N Scale Catalogs

Published: 2018-10-23 - By: Alain LM
Last updated on: 2023-05-05
visibility: Public

Over the years, the TroveStar team members have accumulated a large number of N scale model train catalogs, either in a printed form or as digital copies. These are obviously a primary source of information in our endeavor to build this N Scale Model Trains database. Many of these catalogs are publicly available either from the manufacturers' websites, for the most recent ones, or from various N Scale or Model Trains fans' websites.
For our readers' convenience, we have decided to regroup in a single area on the TroveStar website all catalogs that we have found, in electronic pdf format. The catalogs are usually available in various languages, but sometimes only in the native language of the manufacturer. Some catalogs are covering several scales; in a few occasions, only the pages related to N scale have been included. Note that the resolution can vary from very low to excellent, depending on the source. As far as we can (or remember) we indicate our sources, recognizing the excellent work performed by several passionate modelers in gathering, scanning and publishing older catalogs.

Except for this blog page, all catalogs are presented in list, in their directory. Many of our sources have opted for a much nicer presentation, but our goal here is to provide easily accessible catalogs for reference. Note that, whereas some of our sources have elected to show each page of catalogs as individual images, we have opted to regroup all pages of a given catalog in a single pdf file, that we consider a more handy format.
We obviously welcome receiving links to new sources or a scanned copy of a catalog missing in our collection. Please contact us at admin@trovestar.com.



Please click on logo to access the list of catalogs.

Our catalogs by brand

All Arnold-Hornby catalogs since 2008, as well as Hornby British catalogs since 2016, that contain an Arnold-Hornby section. Plus an older catalog of 1999.
Main source: Arnold-Hornby

All Arnold-Rapido catalogs from 1963 to 1968 (German or US versions). Arnold catalog of 2000 "40 Years N-Scale" (German).
Main source: Modeltreinen Database (in Dutch), The Birth of N Scale by David K. Smith

A one-off all-scale Athearn catalog of 2013.
Main source: Athearn

Atlas-Rivarossi Catalogs of 1967 to 1969.
Atlas N catalog of 1971 and 1972.
Atlas HO-N-O Catalogs from 1975 to 1994 (missing: 1976, 1979, 1981, 1983-85, 1989, 1993),
as well as catalogs (HO/N) of 1996 and 1998 to 2005 (scanned copies).
All Atlas (digital) catalogs since 2006 (N Scale sections), that was the first year the catalog was available for download as PDF. Note that Atlas is not giving public access to their old catalogs, so this is a real unique archive.
Main source: Atlas, The Birth of N Scale by David K. Smith (for 1967-69), Atlas First Generation A1G by George Irwin (for 1972), HOseeker.NET (for 1992-2003), , Atlas (since 2006)

All Aurora Postage Stamp Trains catalogs from 1967 to 1969.
Main source: All about Aurora Postage Stamp Trains by David K. Smith

Aztec Product List

Bachmann N catalogs from 1968 and 1969.
Most All-scale Bachmann catalogs since 2002.
Main source: Bachmann, The Birth of N Scale by David K. Smith

Classic Metal Works N scale flyers of 2013, 2014 and 2016.
Main source: Classic Metal Works facebook page.

A Con-Cor catalog and flyer from 1967 and 1968.
Main source: The Birth of N Scale by David K. Smith

Almost all Dapol catalogs since 2004.
Main source: Ness street - N Gauge Catalogues

Miscellaneous Faller Catalogs from 2005 on.

Fleischmann Piccolo catalogs from 1969 to 1971. New items 1969 and 2001.
All-scale Fleischmann catalogs since 2015.
Main source: Fleischmann, Modeltreinen Database (in Dutch)

A quite large collection of Graham Farish catalogs from 1970 to 2016, pre and post the acquisition by Bachmann.
Main source: Ness street - N Gauge Catalogues

All-scale Herpa catalogs since 2016.
Main source: Herpa

Hornby-Minitrix Catalogs.
Main source: Ness street - N Gauge Catalogues

All Ibertren catalogs from 1970 to 1992.
Main source: http://www.trenminiatura.es/ (in Spanish)

All Jägerndorfer catalogs since 2011 (HO/N until 2016, N only since 2017).
Main source: Jägerndorfer Collection (in German)

Kato Unitrack catalogs and posters.
Main source: Kato

A quite comprehensive list of Lima catalogs from 1963 to 1993.
Main source: Rivarossi Memory (in Italian)

A catalog of 1969 of Tempo MehanoTehnika. Two Mehano catalogs of 2007 (N scale only) and 2008 (HO, TT, N).
Main source: former Mehano website, and scanned copies from Rudolf Lovnički.

