July 5th, 2008
Today I made a monumental decision. I decided to change modeling scales from "N" to "S" scale. I have been debating the possibility of a change for several months now. It is not an easy change to make because it involves new expenses, new investment of time, and other unforeseen issues. However, I believe a change will be good for my interest in the hobby.

I will turn this page into a journal of what I went through changing scales. So, come back from time to time to see how it is going.

So, why the change? Well, the principal reason is that, even though I am only approaching my mid-40's, the details and the road numbers on the locomotives and cars are getting harder to see. I find myself grabbing for the opti-visor quite often just to do some basic operations on my N scale Bear Creek & Eastern switching layout. Having friends that are of retirement age, I can tell that that isn't going to improve with age. Secondly, building code 40 track is very difficult, because the track is so small and the tolerances need to be so accurate to have reliable operation. Third, even though N scale equipment is getting better and better, there is still a lot of stalling of the engines because the contact area between the rails and the wheels is so small. I don't run my trains often enough to keep the track clean, so each time I want to run the trains, I spend 10 minutes cleaning track rather than running trains. The fun has kind of gone out of it.

But why "S" scale? At 1:64, S scale is two-and-a-half times the size of "N" scale (1:160), so it easier to see. It does take up much more space then N scale. Ultimately a model railroader selects a scale to model based on what feels right. I have only ever modeled N scale (since the mid 1970's). My brother had HO, and of course I have operated on other people's layouts, most of which are HO scale. But for some reason, HO never "felt right" to me. I have never owned any S scale equipment, but I have seen layouts at shows and at people's homes here in Houston. Like N scale, it, too, felt right to me. Because S scale is so much larger, it is also much more expensive. But, even though it is more expensive, because of its space requirements you really don't need that much equipment to have a functional layout.

July 8th, 2008
I have been spending a lot of my free time doing research on the Web looking for what is available in S scale. It is truly staggering. I thought that switching from the second most popular model railroad scale to one of the least popular ones was going to be disappointing, but it isn't. There are tons of structures, cars, and engines available. The PRR seems to be well-represented, too. I will soon build a web page with all the links I have found.

I also decided to share my decision with some local model railroading friends. It solidifies the decision even more.

July 10th, 2008
I have been debating about what to do with my N scale collection of locomotives and cars. I have a few extra things like structures, but mostly it is just the cars and the engines. In the past I have used eBay to liquidate a friend's N-scale collection so that he could fund his new HO-scale layout. I am leaning toward doing the same thing for my change-over.

At first I will be looking at purchasing one small switching engine, since the layout space I have available is the same as what I currently have available for my N scale layout. One nice thing I discovered with S scale is that even small switching engines have DCC decoders, lights, and a Soundtraxx decoder and speaker in them. Wow! The lack of sound in the small engines of N scale had always bothered me. Towing a boxcars with a speaker in it just didn't appeal to me.

The other thing I did today was come up with a first rough draft for a new track plan using S scale turnouts and track in the same space I currently have. I use Abracadata's 3D Railroad which happened to have one S scale track template (Gargraves). This provides a dose of reality to just how much (or little) track one can get in an area. I will tinker with new design ideas over the next several weeks. Once I have one that might be a candidate, I will publish it here.

July 11th, 2008
I had joined the Yahoo! Groups S-scale list last week. Today I decided to introduce myself to the group and ask a couple of "newbie" questions. The response I got was fantastic. Lots of people answered my questions and give me lots of good ideas. Many also gave words of encouragement, because almost all had switched from some other scale to S and never regretted it.

July 13th, 2008
I decided to start building a small S-scale structure just to get the feel of the size of the scale. You can follow my progress on the PRR Toolhouse page.

July 15th, 2008
Work on the N-scale BC&E has been terminated.

July 17th, 2008
After thinking about how I am going to sell my N-scale equipment, I decided to start by photographing and describing each item up for sale on a separate "For Sale" page on this web site. Once everything has been photographed, I will start to gradually put these items on eBay.

July 18th, 2008
Today my wife and I visited Papa Ben's Train Place here in Houston, Texas (I created and am maintaining their web site). When Ben Pearlman, who started the store and was an avid N-scale modeler, died several years ago, his brother, Allyn, took over managing it. However, Allyn was just diagnosed with cancer. The doctors caught it early, but he is going to be out for surgery and recovery for anywhere between six months to a year. They have decided to close the store for now, and move to a new location after he recovers. Our prayers go out to Allyn.

The store had discounted some items. I also wanted to find out how much stock the biggest store in Houston had that was S-scale specific. They had some things, such as detail parts, some "S Helper Service" sectional track, and a few kits. No rolling stock. It only occupied about three feet of one of the many shelves in the store. I picked up a tunnel portal, some grab irons, a NASG Standard Gage, some Tomar Industries' Hayes wheel stops (I loved those in N-scale), and a package of code 83 non-weathered Micro Engineering rail. Normally, I would not have bought all this (I was hoping to pick up some rail only), but Allyn is going to put the store's inventory in storage in a few weeks, so I got what I thought I might need in the near future. One thing's for sure, moving to a larger scale is more expensive!

July 29th, 2008
The change-over is going smoothly. I have sold some N-scale items through this web site. I kept the scenicked part of my N-scale layout so that I can run some trains while I am designing and building my new layout. Once I need the space for the new layout, I will officially get rid of the N-scale layout. I have already begun work on the new layout, and you can follow along here.