I would like to start a discussion about operating in Z scale. If you have ever attended an NMRA national convention (I have), you have probably noticed that one of the recurring topics is operations, that is, simulating pick up and delivery of freight the way 1:1 RRs do it. This involves dropping off and picking up rolling stock at various industries, putting together consists, etc. The alternative to operating is just watching trains go around the layout, which accounts for the popularity of operations. What about Z scale operations? For some time early-on Marklin couplers were a standard. They were ugly, but coupling and uncoupling (C&U) were fairly easy although I admit I have little experience with them. Micro-Trains Line (MTL) magnematic couplers were a great improvement. They look realistic and C&U can be done remotely and reliably. The current alternative to MTL couplers is AZL "autolatch" couplers, which it should be said often do not "autolatch". And getting the AZL couplers to uncouple is a pain. People I've talked to who do operations in Z scale have all converted AZL rolling stock to MTL couplers or just run MTL rolling stock. So, if there is a solution to the operating problem in Z scale, what's preventing a solution? The problem is that changing couplers is a pain, expensive and time consuming. Another part of the problem is that MTL is getting out of Z scale, converting to N scale exclusively. It has been more than a decade since MTL released a new Z scale body style and is now doing almost no Z scale releases. I hope that they will continue to sell Z scale couplers but there is no guarantee. I think that AZL would have preferred to use MTL couplers on their rolling stock and locomotives, but MTL forbade it, rightly fearing AZL competition. Why doesn't AZL produce its own magnematic couplers since the patents must have run out a long time ago? A very good question that only AZL could answer. An abject failure on their part. Why am I concerned? I would like to see Z scale grow in popularity the way N scale has grown. I believe Z scale will not grow much in popularity until the C&U problem is solved. Does anyone have statistics about Z scale growth versus N scale? If so, let's examine them. I have tried to have this conversation with Rob Kluz of AZL, but his mind is closed and he absolutely refuses to address these issues. Malcolm Cleaveland MCZ Models

Just my 2ct from the other side of the pond: Again and again it is astonishing how many different types of locomotives was produced in North America and in which quantities. More, how many different sub types was build: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EMD_SD60 CSX is my focus of interest (to be honest: B&O is it more, but in case of modern rolling stock... ;-) ) and there was 3 different looking types of SD60 - beside eventually different colour schemes. I am curious how AZL will handle this "problem". I remember the times in which the quantity of offers in american Z scale were managable. Today? Good for interest and "bad" for budget... ;-) Wish you a nice weekend Arnim Am 02.07.24 um 13:46 schrieb Robert Kluz via groups.io: > One man’s option. It is sad when someone can’t see the forest through > the trees. > > Malcolm, what about Atlas? Do you even realize they produced their first > Z scale fright car that was released June? > > What about AZL? How many new models have they released recently? Two new > products in just 4 weeks! > > SD60 - NEW BODY style for July > Airslide hoppers - NEW BODY style for June > New tooling - SD70Ace - 2024 > SD40-2 - new in 2023 > Ortner hoppers - new in 2023 > > Why would AZL put SO much money into the hobby if it weren’t doing very > well? > > That fact is Malcolm wants to believe Z scale is not succeeding > otherwise his point for growth of Z being dependent on operations is > mute. It is this kind of negativity and non-factual arguments that I > find most disturbing. I spend my life promoting and supporting this > scale. All you have to do is look at the forums, and any of the websites > I own, and you will see a wealth of new products. All signs are > positive, but you have to choose to see them. > > Rob > > *“Zeeing is believing…"* > * > Follow us on Facebook! * > *www.facebook.com/ztrackmagazine* > * > * > *Ztrack Magazine Ltd.* > *Distributor for American Z Line* > *Rokuhan, Full Throttle, Archistories, Raildig, Father Nature and others* > > *www.ztrack.com* > *www.ztrackcenter.com* > *www.ztrackresale.com* > *www.azldirect.com* > > > > >> On Jul 1, 2024, at 9:57 PM, Malcolm Cleaveland via groups.io >> <mcleavel@...> wrote: >> >> 4.Rob Kluz says Z scale is really taking off, maybe becoming as >> popular as N scale? But he offers no evidence aside from the fact >> that he is moving to a larger place. As a scientist, I would like to >> see more evidence, such as more retailers carrying Z, more >> manufacturers offering Z, skyrocketing sales, etc. Perhaps Rob could >> point these out if they exist. Unfortunately, with a major Z scale >> manufacturer, MTL, abandoning Z scale in favor of N scale, the >> evidence points in the opposite direction. Another major manufacturer >> (Intermountain) dipped its toe in Z scale with some very nice covered >> hoppers but found it did not pay and has never released more Z scale. >> Intermountain obviously views Z scale as a mistake. I have been >> unable to persuade any dealers I've met at train shows to carry any Z >> scale at all. So, I see no evidence of Z scale taking off, in fact >> just the opposite. > >

