About track

I want to get into HO railroading. After googling I see that code 83 is more photorealistic than code 100 although it's a bit pricier.

What about flex track. Does it come in a selection of codes? Can you get flextrack that can be clipped together the way sectional does. A little box of rail clips or something. How easy is it to mate flextrack with pre made turnouts and such.

Who is the preferred vendor of flextrack and of sectional without roadbed.

Thanks, W

Reply to
coustanis
Loading thread data ...

Flex track will need to be cut to even out the rail ends if you are coming out of a curve into a switch. Otherwise I just undercut the first two spike heads on each rail and slip a railjoiner on them.

I like Atlas Superflex in code 83.

Reply to
Frank Rosenbaum

Actually, it's more realistic to stagger the joints like the real railroads do.

And on curves, you will need to solder the joints to keep the area at the joint curved, too.

Reply to
Brian Paul Ehni

"> I want to get into HO railroading. After googling I see that code 83 "> is more photorealistic than code 100 although it's a bit pricier. "> "> What about flex track. Does it come in a selection of codes? Can you "> get flextrack that can be clipped together the way sectional does. A "> little box of rail clips or something. "> How easy is it to mate flextrack with pre made turnouts and such.

Flextrack comes is a selection of codes, usually 83 (realistic mainline) and 100 (oversized mainline, but needed for some rolling stock). I just checked at

formatting link
formatting link
:Micro engineering also has code 55 and 70 flextrack (used for yards). And Peco has code 75 flextrack. Yes, you can use rail-joiners to connect sections of flextrack. And yes it mates to pre made turnouts (or even bits of sectional track). Flextrack does not come with 'attached' ballasted/roadbed, like *some* sectional track/pre made turnouts.

"> "> Who is the preferred vendor of flextrack and of sectional without "> roadbed.

Atlas makes good, low-cost flextrack track in both code 100 and code

  1. There are several other vendors. *General* rule-of-thumb: if you are using pre-made turnouts from a given vendor, use the flextrack from the same vendor for optimal fit and consistent look (eg same color/shape ties and rails). Although different vendors' products will generally 'mate' -- sometimes you need that 'special' bit of track-work.

"> "> Thanks, "> W "> ">

\/ Robert Heller ||InterNet: snipped-for-privacy@deepsoft.com

formatting link
||FidoNet: 1:321/153
formatting link
/\

Reply to
Robert Heller

I don't mean to be picky, but you can get much more complete answers from books and magazines than you can from this newsgroup. We're pretty good at answering specific questions, but yours covers a wide range of informaion. Check out your local library. Usually if they don't have wha you need, they can ge it from another library.

Good luck and welcome to model railroading.

Reply to
Larry Blanchard

The best technique is to pre-curve the rail ends to match the desired radius. This eliminates the 'doglegs' common in poorly laid trackwork. This is a good idea whether or not one solders the joints.

And, yes, staggered joints are preferable.

Soldering the rail joints is optional. It is (usually) a good idea to solder SOME of the rail joints. It is a bad idea (usually) to solder ALL the rail joints. Some expansion-contraction space is needed in the trackwork to prevent buckling. It's not the track that usually does the expansion-contraction, but the benchwork and roadbed under it. I'd avoid any continuous rail sections more than 10 ft. long.

Often the BEST technique is to leave the major rail joints UN-soldered, and run a feeder wire to each rail section. This gives excellent power distribution, AND allows rail some flexibility.

Dan Mitchell ============

Reply to
Daniel A. Mitchell

I would suggest you try to find a model railroad club near you and join them. You will learn far more there, and far faster, than you ever will by reading magazines, books or internet posts!

I say this from personal experience.

Peter

Reply to
Peter J. Gross

Undoubtedly true. I mentioned libraies instead only becaus there are a lo more of them than clubs, especially in small towns or rural areas.

Reply to
Larry Blanchard

I like Code 83 because it looks better and it not that much more expensive to use. Flextrack does come in a selection of codes and can be joined with rail joiners, but most recommend soldering those joints especially in curves to maintain the curvature (no kink at the joint). Also, in curves, the outside rail will cover less of the arc than the inside one, so things won't line up exactly and you will need to cut the rail (see below).

You can join flex track to turnouts, but be aware that not all track profiles are identical. For example, Atlas flextrack and Walthers turnout have different tie heights, so the rail doesn't line up exactly with out shim somewhere. Also, some rail has a different width at the bottom part where the rail joiner goes (Pilz Elite, for example is narrower that Atlas).

I wound up choosing the same flextrack as turnouts to avoid those issues. I don't mind the European look, so I went with Pilz Elite which has nice turnouts, including curved ones along with weathered rail and joiners. Atlas, Microengineering, and Walthers all make good flextrack and turnouts, too. Peco now has a range of Code 83 which I've not used at all, but other seem to like. I use NO sectional rail on my layout: it is all flextrack and turnouts.

Note that you can build your own turnouts, and the September issue of Model Railroading has an article on page 27 about using Fast Tracks jigs to do just that. . Then you can use rail from whatever flextrack you chose to use to get an exact match and not worry about differing rail profiles.

I use one of two methods to cut rail: A Xuron rail cutting tool, and then a fine file or metal sanding disk on a Dremel to square up the cut, or just use a cutting disc on my Dremel tool, and then use the same sanding disc to even things up.

Ed

in article snipped-for-privacy@g44g2000cwa.googlegroups.com, coustanis at snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com wrote on 12/1/05 8:27 AM:

Reply to
Edward A. Oates

"coustanis" wrote in news:1133454476.144044.219470 @g44g2000cwa.googlegroups.com:

Yes

Exactly. Flex track is joined using rail joiners that slip over the rails. Same as sectional track.

Since they use the same types of rail joiners, it's a no brainer.

Atlas and Micro Engineering, AFAIK.

On additional thing you need to know. Flex track has a fixed rail and a free rail. When you bend the flex track, the free rail slides within it's 'spikes'. It will apear to change it's length relitive to the fixed rail. The trick is to place the free rail on the inside of curves and then trim it short. There is a bit of skill needed for this.

There are some other tricks to using flex track that this group can undoubtedly share with you.

Reply to
Gordon reeder

PolyTech Forum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.