Foggy Bottom Railroad 7/8n2: Compromises

Sunday, August 9, 2009

Compromises

It's time for compromise.

Things that I'm looking for in a railroad:

Able to resemble at least a significant portion of an industry's actual operation (ore for example, operated in the sense of pickup, deliver, dispose tailings, deliver supplies to mine, etc.)
Has a turn radius capable of running trains with more than 4 wheels (this basically necessitates I need at least 3.5 feet of width to make a loop that big)
Is sizable enough to have the sense when operating that the train is actually going somewhere (as opposed to moving 6 inches and being 'there' already).
Be transportable (able to be moved to a new house, fit through the door, etc.)
Able to be built in a reasonable amount of time for a reasonable amount of money

So I'm sure you notice the contradictions in this list of things I'm looking for. How can the railroad be portable, but still contain a fairly large amount of track, or be movable to a new home? For that matter, how can a railroad contain a large amount of track and still be affordable?

When I was a kid my parents bought me Kato Unitrack in N scale. It's precision made track that 'clicks' together to form temporary layouts. I think we have a winner!

The positives of going over to Unitrack are numerous...

Because the track plan isn't permanent, I can always re-arrange it if I want to try something different
This, in turn, gives me time to figure out what kind of trains I like the best (what era, what industry, etc) I can run passenger, or rearrange the track and run a freight delivery line.
I can still 'model' trains, that is build them, along with cars and structures. It hit me I don't need a permanent layout to do that
Everything is completely portable. It can be setup, left for a week or 2, then taken down and moved easily.
I can focus on building and running trains rather than building benchwork, wiring track, or making scenery.
It gives me time to build my collection of carpentry tools. As it is now, I don't have a lot of what it would take to build proper benchwork.
Since it's a bit more 'toy like', I could always pass it down to my children later on in life.
It's a step closer to the garden railroad mindset... 8-) ...for that matter, I could probably build wooden risers to hold the unitrack slightly off the ground... hmmmm.....

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What is 7/8n2?

A way in which trains are classified is the width between the rails. It's known as the 'gauge'. In the United States, most trains people think of when they think of trains are Standard Gauge railroads. In standard gauge, the width between the rails is 4 ft 8.5 in.

Other gauges exist. In particular, anything skinnier than standard gauge is classified as "Narrow Gauge". Narrow gauge typically ranges from about 18" up to 36".

7/8n2 is a scale that is focused on 2 foot gauge; hence the "n2" part at the end. It stands for "narrow, 2 foot". 2 foot gauge railways (that is, 24 inches between the rails) were used throughout the world, but more notably in european countries and south africa. Narrow gauge trains were smaller in size. They hauled less cargo, but their advantage was they were cheaper to build and could negotiate tighter turns than standard gauge.

Most of the 2ft gauge railways there were in existence have gone, but some are still maintained. The most notable 2ft gauge in the US was found in Maine, and is the only 2ft gauge railway to haul general freight. Most other 2ft railways were typically focused on industrial use, for example, hauling peat or slate from a mine to a processing facility.

So if "n2" means narrow 2 foot, what's the 7/8? It means the scale is 7/8 of an inch represents 1 foot in real life. It's a ratio of 1:13.7. 7/8n2 is a fairly large scale. A 2 foot gauge boxcar that in real life was 10 feet long and 6 feet tall would be 8.75 inches long and 5.25 inches tall if modeled in real life.

If that was all too complex, think of it this way: 7/8n2 is a large scale to model small trains.