Hello Group Members, In a recent thread regarding operations in Z scale I have noticed wording that Micro Trains is getting out of Z scale or words to that effect. Has anyone seen or have have documentation from Micro Trains stating such? Regards Alan

I have to stick my oar in here and drop a penny's worth. I came to Z scale by default after modelling Nn3 since 1980 and meeting MrDave and his layout at the NMRA national convention in 2002. and joined his crew along with Don Avilla and it quickly became a couples gathering annually for the next decade with 4 or 5 senior couples Then we were joined by a young couple from Houston, the Buckley's. Over this time it was obvious to me that Layouts with cute little trains were the thing that got the scale noticed and were always the big draw, with trains going round and round and staying on the track. and this is what got people's attention. operations:- yes it can be done in Z scale but I do not think that sort of operation is going to be a crowd pleaser, and draw in people, the attraction to Z, for the public, is the grand vistas on layouts like Mr Daves and SoCal.and others using T track modules, With long trains running both freight and passenger. Track there are quite a few options to go with tie based , and the roadbed brands,some are easier for each modeller to get laid down properly and operate flawlessly, than others, but there is one thing that I have learned over time and I learned it first in N scale and ported it over to my Z scale operations. and that is, if I want to do switching, the cars need metal wheels and body mounted couplers. Metal wheels are a costly conversion if you have a fleet of MTL cars, but the difference is no heavy track cleaning and wheel cleaning required once the delrin plastic wheels are gone, no grey gunk building up on wheel treads and being spread all over your track, your engines no longer operate intermittently, areal bonus for DCC. Next is no Talgo trucks with couplers attached, though they do operate better with metal wheels, they still do not push reliably through points. There are two things that make this difficult. Unlike on the real railroad our points do not nest tightly to the rail they are closing too. and so if there's pressure on the couple, on a talgo truck it can turn slightly, loading one flange against the stock rail and then the flange hits the blunt end of the point rail and climbs up and over the stock rail, causing a derailment. This can be avoided if the point rail is formed so it comes to rest on the web of the rail or drops into a slight notch in the stock rail, and this can be coupled with tighter positioning of the guard rail opposite the point of the point rail. and With body mounted couplers the trucks are not loading the truck to twist in the rail and are free to seek the center of the gauge and is less likely to pick a blunt point rail. On Z scale track, get away from the magnet in the road bed. It works but there is a steep learning curve to get to work reliably. The first thing is to set the glad hand to correct the height above the rail, once you have done this the electromagnetic uncoupler is marvelous, but why is that so? It is because it sits outside the rails, so use a magnet that spans the track and ties, now you have the right magnetic attraction at the right distance from the center between two coupled couplers and the couplers open easily. It can be buried under the roadbed or automated with a servo to lift it up under the roadbed to the height of the ties for use and dropped down when not required. At 80 and ten years post stroke my 2 x 4 ft show module can be run on DC or DCC, uses Rokuhan track and draws a big crowd to the table it is sitting on at every show. I can run 3 trains on separate loops: a double track main and a single track figure 8. The most common comment I get from the ladies is how cute they are. From the modellers, I can't believe how well that runs and no derailments and it's too small for my big hands or for my eyes to put it on the rails. From the kids, gee this is low enough to see it. To me at this point I still enjoy running trains at shows and showing what Z is about and sharing my love for these little trains. At home I still run N scale with DCC and sound, do switchingand spend countless hours enjoying the hobby, the only thing I miss I am no longer building things like my steam engines in N scale or my doodlebugs in Z and N, it has been a great hobby for 50 years so far and looking forward to a few more. cheers Garth.

I received noticed yesterday that my new Atlas Z scale cars have shipped. Should be here Saturday! I sure hope Atlas keeps it going. Between Micro Trains, AZL, and now Atlas things sure look good for me and Z scale. Regards Alan

