# When did you get into N-Scale?



## DanERIE (Jul 16, 2019)

For me it was this Model Railroader cover shot in November 1968.


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## BrokeCurmudgeon (Feb 8, 2016)

1970's but I can't remember exact date.


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## GNfan (Jun 3, 2016)

I got into N scale around 1985 when I decided I didn't have the modeling or carpentry skills necessary for HO at the time.


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## bpiperjr (Dec 12, 2011)

I was late to N scale. I had an old HO layout and was going to build a larger one. Then I discovered I could have twice the layout in the same space. I just wish my fingers and eyesight would permit be to work on the engines. Does anyone have recommendations?


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## Guest (Jul 16, 2019)

I first dabbled in N scale in the '70s. I wasn't satisfied with how they ran. I was an O gauger and used to very reliable operation.

In the '80s I again gave N a try but again wasn't satisfied with operation. I built an HO layout instead.

in the '90s I built a G gauge layout in my basement. We moved in 2000 because of my job and I didn't have room for G in our new house. I played with both Z and On30 for a little while, found Z too small and unreliable and On30 too large for the space I had. A friend suggested N. I explained my experience with N but he said modern N was much better. I gave it a try and found N to be as reliable as HO or On30. I build an N scale layout around 2005 and stayed with it until 2014 when shaky hands and poor eyesight made it too small to handle and work on. I returned to my roots and went back to O Gauge.

I still like N but it's too small for me.


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## Fire21 (Mar 9, 2014)

My first N was around 1975. We moved into a home that had a large storeroom. I appropriated one end of the room and started to build a 4x8 layout. Since then I've tried building 4 or 5 4x8s, but haven't gotten any of them finished. Now retired, I find I like to look at and talk model trains, but don't enjoy working on them or a layout. I discovered DCC some years back, and thought it would refuel my interest. It did for awhile, but I have an unfinished, and lately untouched, 4x8 in the basement of our current home.


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## DonR (Oct 18, 2012)

You guys sure do like to expose my ancient age...
Marx 027 and American Flyer 2 rail AC experiences
during high school whetted my appetite for trains but
while career climbing had to put layouts aside. Then
came the 60s...around 64 or so, converted a kitchen
table in a small apartment to a 4 x 8 2 level N scale
layout. Woolco (discount chain of the Woolworth 5 & 10s)
had big selections of N scale locos and rolling
stock. Still have some of the made from scratch
trestles from that layout as a memento in my den.

Don


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## bpiperjr (Dec 12, 2011)

I had an AC Gilbert and an American Flyer S Scale layout as a boy. I didn't think we were going back to the 1950's.


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## GNfan (Jun 3, 2016)

Ahhh memories . . . As I've noted in other threads; back in the 1960's (I was a little kid) my dad, brother and I built a "Plywood Prairie" HO layout on two 4'x8' sheets of plywood from AHM and Tyco from a Woolworth's in a mall (the kind with a lunch counter). That's when I caught the model railroading bug.


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## silver69 (Dec 20, 2013)

Christmas 1977
I got a Bachmann 0-4-0 set and have been hooked ever since!

Steve


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## SantaFeJim (Sep 8, 2015)

I got into N in 1971. Got out 1976.

Currently I am heavy into HO and belong to an O scale club that has a large layout when we can run l-o-n-g trains.

Each scale has advantages and disadvantages. Many modelers are into multiple scales and many change as their life style and space change.


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## Chaostrain (Jan 27, 2015)

I got into N scale in the late 80s or early 90s. Then a few years ago I lost my house and the layout got totally destroyed. Since I was back to square one my now wife said she wanted to be a part of it so with our advancing age we decided to go with HO. I do miss my N, though.


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## traction fan (Oct 5, 2014)

*Recommdations*



bpiperjr said:


> I was late to N scale. I had an old HO layout and was going to build a larger one. Then I discovered I could have twice the layout in the same space. I just wish my fingers and eyesight would permit be to work on the engines. Does anyone have recommendations?


