So....some questions:

What weight rail? 70-83-100 - 55?(nah)

Do you have to build your own turnouts?

Steam Locomotive availability?

I see quite a few structures, so thats no biggie...

What is the gauge difference for S gauge and Sn3?

Inquiring minds want to know.....maybe.....LOL!

Hey Bill...

I'm using code 80 rail myself and have no problems with flange clearance. I was going to build my own turnouts using the Fast Tracks jigs, but it turned out to be more economical to have the made for me by Railway Engineering. Both Frederic and I hand lay our track. Locomotive availability is centered around the Colorado/Western prototypes from manufactures like PBL and Overland, but kits are available for Eastern roads like the EBT & ETWNC. I don't know what the gauge difference is between S and Sn3, but I do know that it is really close to HO. Thank you for contacting the info desk here at the Sn3 Branch!

Russ

Bill, sorry for the late answer.

About the gauge. In Sn3, it's 9/16". It makes about 14.2mm, while HO standard gauge is 16.5mm, which corresponds to a gauge of 3'6" = 42" in S. A number of modellers use this gauge and have all the HO fleet available (as in On30).

S standard gauge is about 22.5 mm, that is approximately 0.9".

Concerning turnouts, I made a nice bargain recently. I had lent my Fast Tracks #5 jig to my friend Alexander Zelkin who needed to redo some of his turnouts. As a way to say thanks, he built ten more for me. It should be enough for at least 3/4 of the track in my current room.

I use code 70, and while I mainly handlay as mentionned by Russ, I also have a few pieces of flextrack which I may use someday, since I think I'm able to blend the color of the plastic to that of the wooden ties elsewhere.

More later. Maybe some hints about rolling stock and buildings.

And to enjoy the scale, here is a link to a video showing the modular Sn3 layout of the McKenzie brothers. The video was shot during the recent Sn3 symposium in California.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ys-sy_43ztQ

And a diaporama posted by Bill Beverly showing many pictures of Joel Shank's layout:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/2310172...11034324/show/