ZTC's Dreadful Service

In message , John Turner writes

At the risk of generating a whole load of angst, I was under the impression that Peco rail was definitely not the best on the market. I base this on comments and discussions concerning the appalling state of the 45mm and 32mm track work that was only a year or two back installed at Cheddar Models factory and which deteriorated so rapidly that it was not worth recovering a month or so back, when the business closed and the Cheddar Steam Club were offered it for free.

Our small group are ground clearing and about to construct a rather large out door run of 45mm track work at the preserved Nene Valley Railway depot to compliment our existing 'in the coach' 44ft OO gauge layout, so are exploring the track work possibilities. It seems that the Peco rail down at Cheddar which was mainly used to run the live steam locos suffered from the sleepers becoming very brittle indeed and very rapidly breaking up. The rail bed was on resin bonded play over solid steel framing and there was little perceptible movement in the track supports, other than common expansion which was allowed for in the design of the layout.

Cost is a huge factor in large areas of 45mm track work. LGB is very expensive :0(

Cheers.

"Roy" wrote

I suspect that the problem with the G-gauge track is that the sleepering appears to be fairly ordinary plastic whilst the smaller scale stuff uses something more akin to rigid engineering plastic. The discharges (oil, steam and water) from live steam operation will all have an impact of the plastic used for the 45mm gauge stuff.

Certainly my OO-scale railway which uses Peco finescale code 75 track has had much of the trackwork in situ for seven or eight years without any problems at all and requires minimal cleaning.

John.

Try Tenmille track - it is as bullet-proof as the chunkier LGB stuff, but nearer Peco in price (IIRC). Had experience of it in 32 & 45mm, with live steam, on outdoor, indoor & exhibition layouts, and it has been more than up to the job.

Steve Banfield

Roy,

I'm not aware of the same type of situation with Peco 7mm scale track. I know one or two people who use this track on outdoor layouts and they don't seem to suffer this problem, with their tracks being down for several years with no noticeable deterioration. I wonder if the situation at Cheddar had anything to do with a lot of live steam running.

Jim.

It sounds like one should paint the sleepers before putting them outside.

I have Peco track from 1966 that is still usable/reusable and Graham Farish from

Regards, Greg.P.

If it's major, the mobile/cell system overloads and/or the transmitters go down. Furthermore, you can't charge your battery.

Anyway, I don't have a mobile (well, I do but I haven't used it in 5 years and it's obsolete).

LOL! Depends whether "this country" means England, or the United Kingdom, or England-and-Wales.

Not true anymore, you can shift your line rental to other providers. I now get broadband and line rental from TalkTalk plus free evening and weekend calls plus free calls anytime to other talktalk customers (ie most of the family).

MBQ

It sounds as if you should ask Peco the question "Is your track suitable for use outdoors? If yes, are there any precautions we need to take?" is called for. Keep question and response if you go ahead, just in case.

"MartinS" wrote

Nope, nothing to do with Wales - I love the place.

It's a quality issue I'm afraid - we stopped stocking Dapol some years ago because I was fed up with getting crap from them.

John.

"Greg Procter" wrote

Peco pointwork appears to use the same sleepering base as their G-gauge track, so that *might* explain why, but even so the stresses to which (electrified) points are subjected to would have an effect on their longevity.

John.

In message , " snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com" writes

I am extremely fussy about broadband and require a broadband facility not just a simple connection to the Internet through some sort of proxy. TalkTalk do not provide the type of broadband facility that is suitable for my needs.

I don't really want to swap one bunch of extortionists for another either :0) I would like to cease the line rental altogether and retain my existing AAISP broadband connection. BT will not allow that unfortunately. They will not even allow you switch to the light user scheme or at least wouldn't the last time that I tried the ploy.

Cheers.

In message , John Turner writes

I wondered if it was the action of sunlight and weathering which caused the plastic to break up. The nickel steel rail itself was in fine condition and the problem seemed to be confined to the plastic chairs and sleepers which became extremely brittle.

Our NVR layout has been running Peco OO-Gauge inside for years without problems. It's open to the public every weekend and during all of the summer steam gala functions is operating daily non stop. Over the average year the whole layout infrastructure gets a hell of a hammering. Points need regular replacement due to surface wear. Rakes of 40 or so mineral wagons or long passenger rakes hauled by a huge variety of locos is not uncommon.

Are you running your OO-scale railway outdoors? I have been tempted to have a go at this for ages, but have been put off by the fact that we have a damn great oak tree inside our boundary that covers half the garden and which is protected under a TPO. It's very tempting though to have a run out of the workshop and around the garden.

Cheers.

In message , Steve Banfield writes

Thanks Steve. I will have a look at it and get it priced.

Cheers.

The DCCUK web site is an excellent place to find out all sorts of things to do with DCC. The good the bad, its all there. ZTC does attract a lot of complaints on the site for very good reasons and why I did not buy it. Over priced, poor performance compared with other systems and lacking in the items to build an integrated system. Spend =A3300 to save =A3100 pounds is there current offer, no thanks. =A35 for a mini din plug, 80p from maplins. I've also noticed they have removed the diagrams from their web site that allows lenz and other Xpressnet equipment to be interfaced with ZTC gear. Talk about cutting their own throat. They need to fix al the bugs in their system and come up to date with the gear. Even their so called made in the UK is a bit false as they used rebadged Digitrax loco decoders from the states.

Rant over, have a good day.

In message , Jim Guthrie writes

I use Hornby flexible and semi-flexible OO track, so I can't tell you what happens to Peco from my experience! However, I will say that Peco insulating fishplates are bloody awful: I've recently had to replace a couple that have been down for just a year and a half (barely two summers), and as soon as I started fiddling with the track they disintegrated into lots of tiny tiny bits.

In message , snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com writes

Throttles in the last 18 months and computer interface in the next 6.

Only one model of ZTC Decoder AFAIK is rebadged Digitrax (at least that's how it shows up on DP) I can't say about the Soundtrax decoders which are a co-operative project with Digitrax anyway.

....

I don't know if it would work for you but I use the standard metal connectors everywhere then if I need an insulating gap I make a cut (care of Mr Dremel) then "plug the gap" with a bit of milliput moulded to match the rail profile ...

The insulating fishplates are not UV hardened. Think mu PVC versus old srtyle PVC double glazing.

I'd go with cutting an insulating slot and then filling with milliput (from experience I know milliput will cope with pretty arduous conditions, sea air, sea spray etc) or araldite per Chris's post. Long term per your garden oo just so long as it ain't a metal filled epoxy then it'd be a contender for experiment.