 To answer the OP's question, I switched to N-scale in the early 1970s.



bpiperir; Here are my recommendations:

You can use an Optivisor and/or strong reading glasses for the vision. Also have plenty of light on the work.
A locomotive cradle helps hold the loco still while you work on it. 
Tweezers ,surgical clamps and a screw/nut starter tool all help hold onto tiny things.
Work on top of a white terrycloth towel anchored to the table with tape or weights. The rough texture of the towel helps keep parts from rolling off the workbench. The white color makes the tiny parts easier to see. The tape or weights prevent the whole towel, and multiple parts, from sliding off the table.

hope that helps;

Traction Fan :smilie_daumenpos:


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## bpiperjr (Dec 12, 2011)

Thank you my friend. I have all of those but I'm still hesitant to mess with those small parts.


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## videobruce (Jun 15, 2011)

Around 1971 I had a 2x4' table in my bedroom. The yard tracks weren't laid yet in the middle. I was working at a hobby shop at the time. (the Radio Shack/Realistic/BSR & Nikko audio equipment kind of gives the era away  )

1996, was my 1st real layout (in a spare 10x10' room).

2912 my current, much larger layout in a room I constructed in the basement that has unfortumately been in mothballs for several years. (that photo was shot when I was just starting to lay track)


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## Oldnewchoo (Aug 31, 2018)

About 11 years ago my younger son and I were at a church bazaar when we saw a Bachmann set, I believe it was the Dispatchers Choice, for $2.00 with a note that said it didn't work. We brought it home fixed a loose wire and enjoyed it up until he went in the service. I have since added rolling stock and looking for engines that I can afford. Right now I am deciding what I'll get for my grandchildren and great-nieces and great-nephews.


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## hunterwj (Dec 16, 2017)

*Me to!*

I remember that issue very well and started my first N scale layout back then while living in a very small trailer. Needless to say my layout was also very small. I moved and all was packed up to never see the light of day. About 60 years later I started back in N scale and it has been slow going. My only advise would be to move slowly and don't be concerned if you change your mind frequently.


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## gimme30 (Jul 26, 2018)

I just started in April of this year. 

Haven't gotten very far. I blame the O scale guys. They keep distracting me with all the great stuff we can't get in N!


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## riogrande (Apr 28, 2012)

Don't remember but I got some second hand N scale trains around 1971 IIRC. I don't know what happened to them>

Around 1977 I ended up with some N scale trains including an Atlas FA engine that could creep incredibly slow. But in the early 1980's I wanted to model the D&RGW and there were no tunnel motors or other important Rio Grande rolling stock in N so I switched to HO. Although I kept a shoebox with some N scale track and a few freight cars, caboose and a Trix F7A (which doesn't run all that great).

I've been in HO since then but just recently began to collect some N scale. During the past few months I've purchased a KATO SD45, IMRC SD40T-2, a bunch of trailers and flat cars, and 20 Trainworx quad hoppers.


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## Southernfan (Oct 19, 2019)

First N scale train set (Aurora) was in 1968. Been pretty much in N scale ever since, with brief forays into HO and British OO.


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## luvadj (Jul 3, 2017)

I got into N-Scale in 1986. With all the traveling I was doing, I built a 3 X 5 that I could flatten and put in the granny's attic in the U-Haul...


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## Cousin Eddie (Jan 4, 2019)

I got into n scale last year when my mother in law gave me a new old complete set she had in her closet for years. It was I believe a Bachman highballer. I thought It would be a perfect under the Christmas tree in my family room set since it was a simple loop of track about an 18 inch circle. Well it was for about 30 seconds then it grew to 4 foot by 4 foot and that was great! For 30 seconds then it went to 6 foot by 4! And now it’s 8 foot by 4 foot.


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## Fire21 (Mar 9, 2014)

That's a most interesting track configuration!


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## Cousin Eddie (Jan 4, 2019)

Yeah lol I have no rhyme or reason it’s a little crazy. I tend not to have a plan and run wild and then make it work.


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## Old_Hobo (Feb 20, 2014)

My dad gave me my Aurora Postage Stamp train set in 1968 for Christmas....still have it in the original box.....everything still runs perfectly; it was made by Mini Trix, and sold as an Aurora set....


