rucks weren’t connected, the train brakes would work fine. Just don’t park that one car on a slope . .
I model in 1:20.3 NG. Like Kevin said, it is unique. You can build shacks, rustic bridges, etc.
I have 3 pieces of 1:20.3 SG: (Diesel switcher, box car and caboose) with more to come. But they do ride on NG trucks at the moment. I still have not received any SG trucks.
My small collection of SG is 1:32. A couple steamers and a GG1: Some passenger cars and freight cars.
I have 2 Euro Passenger trains in meter gauge (1:22.5).
I am phasing out what little 1:29, 1:24, and LGB “gauge” that I have left.
Personally I model with a 1:20.3 ruler on 45 mm gauge track…that technically makes the railroad narrow gauge, but I don;t really think of it that way, and theres no one else around to tell me different…the people who do see it, just think its cool…I’m building for operational practice, so getting decent lookin decent running locomotives cars and track are more my priority. I did 1:32 for a while…but as others have said its kinda smallish…and I’ve done 7/8 scale…huge and I have the room for it…but it doesn’t lend it self to the type of railroad I wanna build…1:20 stuff is about the right size for my eyes…big enuff, but not overwhelming…I call it using NG practices in a SG way more or less…
