What scale should I go with?

[Burlington Bob]

By MRLdave:

Adding more track simply to fillspacecan becounterproductive.

This is a very important and sometimes overlooked point.

[fmjnax]

Wow! You guys are awesome. WAY more input that I ever would have expected!

I did some more research and planning yesterday and N scale is most definitely the way I am going to go. I went out to the shed yesterday and did a dust analysis of some stuff that hasn't been used in a while. It actually wasn't as bad as I thought and shouldn't be too much effort to keep on top of.

I'm going to start piecing together a start-up kits (I don't want to buy a full pre-packaged kit) and work on my layout plan. At first, I was going to do just a big 8x8, but after some more thought (and input on here!), it would be tough to reach the center; even with my long reach (I'm 6'5"). I've now shifted gears to an L-shape. It will still be 2 full sheets of plywood as the bench, but will be much more accessible. Once I come up with my initial sketches, I'll throw it into RTS and hopefully churn out a working layout to start my work on. I have half the shed full of plywood, MDF, styrofoam, and blue foam and I can't wait to put it to use!

[railfan]

All my friends use this track plan here. (just kidding....but I kind of like it).

Mike

[flyboy2610]

Originally Posted by railfan

All my friends use this track plan here. (just kidding....but I kind of like it).

Mike

Got a lot of friends who are fond of spaghetti, do ya?

[TrinityJayOne]

I was going to suggest N scale, but it looks like you've already found your answer.

I would love to be proven wrong because more options are always good, but I think that Z scale is a bit too small for most and will always be a bit of a novelty. HO will always be king but N is very popular these days and will continue to gain traction now that the quality of the models is right up there.

[Y3a]

Yod didn't say what era, (steam, Diesel) and whether you were modelling the REAL Alpine mountains, or just 'the look'.

N for modern US operation, small to middle sized steam in HO for steam era, possibly German steam (although pricey, but cool to watch).

I would be instantly concerned about the grades and number of bridges and tunnels involved.

I have HO in a 17 x 12 room as a double track - twice around thing with a big 10 x 6 inner platform. HO is fine but I realize that N scale in THAT BIG an area would be spectacular as modern NS in the Blue Ridge. I'm doing N&W in the 1930's and using mostly smaller power like 4-8-0's and 2-8-0's with a few 2-6-6-2's and too many 2-8-8-2's.

[tootnkumin]

Originally Posted by railfan

All my friends use this track plan here. (just kidding....but I kind of like it).

Mike

Now that is the be all and end all of model railroads.

Sure ain't room for anything else

[AmtrakFan14]

N scale and Z scale are okay, but really, tiny tiny trains? I had a kato n scale Japanese E231 suburban train, and im very disapointed with it Its very small, and lacking details. HO scale is the best scale out there! So many choices, and its all worth the money (except for bachmann)

To make it shorter, I would go with HO Scale

[fmjnax]

After watching a lot of YouTube videos on Z scale, I definitely agree that it is much too small. I still chose to go with N scale, though, because I am limited in space and I wanted to pack as much as I could in that space. Sure, I would love to have a scale, but if space (and cost!) wasn't an issue, I would be one of those with a full blown outdoor garden railroad.

[Sir Robbins]

I started in HO in 1996 with my father and sold it all when they divorced. I have a 4' by 6' table now and was playing with N scale when I got back into model railroading last year but I gave up as I want the realism and detail and N scale does not work with my very shakey hands on decoders, landscapes and so on so I went back to HO this month in fact! HO is your winner