Hi Everyone Yesterday I completed a kit from Micro Structures and wanted to share my results. It’s a fun kit to build and I was able to assemble and paint it in just one day. I imagine it would have come out better if more time was granted, but I was watching Eastwood’s The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, and I was on a roll. This is a brass etched kit in Z scale of the Mid State Bank. It represents a bank on a street corner. Now the villains on my layout have something new to rob. The kit comes with one page of written instructions, and one page of isometric drawings. I mostly just followed the drawings for reference. The etched brass pieces are very clean and come off their spurs easily with small rail nippers. I used a small file to cleanly remove any excess material. Per the instructions, I used a small pair of long needle nose pliers (smooth jaws) to make the brass bends. All painting was done with a small flat brush using acrylic paints. The instructions recommend air brushing, but I was too lazy to do that. I enjoy hand painting. Painted the windows titanium white, the mortar with burnt umbra, the roof bone black, and the rest of the building in titan buff. The mortar was painted roughly and excess removed with a paper towel. The stone brick were lightly covered with a flat brush. It all came out to my liking. The instructions suggests using crazy glue for assembly, but I had run out and was having too much fun watching Eastwood blowing up a bridge with Duco. Hence, I used 5 minute epoxy. Worked great. Here’s a photo of the completed kit taken yesterday. Initially, I had reservations with building a brass kit, but once into it, it was a lot of fun to build. I think that airbrushing might have yielded better results, but for a hand painting, I thought it came out pretty well. Also, if I had air brushed it, would it not have covered the brick mortar lines? Thoughts? I recommend this kit and give it two thumbs up. Cheers! Jim Schulz PS… it doesn’t actually take a whole day to complete this kit. It took one movie of “The Good, the Bad, and the ugly” (it’s a long movie), and one movie of “The Goonies”, to complete this kit. Ya gotta love the classics!

Hi Everyone Today’s Z scale model is what looks like a farm house. It’s by ARCHISTORIES, simply called the Olive House (#ARC-404201). Olive for its color. I believe it comes in several color choices. While building, the movie of choice is the infamous “African Queen” by John Huston, starring Katherine Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart. It was a hot day here in Colorado, so the sultry hot environs of the African Queen seemed appropriate. This kit is made of rigid cardboard and comes completely painted. I was blown away at the quality of all the tiny (and I mean TINY) cardboard components. I used an X-Acto blade to remove the pieces from its spurs. Are they still called spurs if it’s all cardboard? Basically I just followed the instructions. I’ve never built a cardboard kit before, in any scale. I proceeded with a bit of caution and trepidation, but found that these feelings were unwarranted. Assembled everything using Aleene’s tacky glue, sparingly. The only thing that was not cardboard were the acetate window glazing, which were all cut to size. Assembling this kit was a joy. Every piece went together perfectly. The pieces went together as modules. This gives the benefit of letting you choose how to fit together the final modules. The same kit can be assembled in several ways. For example, the wrap around porch can be fitted in different positions around the main structure. Then, when you’re all done, there’s no painting required! Boom, finished! I am now a fan of cardboard structure kits. I give ARCHISTORIES’ Olive House a ten out of ten. Not just for its amazing precision, but also for the pre-painted colors that make this structure pop, but not overly pop. It’s spot on. As the final sections were drying, I imagined Charlie and Rosie reaching the shoreline and moving into their Olive House, smiling ear to ear, happy, on my Z scale layout. Cheers! Jim Schulz

Hi Everyone I must confess. The world of Z scale is new to me. I come from On30 and Sn3, hence, by comparison, Z scale is really REALLY tiny. It’s cracking me up, but I’m very much enjoying Z scale thus far. I was browsing the Reynold’s Euro Imports website and found this finished bulldozer by Artitec and was curious of its quality. Received it today and oh my goodness, I am amazed. It’s so tiny that it fits on the very tip of my pinky. Yet it’s very nicely detailed, and has a figure in the driver’s seat. It comes in a small box (of course), and labeled as #322.040, “Hanomag K5 Laderaupe open”. I think Laderaupe means bucket loader, but I’m not sure about that. It comes tied down to a piece of cardboard, and costs $32 USD (assembled and painted). I might pick up some bicycles next. Cheers! Jim Schulz

Other than Tortoise switch machine, what will work with the Atlas #6 turnouts and not be so balky. This is a new 30 x 48 inch layout. Still want to be able to take to shows and minimize potential damage. Thanks

Can you make a Rokuhan X layout without a flyover using a R025 and 220mm radius curved track for a test layout?? I tried using the SCRAM software, no luck. Current length straight track leaves a gap at the crossover.

Setting up my Trans Alpine Bahn this weekend first time since 2018 I’ve had it out. A Zed club sprung up in the last year or two in my absence I’m looking forward to seeing them again. I saw them last year while I was at the show with my sons n scale layout. Hope you all are well keep the topics following and long live the Zed!

