Atlas Code 55 Flex-Track Question

Greg,

Your assumption about tie spacing would be important only from the aspect of visual appearance.....in my opinion. Right now, I could not tell you which side the sliding rail is on my railroad, but I believe that it really does not matter. The biggest trick to using flex track is simple. Do NOT have your rail joiners side by side like they are with snap track. Off set your rail in the first piece of track by about 3 to 4 inches. Then bring in the next piece of track and slide the rail from it into the nubs on the first. When the rail butts up against one another, take a razor knife and cut away just the nubs, not the whole tie, to get a rail joiner in place. By doing this method, you always have a railjoiner on one rail being supported by solid rail on the other side. This is especially important on curved sections. With flex track you only need to cut rail when absolutely necesssary, such as when you come up to a switch or crossover. Now I am sure others will chime in with soldering rail before putting track down and other ideas so let the converstion continue. My major point is the offsetting of the joiners.

Bob

Doesn't matter which way you go. Solid side in makes the ties on the outside further apart while vice versa happens the other way. It is purely a visual thing.

-- Bob May Losing weight is easy! If you ever want to lose weight, eat and drink less. Works evevery time it is tried!

In theory, you have a good idea...but what do you do when you get into "S" curves? Are you going to cut your flex track, then flip the next piece the opposite direction? That would seem foolish, as it'd be much better to have a longer run without having a joint.

I can't speak for Code 55 (which sounds like N scale) track, but for Code 100 and 83 (HO scale), I've never noticed any problem bending it either way.

As a rule, the rail will offset itself naturally in a curve...but you do have a good suggestion. I haven't laid any rail in several years, but the group I used to be associated with always soldered the joints after everything was in place.