Where did we come from?

I've been in a position to do a bit of research on the origins of the scale in the last week or so. This has involved locating a collection of the local rag from the early 70's. Fortunately, the local group does have such a collection, and locating the info I wanted was only a 40km round trip on the bike.

Prior to 1972 there were fragments of information printed in the local rag with lone photo's and brief descriptions of a layout in Auckland by A C Upton, possibly to 1/8 th scale or about 1:100( I have not yet sited the original so will wait to confirm it) although the notes I have suggest he was the first to construct a large NZR based N gauge layout. Another question would be whether or not it was genuine NZ120 or remodeled foreign gear. The first mention I can confirm is of an Ian Lauchland of Stokes valley, who was listed in the August/September 71 issue as working in TT on n scale track, and having built an Mc on a Peco underframe (wow, we have not moved far in 40 years) as well as having other wagons awaiting suitable underframes.

The Catalyst for the Scale appears to have been at the 1972 Convention in Hamilton, with much discussion on the scale. The major players seem to have been Don Lawrence, Paul Berntsen and a young dashing Kevin Crosado (sporting a beard that made Grizzly Adams seem clean shaven). The then editor the late Maurie Dunston started a column in the August/Sep 72 issue called N'zr for eNthusiasts. it was pointed out at the time that the absolute correct scale should be 1:118, but 1:120 made the measurements much simpler at 1' equals 1/10", which makes a hell of a lot of sense in the pre-electronic calculator age (I doubt if the state of the art Odner adding machines would have been up to the task). Just don't tell any of the finescalers and we'll be fine. An Ab plan was included and Maurie was very keen to support the new scale.

The next issue (Oct/Nov 72 brought news of Lost wax brass castings for an 8'6" underframe and a 4'10" coach bogie at $1.20 a set( believe these plus a selection of other detail parts are in the possession of Don Clements at present) from Scalecraft AKA Mr Berntsen. Colin McHarg also offered a scaled down version of his Zinc Ab etch for the then princely sum of $10 (I can't find anywhere to convert this, but the first loco kit on the market, an F, sold for $48 with a motor, so maybe equivalent to $75-80 today).

In the Dec72/Jan73 issue, a 2 page spread reported more doings, and the naming of the scale (yes its that old) That appears to have been suggested by Garry Whincop and Crossado about the same time, although there may have been a frantic spate of letter writing. Maurie suggested that he preferred Nz120 vs other suggestions, and this seems to have become the standard in the journal after this time. Kevin Crosado also suggested that mechanisms should be scratch built as commercial N scale stuff was not overly accurate and had larger flanges than the then equally new 9mm scale. At this point 3/32" to the foot was also suggested (to make the conversion of plans easier) but appeared to die quietly without much support.

It was pointed out that at the end of 1972 the Guild register indicated that 7 people claimed to have layouts modeling NZR on N scale. Again the question is if they were genuine NZ120

There was enough interest to sustain at least page per journal (and often 2) in the issues at a time when other modeling fodder was hard to come by ( again, not much has changed). Paul Berntsen reported the creation of a 4'6" driver for an Ab to be cast in Nickel silver, as well as the fabrication of other wagons. Microtrains (then still Kadee) couplers were chosen as being the most desirable. Sources of wheels were discussed, and Maurie asked repeatedly if anyone was building a layout in the scale rather than just making models to see what they looked like. The last 2 issues from 1973 are missing from the collection I have, but apparently there were pictures of a layout and tables of NZR loco wheelbases and N scale models equivalents.

At the Hastings convention in 1974, Paul Berntsen displayed a Da hauled train and a scratchbuilt Ab chassis.

I'd love to know where the Ab wound up, but I believe that the Da is with Don Clements as well.

While it was obvious that Paul was keen on the scale, another new scale was consuming more and more of his time. Back in late 1971 the 9mm association had been formed by Bob McCully. This group had over 10 members that had started building wagons, and Scalecraft started receiving orders for locomotives. I can imagine Paul was happier working in the larger scale as it would showcase his modeling talent's to a far greater extent, and more importantly, pay the bills, as it does not appear that large numbers of Nz120 loco's were being ordered at this time.

Well, thats it for today. this section will have to wait till I can get my hands on another couple of volumes of journals.