A quite large collection of scanned Minitrix catalogs from 1959 to the late 1980's. The 1:160 N scale Minitrix really started in 1964 as Minitrix Electric; from 1958 to 1963, Minitrix was offering a range of push-along model trains in scale 1:180. Since 2006, Minitrix are offering their catalogs of new items natively in digital format, so you'll find the comprehensive collection in multiple languages (more languages on Minitrix website).
Main sources: Modeltreinen Database (in Dutch), Minitrix New items Catalogs, Guide to Z-scale

A single catalog of 2010, from the former Model Power website.
Main source: Model Power (no longer existing)

All Noch catalogs since 2010: full catalogs in German, text-only translations in English and French.
Main source: Noch

A handful of Peco catalogs ranging from 1968 to 2000, as well as a 2018 track catalog (in German)
Main source: Ness street - N Gauge Catalogues

All Piko catalogs since 2010. And a few older ones from 1966, 1968 and 1969.
Main source: Piko - source unknown for the older ones

Pola catalogs from 1968, 1972, 1975, 1977, 1978, 1985 and a flyer from 1969. Pola has been re-branded so many times that you most likely have a Pola structure on your layout.
Main sources: The Birth of N Scale by David K. Smith, Conrad-Antiquario

Revell-Rapido catalogs of 1967 and 1970.
You will note that a number of HO models are covertly used as N Scale stand ins within the 1970 catalog.
Main source: RoadRailer (Dan K.), a great contributor to the TroveStar database.

Rivarossi-Atlas catalogs from 1968-69 and 1971-72, Rivarossi catalogs (N pages only for certain catalogs) from 1972 to 1995, Accessories catalog from 1969-70 (Faller, Vollmer, Wiking, Casadio, Pola, Eheim, Preiser, Minitrains, Roco-Rössler)
Dedicated catalogs for N scale were published only in 1994 and 1995; previously the N items were listed in the main all scales catalog.
Main sources: Rivarossi Memory, Conrad-Antiquario

Roco N catalogs of 1972, 1973, 1975, 1979 and 2005 and new items of 1975-76, 1977 and 2008.
Main source: Modeltreinen Database (in Dutch), Conrad-Antiquario

Röwa HO + N catalogs of 1969-70 and 1970 novelties. Röwa foray in the N scale market started in the late 1960s and lasted only a few years. They produced North American models for MRC, that were also sold under their own brand.
Main source: Conrad-Antiquario

Catalogs of 2005-06, 2006-07 (incl. Life-Like) and 2007-08 for Walthers' own production (all-scales).
Several all-scales/all-brands flyers from 2007 to 2012, and then all monthly flyers since March 2013 - remember Walthers is also a major distributor... These files are not immediately available from Walthers web-site though still on its server, so we did the extraction for your convenience!
Main source: Walthers

Wiking catalogs of 1971, 1973 (N), 1977 (N) and all since 2006.
Main source: Wiking, Conrad-Antiquario

Woodland Scenics catalogs 1975, 2008, 2010, 2016, 2017 and 2019.
Main source: Woodland Scenics


Viewing catalogs in PDF

Many catalogs contain illustrations stretching over two pages (even and odd page numbers) that show well with the physical paper catalog. To get the same visual effect with Adobe Acrobat (r), choose display in two page view, and more importantly tick the following option: View->Page Display->Show Cover Page During Two Page View. This will result in the cover page being displayed alone, but all subsequent pairs of even-odd pages being displayed side by side.


Updates

2023-05-05: added Mehano Tehnika / Tempo catalogs.
2022-02-22: added Arnold catalog 2000 "40 Years N-Scale'.
2022-01-12: added two Röwa catalogs from 1969 and 1970.
2021-06-27: added Atlas catalog 2004-2005, added all Rivarossi catalogs from 1972 to 1995.
2020-06-08: added Rivarossi and Pola catalogs. Additional Roco and Wiking catalogs.
2020-01-10: added several Atlas catalogs from 1975 to 1994 (still missing: 1976, 1979, 1981, 1983-85, 1989, 1993)
2019-02-04: added Revell-Rapido catalogs
2019-02-02: added Jägerndorfer and Noch catalogs
2019-01-29: added Walthers catalogs


Copyright and Disclaimer

The copyright of these publications is retained by their respective owners. These electronic copies are for reference and for private use only. Re-selling them either in electronic or printed form is strictly prohibited.

About the Author

Alain is an avid n-scale modeler who collects North American rolling stock with a focus on Canadian railroads and BNSF and all its predecessors. He occasionally purchases other models from European railroads. He has been using DCC since it's been available and successfully mixes North American and European DCC equipment. Alain regularly contributes to the TroveStar N Scale Model Trains Database (code, data and blogs), as well as to JMRI. By day, Alain works for a world-class railway signaling firm as an automation and real-time industrial computing engineer. This Frenchman lives near Paris.