Hello all, I have a Marklin curved turnout and it looks like the solenoid has gone bad. Is there any possibility to replace the solenoid or do I need to replace the whole turnout? As a side issue, is there any source for the small Z (or N) twin-coil solenoids used in turnouts as a spare part for use in animations? Thanks, Marty

I'm build/run a website comparing model train prices from hundreds of shops 😅 To help people in searching for Z scale 2nd hand/vintage models, I would like to add some more model train shops to my site. Can you recommend some shops I should add? Especially shops selling 2nd hand/vintage models. (I'm in Denmark myself, so a bit lost concerning foreign shops selling 2nd hand/vintage models). Thanks a lot for your help 👍

Technical Question for the group: I'd like to add lighting to my passenger cars (I have already come up with a decent way to do this using LEDs and a capacitor for dirty track). The dilemma for me is the one grade on my layout (I'm not sure the %). I'm running Marklin equipment and steam locos are notoriously bad pullers and any grade can seriously hinder their pulling power. The problem with lights I find are the wheel wipers required for pickup. Even when you can get them to touch the wheels or axels just enough to provide power this increases drag on the cars and that means you need more pulling power. I realize folks may use double headed options like in the prototype but I have an idea which I'd like some feedback on before I experiment with rolling stock. It goes like this: Let's say I want to pull four to five cars with lighting. Depending on the style of passenger car that is at least two axels/wheels needed/car to provide power. In a five car train that's at least 10 wheels/axels with wipers and that's a lot of drag. Now if I can reduce the number of wipers while still getting sufficient power my idea is this: with my five car scenario I would only tax two cars with wipers and connect each car together in line with two wires. Each set would run from one car to the next and be soldered onto the next car's LED board and each car would have a capacitor on it's board for dirty track. Obviously this would mean the cars would be permanently attached to each other but I am fine with that as most passenger sets come together as a set and I can still detach them from the locos. I am running my locos in DCC so there is no shortage of track power. My real question is am I missing an obvious (or not so obvious) hiccup with this possible solution? Thank you all in advance for your input. Anthony

Happy 4th of July, As far as I remember, there has never been a Z scale month in the NMRA calendar. Not because there are not great modelers in our scale, but because I don't think anyone has ever bothered to submit photos! For example, I begged David George to submit photos of his award-winning layout but never received a reply, so I infer that he did not. The blurb in the attached NMRA request for submissions says that they're looking "for a few good layouts", but that's untrue. What they are looking for is excellent photos of small, richly detailed scenes. So pictures of an excellent diorama would qualify. Something like the Z diorama featured on the cover of the Feb 2011 NMRA Magazine by MMR Gerry Leone. Why do I think this is important? I think our scale is losing traction. Many would-be modelers think HO when they consider taking up the hobby. If knowledgeable, they may consider N scale, but they are rarely exposed to Z scale, hence rarely consider it. This is not helped by the lack of highly visible retail access to Z. Walthers does not carry it and M.B. Klein (Modeltrainstuff online) is phasing it out. These are huge losses. I think getting some photos in the NMRA calendar would boost much needed awareness of our scale. Malcolm Cleaveland MCZ Models

I am trying to find tried-and-true wiring diagrams for adding automatic stop/start blocks on my Marklin Z layout.

Has anyone had success wiring decoders in the newer style of Marklin Diesel engines with the split boards on either side of the motor? The older boards are a tile more straight forward as to what to cut out and where to wire. Steam engines are easy to see where the decoder wires go. But the split boards are having me scratch my head a bit following the electric paths. There are also screws in the chassis that I believe are part of the pick up system from the wheels.

New to z-scale. I'm building a suitcase layout for my son (I was able to procure a Noch aluminum case), and am planning on using Rokuhan track. Two questions: 1) What's the best way to attach the track to the layout (keeping in mind it's a suitcase/portable layout). In n-scale I've used latex caulk. 2) What do folks use for track power feeders? 3) Do people solder z-scale track with roadbeds (the idea scares me) I see that Rokuhan has a feeder cable that fits into their 55mm straight track. Are these any good? Better options? For a suitcase layout with Rokuhan track, how often would you place a feeder? thanks in advance

I am building my first z-scale layout for my son (in a Noch suitcase). I am going to use Rokuhan track, and the rokuhan switch/controllers (C002). If I am NOT using the Rokuhan train controller (going to use the Noch 88166 controller for 2 railway circuits), what's the best way to power the Rokuhan turnouts? I see they make a cable (A010) to connect the C002 switches to an "AC power supply"). Does this really need to be AC? Can I power it off if a wall-wart? TIA

New here. I want to build-up a z-scale portable layout similar to the ones Noch offers, but without spending their crazy price for my son as he moves on to his next life chapter. Where can one get cases like the ones Noch uses? I can still find the Rokuhan versions, but their are smaller, and I’d like to both maximize the layout size and curve radius. Appreciate any pointers to appropriate cases. Thanks