The New Newsletter - NTRAK Modular Railroading Society, Inc.

Entry Level Nn3 Locomotive Text
& photos by Tom Knapp
Although 6.5mm gauge Nn3 has
been around since 1972, it remains a
relatively small segment of the N
scale model railway community.
There is a good supply of rolling
stock and track products, but - with a
few exceptions - motive power still
remains primarily kit conversions of
Marklin Z chassis. The main source
for these kits in the USA are the
excellent white metal kits from
Republic Locomotive Works, who
have a broad range of steam
locomotives and a couple of diesels.
In the U.K., Peco still produces two
small steam white metal locomotive
conversion kits for the Marklin 0-6-
0, under their “N6.5" line, in addition
to injection molded wagon kits. One
of the shops that carries the Peco 6.5
products is Country Rolling Stock
( http://www.ntasticshop.co.uk/ )
Recently while surfing their pages I
came across another inexpensive
white metal Nn3 locomotive
conversion kit - their ZCGB-NG-
001 - Nn3 Diesel Shunter Kit
manufactured by NMRS of
Northampton. (They also make Z
scale products.) The kit sells for
£11.99 (about $19 US) and is a
simple body kit composed of seven
white metal castings Photo 1). The
kit was designed to fit the Marklin
8805 saddle tank 0-6-0T chassis
(with the center driver set removed),
but this locomotive is becoming
increasingly hard to find, and is
expensive. For this build, I decided
to use the PowerMAX! four-wheel
chassis available from Republic
Locomotive Works
(https://www.republiclocomotivework
s.com/show_item.phpItem=SR%20P
MX-1 ) also shown in Photo 1, plus a
Photo 1
Photo 2
NMRS white metal diesel shunter (switcher) kit and
PowerMAX1 6.5mm gauge power truck.
Assembled white metal casting
NTRAK Page 5