Bachmann Trains & Accessories

Why are N scale trains better for me than HO trains?

I want to get into model trains and a friend who has N scale trains said they are best. Is he right. I have a small area for a model train layout.

There is no best scale. It all depends on your personal tastes and how much space you have. If you have a small space (say, less than 10 x 10) and you are more interested in getting as many trains as possible into that space than having highly detailed and very realistic models, then N scale might be right for you. If you are more interested in detail and realism, than HO scale is probably right for you as it is not much more expensive than N scale (200-300 dollars for a high quality Digital Command Control (DCC) equipped diesel locomotive with sound, usually 300-500 for a steam locomotive in the same feature range, with the REALLY high quality brass locomotives sometimes ranging into the low $1,000s. A high quality N scale diesel with DCC will be about 180-250, with steam going up to 400) and is MUCH more detailed. Most locomotives over $180 will have separately applies wire grab irons and over $250 will usually have see through grilles (where applicable). If I were in a perfect world and space and money were not an issue, I would build an O-scale layout. a good O-scale diesel is $400-600 and a good steam locomotive is $500-$2,000 depending on the size, but they are easy to handle and are very highly detailed.

Another factor to consider is how you do with manipulating small objects. If your hands are shaky at all, N-scale may not be right for you, due to their small size. HO-scale can have the same problem, but you have to be pretty shaky for it to be a problem in HO.

The bottom line is that there is no best scale. Before you jump in, I would recommend going to a few local model railroad clubs in different scales and see what you think of the trains. Since you have already experienced N-scale, you wouldn’t need to go to an N-scale club, but try to get to an HO-scale club and an O-scale club. Talk to members of the different clubs and tell them what your budget is and how much space you have. See how you like the different scales. One other thing that might be helpful would be to pick up some model railroad themed magazines. I subscribe to Model Railroader (published by Kalmbach Publishing Company of Waukesha, WI). I would recommend that you pick up a copy of Classic Toy Trains (Kalmbach Publishing Company), Model Railroader (Kalmbach Publishing Company), Garden Railways (Kalmbach Publishing Company), O Scale Trains (http://www.oscalemag.com/), and see what you think of the models shown in each. It will help you a lot to see the

My very small N scale layout