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Got the urge


Steve Purves

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I'm not really sure why I am writing this post to be honest. I am a long standing N gauge follower/builder but have a real itch to give 2mm a try. Its been nagging me for a while and the only way I think I can curb it is to actually give in to it. I have never built my own track before, other than that it doesn't really worry me. I model the early 1990's generally, My current layout build is 'essence of New Street' in the main layout topics if you want to get an idea of that I do (my previous layouts are also in my signature)

Due to a recent financial difficuly I had to give my rolling stock a pasting, as a result I only have 2 loco's, 2 DMU's and a rake of parcels stock (plus an Nthusiast Tamper I am currently building) so there is not much stock to rewheel either...

 

I'm slowly talking myself in to it...

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Hi Steve,

Join the 2mm Scale Association, www.2mm.org.uk , buy some wheels to convert your locos, DMUs and stock along with some Easitrac and you won't look back! In fact, you'll wonder why you ever put up with N-gauge wheel standards.

Jim

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Hi Steve

 

We met again at Peterborough last October.  You were enthused by "Welton Down" just as I was enthused by "Apa Park" at the NGS AGM the previous June.  As Caley Jim says, join the 2mm Scale Association (www.2mm.org.uk) and give it a try.  You will see WD is featured in this month's BRM, based on photos that Andy took at the Peterborough Show.  I have to say that I am really pleased with the way they have come out in print.

 

Best wishes

 

Jim

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Entirely agree with what the two Jims have said. I do like your layouts, Steve, but you will have to ease out the curves a little for 2FS. I thought that Apagele was one of your best and would have worked perfectly as a 2FS design.

 

David

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Why would you not go to 2mm FS?

 

You did ask! A few years ago I would have definitely agreed with you, but with the advent of better wheelsets on RTR stock and better track (Easitrac and Finetrax) I'm less convinced of the need particularly if you are converting D&E stock. 1:148 stock on 1:152 track is just a different (albeit much nicer!) compromise.

 

It is a personal decision, but I am leaning to Easitrac for plain track and either Finetrax (for BH) or copper clad for FB points built to 9mm.

 

Cheers, Mike

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It is a personal decision, but I am leaning to Easitrac for plain track and either Finetrax (for BH) or copper clad for FB points built to 9mm.

 

If you are building pointwork anyway where's the advantage in building it to 9mm rather than 9.42mm? 2mm FS wheelsets for conversions are not particularly expensive and if you have older stock it will still need the wheels replacing to run on Finetrax. If you work to 2mm FS standards the Associations range of wheels gives you the option of building something other than the rtr offerings if you feel moved to do so or if rtr doesn't provide everything you need for a chosen prototype. 

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If you are currently at a low ebb stockwise then now would be the best time to change.

 

I think it would be more daunting if you had a lot of stock to convert.

 

That said as Mike points out there are options now with Finetrax that will give you much nicer track to N gauge standards and with D&E stock the wheelsets are less noticeable.

 

It would be interesting what track scale Welton Downs would have been built to had Finetrax existed when it was being constructed.

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If I may say so, the real difference between N and 2FS track and wheel standards aren't so much about the looks, the narrower overall wheel width, the slightly wider gauge, or even the narrower flangeways, welcome though these viewable aspects undoubtably are, but the improved running quality through pointwork arising from the combination of narrower flanges and flangeways. The fact that stock, and particularly wagons, doesn't 'bump' it's way through point crossings.

 

Better still is that thanks to the 2mm SA drop-in wheels for Farish diesels and DMU's and replacement rolling stock wheels for coaches and wagons it's simple and easy to prove to your own satisfaction that this is the case, whilst giving you the option to go back to the original N standard wheels should you choose.

 

Give it a try, you've really nothing to loose, and much you may find you gain.

 

Izzy

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..........It would be interesting what track scale Welton Downs would have been built to had Finetrax existed when it was being constructed.

Welton Down was originally built by Bill Rankin who was a committed 2mm modeller at the time and had a considerable quantity of 2fs stock from his previous layout 'Balldown Junction'

Jim

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If you are building pointwork anyway where's the advantage in building it to 9mm rather than 9.42mm? 2mm FS wheelsets for conversions are not particularly expensive and if you have older stock it will still need the wheels replacing to run on Finetrax. If you work to 2mm FS standards the Associations range of wheels gives you the option of building something other than the rtr offerings if you feel moved to do so or if rtr doesn't provide everything you need for a chosen prototype. 

 

The advantage is in not having to re-wheel everything (which does start to mount up in cost).

 

Izzy's point about running across points is correct for comparisons with Peco (awful) but less relevant when comparing to something like Finetrax.

 

Cheers, Mike

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I've built 2mmfs track and I've built n gauge Fintrax, and although an improvement on Peco, its not a patch on 2mm fs pointwork with 2mm fs wheels, which as Izzy points out will run so much smoother.

My advice is to make a small layout, perhaps a small yard or a depot, which will only require 2 or 3 turnouts, this way you have a fighting chance of completing something this side of christmas.

Don't expect your first, second, third or even forth attempt to be any good; but if you keep practising you WILL finally make a working turnout, the best way to achieve success is to join the association and buy a crossing jig as the crossing is the hardest part to make accurately, but the jig takes care of this for you.

