In Praise of 'N'!

[rogerfarnworth]

This is a bid to claim that the best scale is 2mm and the best gauge is 'N'!! What is not to like in N gauge?

I guess that some may disagree?

http://rogerfarnworth.com/2019/05/24/n- ... -modelling

[John Ashworth]

Thanks, Roger. I first saw this post on Railroad.Net and I replied there. Let me copy my reply here:

For many years I was planning to build my African profile model railway in N scale, thinking mainly of the available space and how N would allow the impression of the vastness of Africa. I had even begun collecting bits and pieces - very little African profile equipment is manufactured in N scale, so whenever I saw something that looked as if it might fit I would buy it.

Then one day I was visiting my elder sister in England, looking at my brother-in-law's OO scale layout, when she said to me bluntly (in the way that big sisters can), "As you get older with failing eyesight and clumsy fingers, how are you going to manage with the fiddly stuff in N scale? Shouldn't you use a larger scale?"

Soon after that my wife and I agreed that our 40 foot shipping container containing our solar power plant should become the model railway room, so that she could dedicate the basement to other more domestic uses, so the available space was no longer really an issue. I gave all my N scale bits and pieces to my brother-in-law in England to sell at swap meets and on eBay, and immediately started collecting OO/HO stuff. There is more African profile equipment available, and a much wider selection of things which are not African but look vaguely so. Now that I have actually started building the layout I am thankful that I chose the larger scale. My eyes and fingers would have struggled with N scale!

[rogerfarnworth]

Is it really warm in the shipping container?

[John Ashworth]

That's a very good question and I suppose the answer is yes and no.

The east face of the container forms part of a building, and there is an overall roof, so that keeps the container cool all morning. The problem is that the west face is exposed to the afternoon sun and does get very hot, which is not good for the solar batteries or for a model railway. So, as we speak/type, I'm in the process of building a veranda on the eastern face of the container to protect it from the afternoon sun, before I continue constructing the model railway baseboard. I'm also trying to improve ventilation, although that's also challenging as you don't want to let too much dust in.