# We Downsized from a House to a Condo



## lionelsuperotrack (Nov 12, 2010)

I am very familiar with O gauge, but, not so much with N Gauge. As I seek to venture into N gauge who are the recommended manufacturers for locomotives (diesels & steam), rolling stock and track. I am thinking of a small layout. I am looking toward the better end of product rather then cheap. Space is my problem.

All help would be appreciated.

Thank you, Mike


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## JeffHurl (Apr 22, 2021)

Assuming you want DCC locomotives...

If you are into steam, I would suggest Broadway Limited or Bachmann.

For diesel, just about any manufacturer is good. Kato is hard to beat, but really, just about any manufacturer these days produce good running locos.


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## GNfan (Jun 3, 2016)

Ratings you can usually trust for most N scale locomotives: N Scale Locomotive Encyclopedia (North American Prototypes) (spookshow.net)


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## santafe158 (Jul 14, 2010)

I can vouch for Kato quality. O gauge is my main focus, but I dabble in other scales here and there. I thrashed a basic Kato set over the course of a couple of months running for hours on my public holiday display and it still runs like new. The only real maintenance was keeping the track/wheels clean.


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## traction fan (Oct 5, 2014)

lionelsuperotrack said:


> I am very familiar with O gauge, but, not so much with N Gauge. As I seek to venture into N gauge who are the recommended manufacturers for locomotives (diesels & steam), rolling stock and track. I am thinking of a small layout. I am looking toward the better end of product rather then cheap. Space is my problem.
> 
> All help would be appreciated.
> 
> Thank you, Mike



Mike;

Kato products are excellent quality across the board. Including their "Unitrack" roadbed track system, and their passenger trains. 😊
The turnouts for Kato Unitrack are very reliable. Unlike the turnouts for Bachmann "EZ-Track" which are absolutely horrid, the worst available. 

Kato makes plenty of diesels, but hardly any US prototype steam.
Bachmann is my least favorite brand, based on their old locos which were downright lousy, and their current production turnouts which are also awful. Also, their current production DCC decoders have a reputation for weird buzzing noises. All that said, I read here that current production Bachmann locomotives are much improved, and Bachmann certainly has the largest variety of N-scale steam locomotives.

Micro-Trains & Kato, freight & passenger cars are excellent. Atlas, Athearn, and Bachmann also sell decent freight cars.
For track you have several choices all of them decent. Kato is definitely the best "roadbed track" available, as already mentioned. For flex track you have a choice of Atlas, Micro Engineering, or Peco. All are good. My favorite is Micro Engineering code 55 flex track because of its very realistic appearance. Atlas sells code 55 flex that looks good, and code 80 flex that does not look good, but both work well. Atlas also sells sectional track. Peco is the first choice of most experienced modelers for turnouts, because of their superb reliability. Micro Engineering, and Kato, turnouts are also highly reliable. The files below have a lot more information on model railroading in general, and nearly all of it can be applied to N-scale.

Good Luck & Have Fun;

Traction Fan 🙂


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