That’s an impressive collection. What make are the 142s? I’d quite fancy one in chocolate and cream but I’ve never seen an N gauge one.
The 142s here are all Hornby OO versions, mostly acquired 2nd hand over the years, the exceptions being the original provincial blue unit which was a boyhood Christmas present - part of my 6'x4' tail chaser, and one of the Northern Spirit units which was bought new as present by my now wife (earlier in our relationship when she still humoured me with these things
)... There are several other livery versions I do not (yet) own - original GMPTE, the later regional railways GM, later Merseryrail, Arriva turquoise and FGW to name some...
By today's standards they're a bit toy-like, but that's no bad thing. As I say, I have one of the Real Track Class 144s and whilst that is a leap forward, amazingly detailed, in a different class (pardon the pun) from the 142s, it is extremely fragile and it makes me wince each time I have to pick it up or try to separate it from it's box.
I understand Real Track are working on an OO version of the 142, not sure if the faux GWR chocolate and cream will be offered however. Similarly in N it was not part of the original Dapol release, but who knows, it may be available in a future release.
Glad this thread has been started, as it saves me starting one!
We were always 00 back then, I have contemplated switching to N to save space but that means starting again completely from scratch. On the other hand most of our old models are very dated now- mostly old Hornby and Lima stuff. I'm probably going digital so all the old locos will likely stay in storage.
I'm not going to have a huge amount of space so N is still an option, but then it isn't significantly cheaper for being half-size and as a few others have said, the small scale might be beyond my limited dexterity! One thing the lack of space does mean is that I'm not going to have a big circuit.
I understand your point about having to start again, for me, I am years from being able to model in OO at home, and N was the only way to have a go at this point in my life. I went small, very small, and with just two or three items of rolling stock it's very limited, but otherwise I would not have had the opportunity to do anything. I really enjoyed the experience and learnt plenty that will help in the future.
As mentioned, the current products are priced similarly to OO - certainly not half the price for half the size, but this is understandable, they have just as much detail and realism - amazingly so.
My OO collection which is waiting it's time is mainly older stuff like yours, and yes, it looks it, compared to today's offerings - but not sure I could ever afford to replace it all.
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