New to Z Scale

I am about to take a leap of faith and move from 9mm to 6mm railroading. I have been an N-Gauger off and on for neigh onto 40 years, but yet to build and empire. Lately I have played around with KATO & Tomix track in that larger scale, and it looks like I will make my move using Rokuhan. It offers a wider selection of geometry and the switches use a two wire setup like KATO.

I have just retired, and am living along a BNSF line in NW Illinois, so I'll be using the BNSF as my main RR. This should allow me to us BNSF, Burlington Northern, and Santa Fe cars, which there seems to be a good availability of on the market.

Is there anyone out there in the NW Ill or Eastern Iowa area with a dry shoulder I can cry on when I have my first derailment?

73's - John

Welcome to Z-scale, John! And, welcome to Z Central Station.

Although there will be folks that disagree with me... I think your selection of Rokuhan track for sectional is a good bet. Have you already bought any thing yet? If not, you might want to ask Rob of Ztrack to put a BNSF starter set together for you with a Rokuhan controler and some Rokuhan track.

John,
Welcome to Z scale. I agree with JA that Rokuhan is a great track to start with, wide section selection and very reliable. With your experience with KATO, you'll feel right at home.
I really wouldn't worry much about the road names for your freight cars. Your not that far from Chicago where all the roads mix. So I'd expect you'd see just about any road name there.
I'm afraid I'm not aware of anyone in your area, but there' always the Z forums to shed a virtual tear in.

Mark

BNSF good choice! I have had very good luck with Rokuhan track. I built my first layout with MTL track, but the switches gave me such grief, I had to replace them. I was able to tweak some of them, but the Rokuhan ones are more reliable.

Welcome to the Z world. Myself, I am old school. CB&Q! The Zephyr went right through NW Illinois. I am originally from way down in Southern Illinois myself. Nice and flat country and would be easy to model and look great in Z.

I was born & raised south of Columbus Ohio, a stones throw away from both the N&W and C&O double mainlines coming north out of coal country, right at the transition from steam to diesel. I lived next to the only grade crossing that the C&O had between Columbus & the Ohio River.

John- I like your avatar-- "Pigs can Fly"!!!!

John welcome to Z scale!

Alex is right, if we can help you along with a starter set, we would be happy to put a custom one together for you. We have been creating sets that have an AZL GP38-2, a mix of freight cars and Rokuhan track and turnouts. Plus we give a free subscription to Ztrack Magazine! It is a great way to get started in hobby. I do really need to get a BNSF starter set together as well as a BN and ATSF set…

It sounds like you grew up in a great area. We are out of Columbus Ohio, though I was born in Pittsburgh PA.

Rob

ztrack wrote:
It sounds like you grew up in a great area. We are out of Columbus Ohio, though I was born in Pittsburgh PA.

Rob

I was just in Columbus last December looking for Z scale items at a couple hobby shops. I was completely dismayed with what I found. Nearly nothing in Z. After that trip I discovered that AZL was based out of Columbus. Do they have a store to go through? I live about 1 1/2 hours away and wouldn't mind shooting down to Columbus to check it out.

Looks as if you guy are close I'm south west of Columbus, Ohio. I also wish there where more shop Here in this area. I'm also Born here in Ohio. Good to know we have some "Z" scalers close by. There use to be DCC trains when they first open had a lot of "Z" but now carry more "N" scale! and Dave's Electronic in Milford also had "Z" and all other scale until they closed down two years ago! Welcome aboard!

Right now where I pick up my Z scale supplies and trains is a shop in Medina called Ormandies. The problem is he stocks mostly Marklin with Marklin couplers. I'm just not a fan of Marklin couplers at all. When the IX Center had it's big train show, I picked up a card from a vender out of Pittsburg. He claims to sell a lot of Z, so I'm planning on going to Pitts in a month or so. Just not many places to buy Z around here. (Ohio)

Correct, the dealers here in Columbus just don't stock Z. I know Ormandy's quite well and have purchased through them in the past. I have not been up there in some time. I really need to stop in again.

As for us, well we likely have the largest inventory of Z scale anywhere! We have a showroom that is open by appointment. Out of our showroom, we handle all AZL distribution, as well as carry products from Micro-Trains, Rokuhan, Marklin, InterMountain, Full Throttle, and many, many more companies. We have over 2,000 products available in our resale department alone!

If you would like to setup an appointment, just drop me an email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Email tends to work best for us over a phone call. I guarantee you will be blown away by what we have to offer. Again, you have never seen this much Z in one place!

Rob

WOW That sounds great! I'll go through my calander and see what saterday I have open. You'll be hearing from me for sure!

The Dayton GTE is this weekend. There should be at least one dealer there that has Z.....Coryville Station. They won't have all that Rob has but might have something you'll find interesting.
Ellen

Coryville is an odd one. They have a great selection of Z, but won't carry AZL. They are really missing the boat in my opinion. It is too bad.

Rob

Rob, the last time I spoke with Becky she said she wanted to carry AZL but she had some kind of issue dealing with you. She didn't tell me what the problem was but it would be good if you could get together. You could certainly benefit each other. Ellen

Thanks Ellen for the heads up. They have never done business with us, so I don't know what the issue is. I talked to Uncle Will about them as well and he is in the same boat. They don't return calls or email and just don't seem willing to expand their Z line. We both were getting ready to write them off. I will reach out to Becky again. She did seem more interested then her husband.

ejshelton wrote: The Dayton GTE is this weekend. There should be at least one dealer there that has Z.....Coryville Station. They won't have all that Rob has but might have something you'll find interesting.
Ellen

Unfortunately, I have previous commitments, but it looks interesting none the less. Thanks for the heads up.

Welcome to the Z-Virus. Like you image thimk on Pink Floyd Pig on the wing