Playtime

As if my ventures into Nn3 aren't enough, I have a new scale now.

I picked up an AZL Mikado in a package sale (along with a GP7 diesel and a bay window caboose, which may or may not be right for the Nickel Plate Road) with the intent of turning it into an EBT Nn3 Mike, but it doesn't have the right driver diameter. So I'm expanding into Z scale a bit.

Besides, this little Mike is just too darling to take apart, wouldn't you say? Look at the astounding level of detail in this miniature loco, keeping in mind this is scaled down 220 to 1. I have N scale (1:160) locomotives without this much detail.

I've picked up some MicroTrains Micro-Track Z scale track with roadbed, I've had to fiddle with some of the turnouts (what us model railroaders call switches so as not to confuse them with the devices that route electrical power) but it's all running pretty well now.

And so with Z in mind I've been on a car buying spree lately. It looks like I should have gotten the locos in Pennsylvania Railroad livery (what us model railroaders call the paint job) since so much of the rolling stock is PRR. Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be a lot available for the Nickel Plate in Z, and besides there wasn't a choice of road names in the package deal (not that I would have cared at the time since I was going to strip them down). At least they are both northeastern roads.

Yes I'm well aware that I am mixing eras, the steam locos were long gone by the time the boxcar on the siding came into service (and most of the GP7 fleet had been rebuilt or replaced with newer series) and you would never have seen it on the same road at the same time as the yellow wooden reefer in the middle of the consist (what us model railroaders call a line of cars hooked together). What the hell, I'm sticking with Rule Number One; it's my railroad and I'll run what I want.

And speaking of the GP7, it's a handsome locomotive as well, with detail every bit as exquisite as its N scale counterparts. It even has directional headlights (what us model railroaders call it when the light at whatever end is leading is lit up but the one at the trailing end is not), something that my N scale SD7 is lacking.

Z scale sure is darned expensive when compared to N though, so there won't be much more of it.