Tiny N Scale Trains

We came across this table shown below at the Walther's booth at the Amherst train show last weekend.  Walther's was showing these scenic diorama "islands" with Kato N scale track.  It took me hours of research to finally find this product and I only stumbled upon it by accident while looking for something else!  There was no information on this table indicating what we were looking at so I had to resort to my own research.  What made the searching difficult was the fact that I had no idea who made this product nor did I have a product name.  I eventually stumbled upon this product on Kato's website.

These laser cut track bases are made specifically for Kato N scale track.  It is a cool idea but I don't care for Kato track because they use European tie spacing nor do I care for the color of their track.  I definitely prefer the tighter US tie spacing so that really is a priority for me.  

These little scenic "islands" (they call them mini dioramas) are made specifically for Kato track but I figured I could make my own scenic bases using my own choice of track.  I already had some N scale Atlas True Track at home so I was curious about whether I could make this work.  I would just need to dig out this Atlas track.

When we got home, I dug out my Atlas track.  As I was sorting out the different pieces of track that I have on hand, I noticed that the tie spacing on this track varies with the radius of the curve!  (See photo below.)  What the...???   It's obvious that Atlas took the easiest route of simply upscaling the track without keeping the tie spacing accurate on different radii.  Tie spacing should be constant...  ie, the same number of ties per scale foot...  but this is not so on this line of track.  It seems the long section of track with the larger radius has the same number of ties as the shorter section of track of a tighter radius.  Tie spacing should be consistent.  This difference in tie spacing looks absolutely ridiculous!

As I stated above, tie spacing is important to me which now renders this track as not much better than the Kato track.  It would drive me crazy seeing the differing spacing on different sections of track.  However, I do like the color of this Atlas track better than the Kato track.

The thought did occur to me that I could make my own sectional scenic bases for HO scale track instead.  HO scale track looks better anyway.  Besides, I already have plenty of HO scale trains to run whereas I don't have any N scale trains anymore.  I used to model in N scale but once I hit around 50 years old, N scale proved to be too small for my eyes and my hands.  The only advantage to N scale is it is ideal for smaller homes like our home which is why I considered modeling in this small scale again.  Another reason to consider N scale again in today's market is because there are far more and far better products available in N scale than ever before.  This product availability makes a huge difference!  The track choices though...   uggg.

Considering these sticking points though, I think this idea is a dead idea for now.  It really is a cool concept, however, if you can tolerate using Kato track and that chain-of-islands look doesn't bother you.