Impossibly N-possible…

Last year when my lovely ScaleTrains GP30 arrived I was incredibly excited to test out N-possible couplers. This is not a photo of one; rather I’ve gone backwards to go forwards and fitted Micro Trains 1015…

In my search for the holy grail of reliable non-bouncing operation the N-possible seemed to offer some potential but recent trials have continued to frustrate - whereas I’ve managed to get my 1015 fitted stock working, even switching at slow speed; cars no longer bounce off down the track rather than actually coupling up! It’s almost magic, what a transformation from my previous experience…

In this video you’ll see how the refitted 1015 now work reliably - coupling to a single Intermountain covered hopper. There is a 95% confidence now, possibly even better (excuse the noise - the camera was in contact with the baseboard and picking up vibration as well as sound!).

It might seem like it, but this is honestly not a rejection of the N-possible, rather a realisation that with N scale wheel/rail/gauge tolerances and with a very small gathering angle they were never going to be suitable for my small shelf switching layout… add to that the difficulty in reliably uncoupling them without magnifying head gear and it’s clear, that whilst they offer great potential for large basement empires, they’re not the universal answer that some may have you believe.

This has been a hard decision - moving away from fidelity; but model railways need to do more than just look good, for us to suspend reality and enjoy getting absorbed in operation then they need to work too… we are spoilt in British N - the DG is not only a visual improvement it works beautifully. In this modellers honest opinion the holy grail would combine the fixed pivot and rear spring of the N-possible but with the wide gathering angle and larger head of the Microtrains… best of both for most of us…

Good news - the current issues of 1015 availability should be resolved, Atlas hoping to re-start production towards the end of this year.

Until next time, more soon…

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