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This is N or 9mm scale model railroading (1:160)

My interest in N-gauge is primarily in Steam Engines. I have over the years produced many different engines by cutting and splicing the various commercially available mechanisms to produce the various wheel arrangements that are not commercially available. My oldest conversions are now approaching 30 years old and still going strong. However they are a bit cruder than the things I have done more recently. I have also discovered a very large variety of n-scale steam that has been produced in Japan and China for the Japanese Market. Micro Ace a.k.a. Arii have become in a very short time the largest producer of Japanese Steam Engine models in N-Scale for the Japanese market. For many years Kato was the sole maker of Steam Engines then Kawai made one model and Tomix made one model. The Life Like model of the Berkshire released in December 2004 is typical of the type of model Micro Ace has been manufacturing in China for the Japanese Market. While it does not have tender pickup it runs very smoothly and has the weight the earlier MDC and later Rivarossi versions lacked. Real Line is a new Japanese Steam Engine manufacturer and has produced a variety of D51 models as of early 2009. In late 2009 Tomix released its second steam engine a C57 Pacific.