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## bl665 (Oct 3, 2019)

Cousin Eddie said:


> I got into n scale last year when my mother in law gave me a new old complete set she had in her closet for years. It was I believe a Bachman highballer. I thought It would be a perfect under the Christmas tree in my family room set since it was a simple loop of track about an 18 inch circle. Well it was for about 30 seconds then it grew to 4 foot by 4 foot and that was great! For 30 seconds then it went to 6 foot by 4! And now it’s 8 foot by 4 foot.



The power packs your using are the same ones I first got my hands on! I haven't seen those in a while. The blocks on top were for what again ? I They controlled the blocks right ?

I like the W figure !:smilie_daumenpos:


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## Big Ed (Jun 16, 2009)

2011

A picture from my dark gloomy dungeon.
My story throughout this thread, (more pictures too)
https://www.modeltrainforum.com/showthread.php?t=7158


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## Cousin Eddie (Jan 4, 2019)

Yes the 215 selectors are for the blocks every section of track can be run off two power packs I like the old school look of them. The hard part is trying to remember what one controls what lol.


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## QueenoftheGN (Dec 10, 2019)

november 2019 when my dad gave me his old (like 20+yrs old) bachmann 0-4-0 then i asked him for a table and he (reluctantly) said yes


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## BigEd (Oct 28, 2014)

18 January 1997. Easy to remember as I landed in the USA on the 25th. The day before the Super Bowl XXXI. 

Got into it by accident but I am not sorry ever.


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## bl665 (Oct 3, 2019)

BigEd said:


> 18 January 1997. Easy to remember as I landed in the USA on the 25th. The day before the Super Bowl XXXI.
> 
> Got into it by accident but I am not sorry ever.



How did you get into by accident ?! This does not seem to be one of the those things that happens accidentally haha sounds like a good story !


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## BigEd (Oct 28, 2014)

bl665 said:


> How did you get into by accident ?! This does not seem to be one of the those things that happens accidentally haha sounds like a good story !


Long story short - my younger brother borrowed my car while I was working abroad (UK) and let's just say with him as a student, the car got neglected. 

I just returned home, on my way to the USA, and found that I needed the car fixed to be mobile. My mechanic works from his home and he had a rubber-duck boat in his garage when I accidentally slipped and pull a sheet off the boat. Inside the boat was an Kibri N scale layout (similar to the modern Noch preformed plastic layouts). 

At the time I just lost out on a big collection of OO in the UK and I was interested.

Turns out the N scale stuff it was for sale. At the same moment his doorbell rung and he said it must be the guy coming to look at the collection. Told him on the spot I'll take it, offered a little more than he wanted and the deal was done.

When he came back from the door he commented "Phew, that guy was pissed!" :sly:

I should have looked who it was... might be a current mate... :cheeky4:


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## bl665 (Oct 3, 2019)

And just like that you had a layout !! Haha that’s pretty sick man. He may have been a mate but you beat him to the punch. Did you happen to disassemble the layout and rebuild it from scratch ? Cool story


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## BigEd (Oct 28, 2014)

bl665 said:


> ...
> Did you happen to disassemble the layout and rebuild it from scratch ? Cool story


Not at all - too lazy.

But last year me and my mates rebuilt it, or at least , rejuvenated it. I then gave it to my uncle who got me into model trains as a 5 year old.

My mates - now that's a whole another kettle of fish. Bunch of reprobates. They organise meetings at my house without me knowing about it! My fault for living sorta in the middle... Next thing I know I have 8 - 10 mouths to feed coffee. This have become a thing and once I have my train room sorted (3 - 4 months) it will be the place to be on a Saturday afternoon in Cape Town. Just need a coffee vending machine... 

I only make like I am complaining - don't tell them. I kinda like it... :laugh::appl:


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## Cousin Eddie (Jan 4, 2019)

Big Ed said:


> 2011
> 
> A picture from my dark gloomy dungeon.
> My story throughout this thread, (more pictures too)
> ...


 Wow Big Ed I looked at all the pics and read the old thread that’s a hell of a way to start out lol. Do you still have that Lehigh valley sw1200 switcher? I just picked the same one up at a train show a couple weeks ago and I love how smooth it runs at low speeds. It’s my favorite switcher! Just for the record did not pay what that sticker says!


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## BigEd (Oct 28, 2014)

Oops, different Big Ed. I’m BigEd...I’m not spaced...


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