N scale

Programming a Long Address into a Kato FL12 Decoder
The end car of a Kato 485 series EMU, with headlights and head mark lit.

A veritable tsunami has swept over my N scale club. Several of our newest members collect Japanese-prototype trains. It’s easy to see why: there’s a dazzling variety of sleek, colorful models available, many of them made by a manufacturer (Kato) we already know and love. The interest is now spreading to our older members, including me. In the wake of my discovery of Usui Pass, I found myself wanting models of the trains that once operated there. When Steve said, “I’m putting together a Plaza Japan order, you want anything?” I said yes.

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Mail Enhancement Products
An assortment of N scale mail and express cars.

I’ve devoted a considerable amount of ink to my recent HO purchases lately, but not so much with the N scale. It’s not that I’ve stopped buying N scale rolling stock—I haven’t. To me, the novelty of HO hasn’t worn off yet. Patience, please!

My N scale purchases have tapered off, but I’m still making strategic acquisitions in certain areas, such as mail and express trains. My interest in them probably stretches all the way back to Dad’s American Flyer 718 Mail Pick-up Car. Scooping up and launching little plastic mail bags under the Christmas tree with that thing was one of my favorite holiday pastimes.

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My Real Hobby is Overthinking the Geometry of Sectional Track | Driveway ’22 Part 1

Truth be told, sectional track is the main reason I stayed awake in high-school math class. Once I realized that mathematics could answer important questions like “how close to the edge of the plywood will this loop be?” and “how long do I need to cut that fitter section?” it became much more relevant to me. To this day, I carry a calculator with trigonometry functions everywhere I go, just in case a track-planning emergency crops up. Thanks to my enhanced geometry skills, my first book—about track planning, naturally—was well along by graduation time. (I self-published it a year later.) When the time came over the winter of ’21-22 to design a replacement for the Covid-19 Emergency Railroad, I was rarin’ to go.

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Budd Wiser

When word came round last August that the hobby shop had just gotten in a large N scale collection, I went to see it, thinking I could use another passenger locomotive, or perhaps some more Kato passenger cars. You know, something with lights, that would look good in a darkened driveway. What I found checked both boxes: a Kato RDC (Rail Diesel Car). The prototype was manufactured by Budd, the same company that made those lovely stainless-steel streamliners, and served as a one-car passenger train for railroads working to economize their passenger service. Never mind that none of the railroads I model had RDCs, this one was in Budd demonstrator livery, so it’s easy enough to rationalize its presence in my railroading activities.

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The Essence of the Season

Don’t get me a present. Don’t even bother with a gift certificate. Skip the tree. Forget the decorations. A turkey sandwich and a beer will suffice for dinner. Please don’t make me listen to that Mariah Carey song. There’s only one thing I really, truly want at Christmas time: a few hours spent watching a train do laps in a dimly-lit room.

Well, okay…some cookies might be nice, too. (more…)

This is Gonna be Lit

Kato, bless their hearts, makes it easy to add lighting to their N scale passenger cars. Let me rephrase that slightly: mostly easy. Their lighting kits aren’t quite the no-brainer drop-ins they’re intended to be, but I’ve installed enough of them now to know their quirks. (more…)

Running Trains at Twilight, in My Driveway, During a Pandemic, With Neighbors Watching

It’s been a weird summer. Society has been gradually opening back up, but large gatherings are still taboo, we’re all wearing masks when we’re out in public, and train-club meetings remain on Zoom. I’m starting to miss those things we used to call “events.” Because the recession came knocking at our shop, and slashed our workload, I now have four-day weekends to fill. The COVID-19 Emergency Railroad has been coming out a lot lately. (more…)