I would suggest soldering directly to copper clad pcb to start with and then move onto chairs once you've got the hang of it, this way you'll construct a turnout in half the time.

Finally, put the mouse down and move away from the computer, and go make some 2mm fs track

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The advantage is in not having to re-wheel everything (which does start to mount up in cost).

 

Izzy's point about running across points is correct for comparisons with Peco (awful) but less relevant when comparing to something like Finetrax.

 

Cheers, Mike

The case for N would be immeasurably strengthened if there were a set of matching track and wheel standards that were universally accepted and adhered to. The finer standards of 2FS are indeed a great advantage but the greatest advantage is not so much that they are finer but that they are adhered to. I've banged this drum many times before but it remains a travesty that British N still does not have a set of standards after over fifty years in existence. Despite much great work this is the single biggest failing of the N gauge Society.

 

Jerry

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The advantage is in not having to re-wheel everything (which does start to mount up in cost).

 

Obviously it is personal what value an individual puts on something but when one considers the cost of FS wheels in terms of the total cost of a model and that easitrac is about twice the price of  Peco and Finetrax as much again, while Finetrax turnouts are again at least twice the cost of Peco ones, I am not sure the cost of re-wheeling is very persuasive. For example a Farish class 20 is getting on for a hundred quid, a DCC chip another thirty and 2mm Scale Association wheels eighteen pounds if all four axles are driven. I think you would already be sinking a very sizeable sum into a layout built as you suggest before the total cost of 2mm FS wheels built up to a significant cost. To me that extra cost is good value to get all your track and wheels to a coherent set of standards with a noticeable visual advantage.

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Hi Steve

 

We met again at Peterborough last October.  You were enthused by "Welton Down" just as I was enthused by "Apa Park" at the NGS AGM the previous June.  As Caley Jim says, join the 2mm Scale Association (www.2mm.org.uk) and give it a try.  You will see WD is featured in this month's BRM, based on photos that Andy took at the Peterborough Show.  I have to say that I am really pleased with the way they have come out in print.

 

Best wishes

 

Jim

 

 

Yes it was a nice surprise to see WD in print, certainly the one layout that gives me more food for thought regarding the Melton project than any others, The fiddle yard especially.

 

 

Entirely agree with what the two Jims have said. I do like your layouts, Steve, but you will have to ease out the curves a little for 2FS. I thought that Apagele was one of your best and would have worked perfectly as a 2FS design.

 

David

 

Thanks David, I have currently had a slip up with some reasonably priced GWR N gauge so will be building something in N using this to the same sort of blueprints as Apagele, I certainly think there is a little mileage to be had with a little D+E plank in 2mm to give it a go though.

 

 

Why would you not go to 2mm FS? That Melton Mowbray project would make a lovely finescale layout. Depending on what your locos and DMUs are, converting them could be as simple as ordering the drop-in wheelsets from the 2mm Scale Association. 

 

Agreed Graham, its with the thoughts for Melton that are gathering pace that the 'proper trackage' debate is raging in my head. I want Melton to be the best I can possibly make, definitive if you may, I am hugely inspired by similar sized layouts like Welton Downs and Banbury (N). I think a trial plank is in order to properly assess the situration.

 

 

I've built 2mmfs track and I've built n gauge Fintrax, and although an improvement on Peco, its not a patch on 2mm fs pointwork with 2mm fs wheels, which as Izzy points out will run so much smoother.

My advice is to make a small layout, perhaps a small yard or a depot, which will only require 2 or 3 turnouts, this way you have a fighting chance of completing something this side of christmas.

Don't expect your first, second, third or even forth attempt to be any good; but if you keep practising you WILL finally make a working turnout, the best way to achieve success is to join the association and buy a crossing jig as the crossing is the hardest part to make accurately, but the jig takes care of this for you.

I would suggest soldering directly to copper clad pcb to start with and then move onto chairs once you've got the hang of it, this way you'll construct a turnout in half the time.

Finally, put the mouse down and move away from the computer, and go make some 2mm fs track

 

Finetrax/Esitrack, if going to make handbuilt track I think I would lean towards 2mm, not just for the range of sleeper bases and flat bottom rail available. I think your post above sums up my plan perfectly. With such a small ammount of stock at the mo, converting the will be factored in when buying new.

 

Many thanks for all the advice. Now to sell my little roundy layout to make room for another plank!

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 its with the thoughts for Melton that are gathering pace that the 'proper trackage' debate is raging in my head. I want Melton to be the best I can possibly make, definitive if you may, I am hugely inspired by similar sized layouts like Welton Downs and Banbury (N). I think a trial plank is in order to properly assess the situration.

 

 

In that case I would definitely go for 2mm FS (or at least the Finetrax N). There was an N layout at the Aberdeen show in 2014 that was beautifully done in every respect. It was one of the most attractive bits of small scale modelling I have seen in a long time, but the fact that it was so well executed seemed to show up the deficiencies in the appearance of the Peco track even more than usual. Looking at it just left the thought of, "What a shame it is so let down by the track." It didn't help that it was right next door to the 2mm Scale Association's exhibit. 

 

 

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