Nothing for me destroys the illusion of reality on a model railway depicting British prototype as much as the size and spacing of the sleepers of Peco streamline track. It just doesn't look like proper chaired bullhead track. And nothing - at least for me - so identifies the character of the Victorian railway system like the 'built-like-a-dreadnought' nature of chaired track.
There are dodges around this, of course ... like cutting the webbing between the sleepers and readjusting the spacing (but this doesn't address the chair issue), or buying the more expensive C&L track. And of course you could say that if you really want that sort of realism, you should move up to EM or P4. But for me the gauge isn't the issue. If you don't have something to compare the width of two relatively tiny lengths of rail, it's actually fairly easy to confuse 00 for the larger, more accurate gauges. I would point to the number of exhibitors who remark that people confuse their 00 layouts for EM because they've used one of the two dodges I mention above.
That said, for someone residing as I do in the U.S., can somebody enlighten me as to why Peco do not produce proper chaired track for 00 gauge? Their 0 gauge track is chaired, and C&L have shown that it is perfectly possible to do it in 00 ... so why not a line of Peco Dreadnought (tm) 00 gauge track to satisfy those who want that, well ... built- like-a-dreadnought look for their layouts? Yes, I'm certain that by making the track look more un-British (for lack of a better word), they knew they could sell the track on the Continent and in the U.S. (and they do indeed sell bundles of it here). But surely another, more accurate line would sell well in the U.K. ... I'd imagine that modelers would snap it up in bushels.
Thoughts?
Dave Richtmyer Ann Arbor, Michigan