N scale and RailPro

[Paul Schmidt]

On Saturday, I sent the folks at RailPro an e-mail asking them to someday produce a locomotive module for N scale.

Not only was I delighted by their fast reply, what they said delighted me too.

Hi Paul,

We made a note that you are interested in RailPro for N scale.  We do plan to work on an N scale loco module at some point. We do believe the technology exists today to do it.  However, it will be a significant redesign compared to our HO size module.  Since we can use our HO technology as in larger than HO scale modules our current plan is to build them first.  They should not take long to develop. Then work on an N scale one.  We like to hear comments from fellow model railroaders.  Our customers comments do affect the products that we build.  We added your name to our email list so you can be aware when we release new products.

So, it's more a matter of "when" than "if". Looks as if I need to get a RailPro starter set in preparation for the day.

[KPack]

That's great news!  I figured they would focus on large scale first as the hardware is pretty much the same. Hopefully N-scale is not too far behind!

-Kevin

[Paul Schmidt]

It won't be a long wait, I hope, Kevin, perhaps just a couple years. But it will be worth it.

[Tophat3]

Rolling up on 5 years now. Gotta feeling it's not going to happen.

[KPack]

I tend to agree, mostly because I don't know how well the components can be sized down.  As time goes on though the necessary components will likely shrink. 

Ring does not do things terribly quickly.  Even things like new sounds, software updates, etc take a while.  If the components can be shrunk to fit N-scale then we'll see those modules, eventually.

What I'd like to see is someone take a Railpro module and stuff it in an N-scale boxcar or dummy locomotive.  Just to test proof-of-concept.

-Kevin

[Alan]

Ring may be facing a scale problem (pun intended). Not model scale, production scale.

There is something called SoC - System on Chip. SoC is the reason so much complexity can be stuffed into your tiny cellphone. If the sales volume is sufficiently high then it becomes practical to design and fabricate the entire circuit on a single die rather than constructing from individual components as Ring products are currently manufactured. N scale probably needs SoC to be feasible. Not so sure he can sell enough of them to make the economics work.

https://www.techopedia.com/definition/702/system-on-a-chip-soc

[Tophat3]

Well, I guess its HO gauge then.
Been waiting since 2000 for dcc to become more user friendly. It seems more convoluted  then ever. So many module's for this and that. And as advertised, they tell you what they are but not what they do. Seems more work then fun.

Saw blue rail and s cab, looks promising for the future. Came across rail pro and thought, this is it! Just cant have it in n scale.

Just turned 50 and n scale now seems awfully  intricate and small, have to start thinking about eyesight  and dexterity,  so maybe HO is the right move.

Just really miss getting all that train in such a small space. There was always to me something charming about that scale.

[Alan]

Just turned 50 and n scale now seems awfully  intricate and small, have to start thinking about eyesight  and dexterity,  so maybe HO is the right move.

I never wore glasses until my late 40's. There was a marked decline in my eyesight from age 55 or so onward. Now approaching mid sixties I have tri-focals. Looking back, I am glad I didn't choose N scale. HO is challenging enough today.

Just really miss getting all that train in such a small space. There was always to me something charming about that scale.

A popular saying over on MRH... "The quality of the run is more important than the quantity of run." I believe it is true.

[Paul Schmidt]

Rolling up on 5 years now. Gotta feeling it's not going to happen.

I'm thinking the same way by now.

Who will deliver first? Blackstone and it's long-promised HOn3 K-28, or RailPro and an N scale module?

[G8B4Life]

Who will deliver first? Blackstone and it's long-promised HOn3 K-28...

That's only been 7 years so far from announcement, you've still got time to go to beat some others. I wonder who the record holder is for announcement to delivery?

Back to the (sort of) topic at hand, SoC would be a good way to go regardless of the required size of the board, or what scale it's intended to be used with. I could easily imagine an LM or DCC decoder being like a Raspberry Pi: SoC, MicroSD card for storage (and OS if needed), just write a program for whatever you want to do with inputs and outputs (Ring does this already with his PIC based products).

The problem for Ring would be finding an existing SoC that could do what he wants and would fit, it would not be worth his while to create a SoC from scratch.

- Tim

[faithie999]

Rolling up on 5 years now. Gotta feeling it's not going to happen.

I'm thinking the same way by now.

Who will deliver first? Blackstone and it's long-promised HOn3 K-28, or RailPro and an N scale module?

far and away, the winners are the software companies that announce new products and never develop them.  we used to call the products "vaporware".