Let’s Look at N Scale Track, Z Scale Track and Small Powered Chassis
Being a big fan of the smallest trains in Z scale, among them maybe the most popular Z scale loco of all time, the Marklin 0-6-0 BR89, I recently expanded my world just a bit by and picking up several KATO N scale locos sets and powered chassis along with lots of other goodies we’ll be featuring in upcoming videos. I did my shopping at Plaza Japan, a name I’d heard often here in the US and I thought I’d give them a try. As they’re located in Osaka, Japan, I had to factor in overseas shipping and the tariff to my online shopping cart. I ended up buying a little more than perhaps I would have from a US dealer to offset these costs.
Overall my favorite Z scale piece is the Rokuhan Shorty powered chassis, measuring just about 1.5″ in length and very well priced anywhere from $10 to mid-$20, and happily the Shorty is known to be a very reliable runner with traction tires. I’m such a fan of the Rokuhan Shorty, I made a product specifically for the Rokuhan Shorty, the Ztrains Shorty Slow Speed Control Wire (see link below).
I was recently shooting photos of both these N and Z scale pieces for an article and more than once I’d grab the wrong section of track and wonder, why isn’t this loco sitting on the rails properly? Well, of course I’d grabbed the wrong section of track. Ok, maybe not enough coffee, but still… some N and Z track pieces can look awfully similar at a casual glance.
I was so taken with the sizes of some of these N scale pieces, trains and track, I thought it would make for a fun little video. Also as we plan on developing more small model rail and scenery products that will be available through our websites, (see the links in the description below) I wanted to share this information with you.
This is a short video today, not a comprehensive comparison between N scale and Z scale of course, this is just sort of my “aha” moment I thought you might like. If you have a moment, I’d appreciate it if you could drop a comment below. Thanks, and enjoy the video.
Category: Useful Tools
