Locomotive advice

[DavidEnghauser]

As part of my 00 gauge layout I plan to incorporate a narrow gauge 009 mine layout. What locomotive is recommended? I am open to a kit, but I am a novice in building a locomotive. I have been soldering a lot of wiring so can solder it together. Also what wagons are recommended?
Thanks for your input.

David

[LC&DR]

Check out Dundas Models (https://dundasmodels.co.uk/) who have an extensive range of OO9 kits and ready to run models.

Locos going underground will probably be a diesel, or a battery loco. There are ready to run diesels but a battery loco will be a kit.

Mine wagons can be either side tipping wagons or open box wagons (or a mixture of both) . There is plenty to choose from at Dundas.

[DavidEnghauser]

Among other items Dundas recommended Roco HO9 locomotives and rolling stock. Is anyone familiar with this brand, and any comments?

[yelrow]

Hi, have Roco N gauge, and 00,locos. Excellent build quality, never had any problems. Very big in Europe..

[brian1951]

Excellent Locos, Roco have merged with Fleischmann under the Modelleisenbahn Holding GMBH.

[Mountain Goat]

Roco, Liliput, Bachmann, Heljan and maybe others are factory made in the 009/H0e realm. Lovely little things. I went down the same route as you did... Invested quite a bit in H0e (RTR 009 was not available back then), enjoyed it but felt that they were a little too small and intricate... Tried a Smallbrook Studio 7mm narrow gauge kit just because I loved the look of the thing... Became hooked and gave away my H0e to a good friend who had supported me through tough times, and started selling my 00.
I never expected quite a change in direction, but I am loving it!

I will say though that those 009/H0e items are lovely.

[DavidEnghauser]

I like the look of the Smallbrook kits. Where do you get the appropriate chassis? I am a novice when it comes to building loco kits.

[Mountain Goat]

They are in 7mm narrow gauge so are a larger scale then 009 and 00, but they do run on the same track width as 00. They are the narrow gauge of 0 gauge if that makes sense? They usually use the standard Hornby 0-4-0 chassis but make sure it has piston rods if the body kit has external pistons.
The kits are actually quite easy to make as they are made from resin, which is an easy material to work with. Resin uses runny superglue as its ideal bonding agent, and any gaps or little bubbles etc can be filled in with modelling clay or similar.
I make my own couplings as I wanted to be able to build waggons without it costing me too much money, and the two costly items to me are wheels and couplings, so by making my own couplings, it is quite a bit cheaper. So I can (In theory) build waggons for not a great deal more then the cost of a pair of 00 gauge wheels if I don't account for the time it takes to make them. The couplings are basically made from drawing pins and paper clips.

Photograph shows my loco number 1 which started life as a Smallbrook Studios Clio kit and has had a few modifications (E.g. coalbunkers, a much modified Triang chassis using modern Hornby parts (Nothing wrong with the Hornby chassis. I was just experimenting as the Triang chassis is metal and seemed a nice upgrade. Turns out it was a lot of work but it makes the loco lovely and heavy for pulling lengthy trains!))

[Walkingthedog]

Just to confirm MG, 009 are the same scale as O gauge but use OO track. So I could run it with my O gauge layout?

[Mountain Goat]

To confirm.

009 and H0e are the narrow gauges of 00 and H0. They both run on N gauge track gauge width (9mm).

0-16.5 (British), 0e (European) and 0n30 (American) are the narrow gauges of 0 gauge and run on 00 and H0 track gauge width.

There are other gauges of narrow gauge like H0m which is H0 scale that runs on 12mm track gauge width (Similar or the same as TT?) to represent metre gauge which is common in Europe, and in 7mm scale there is 0-14 which represents 2ft gauge (16.5 gauge represents 2ft 3" (E.g. Tal-y-llyn railway etc) though it is actually 2'4" if scaled up).

So yes. If you want narrow gauge on your 0 scale layout, you need 0-16.5 and 0e or possibly 0n30 which all run on 00/H0 track width. I will say that as most American prototypes are soo large, I would be selective about using 0n30 and buy models based on smaller prototypes.
If you want narrow gauge on a 00 gauge layout you need 009 (Or/and H0e).

As a rough guide to the scales, 0 gauge people stand roughly twice the height as 00 gauge (Roughly, as they stand exactly double the height as a H0 person would stand), but as many narrow gauge prototype locos and stock can be quite small, one can enjoy the larger scale in a small space and as long as one is reasonably selective to stick to smaller prototypes, one can take nice sharp curves which I take advantage of on my 7ft x 2ft layout.

Here is a picture of the scale differences of three locomotives. A 00 gauge Smokey Joe, a scratchbuilt 0-16.5 loco based on a Smokey Joe style saddle tank, and a Smallbrook Studios Clio kit (Green loco) which uses the Smokey Joe chassis.