07-22-2009, 09:42 AM
To be short, I have found out, that in Central/Eastern Europe there is no such thing as N-gauge.
Or barely, at most. I've been traveling a bit here and decided to visit as many as possible model railroad stores in Hungary. Been to one non-model railroad modeling shop to get some information, but I already know that the store in Bratislava (that'd be the capital of Slovakia) has about three freightcars and one building available (ok, maybe ten cars and three buildings) in N-gauge while there is a pretty good selection of H0 and TT (TT is hugely popular around here). Having looked through websites of shops here there is only H0 and TT available (which almost is bringing me to the point of picking up some models in scales that I don't model...yet..as the models, that is, Hungarian Railways ones, which won't win a beauty contest, are pretty affordable (less than 100 dollars for an engine, 15ish for a passenger coach, from the top of my head)..fairly exotic too..). Will at least pick up a kit of a Budapest tram if I can find one... Oh, and train shops around here aren't very big at all if one compares them to, say, ones in Germany (or the US, I guess, never having been there)
The lack of N is a bit strange as people don't live in huge houses around here and space might be better used for N-gauge, but on the other hand TT has a strong historical presence here and maybe there is no room here for two smaller scales (Eastern Europe being one of the two traditional havens for TT modellers)
Oh, on a sidenote, I'll post some nice train pictures in another thread when I'm home.
And for anyone happening to end up in Luxembourg some time, there is a nice rideable garden railroad in the valley next to the old town. (didn't ride it although it was free and everything, regretting it immensely)
So much for now
Or barely, at most. I've been traveling a bit here and decided to visit as many as possible model railroad stores in Hungary. Been to one non-model railroad modeling shop to get some information, but I already know that the store in Bratislava (that'd be the capital of Slovakia) has about three freightcars and one building available (ok, maybe ten cars and three buildings) in N-gauge while there is a pretty good selection of H0 and TT (TT is hugely popular around here). Having looked through websites of shops here there is only H0 and TT available (which almost is bringing me to the point of picking up some models in scales that I don't model...yet..as the models, that is, Hungarian Railways ones, which won't win a beauty contest, are pretty affordable (less than 100 dollars for an engine, 15ish for a passenger coach, from the top of my head)..fairly exotic too..). Will at least pick up a kit of a Budapest tram if I can find one... Oh, and train shops around here aren't very big at all if one compares them to, say, ones in Germany (or the US, I guess, never having been there)
The lack of N is a bit strange as people don't live in huge houses around here and space might be better used for N-gauge, but on the other hand TT has a strong historical presence here and maybe there is no room here for two smaller scales (Eastern Europe being one of the two traditional havens for TT modellers)
Oh, on a sidenote, I'll post some nice train pictures in another thread when I'm home.
And for anyone happening to end up in Luxembourg some time, there is a nice rideable garden railroad in the valley next to the old town. (didn't ride it although it was free and everything, regretting it immensely)
So much for now
-norm