Lionel FasTrack

[siberianmo]

Hello,

Does anyone have opinions regarding Lionel's FasTrak? Good - bad - indifferent?

I recently ordered a Polar Express set for a shelf railroad that will be constructed in a portion of my HO trainroom. Strictly for my grandkids, of course. The set comes with this new type track (0-36 curves), and I ordered about 50 ft more of straights to complete the oval for the run.

Any thoughts will be appreciated.

Thanx!

[spankybird]

Hi Tom,


Many people like the look of it. Some consider it very noisy as compared to other track. It is on the pricey side compared to tube track.

[nblum]

Works well mechanically and electrically, looks good. If you find there is excess noise, suggest putting down some sound absorbing foam (expanded bead or urethane) roadbed or carpet pad.

[brianel027]

This has been talked about quite a bit here. By Lionel's own statements, the track was designed and intended for ease of set up for beginners. Yet the track options and what is currently available is another story. The track maybe advertised as 36" diameter, but with the molded roadbed, it is more like 40." Which means for the typical beginner with the typical 4'x8' layout, FasTrack will allow little more than an oval with a cut across.

I think Lionel was in a hurry to get FasTrack out. The stuff is noisey and no amount of insulation is going to put a dent in that noise because of the way the track itself is designed. It is a tubular type of rail inserted into the plastic roadbed, with nubs molded up out of the roadbed and beneath the rail. I would dare say 027 track screwed into 3/4" plywood isn't as noisey.

Furthermore, can you imagine the time and effort and expense it would take to cut padding or spray foam beneath the track. Spaying insultating foam under the track totally defeats the supposed advantage of easy assembly / disassembly: you might as well go with tubular 0 or 027 track.

There are those, myself included, who wonder about the future of FasTrack. Time will tell. I think Lionel has made a commitment to it for the time being, but that could change: remember Super '0.' In fact there are many who wonder why Lionel didn't just bring back the Super '0' track, while making some minor improvements to the existing 027 line of track?

I think a lot of this has to do with *** Maddox (former Lionel CEO) being with Bachmann. Bachmann had much success with the EZ Track that was introduced in HO. Even 027 track is better to set up than the regular sectional HO track for the "under the tree" layout. EZ Track was a big step forward for HO*. I think FasTrack was (in their minds) the logical way to go. It's just that HO trains by nature are much quieter than our 3-rail trains - even if you nail in the HO track. Noise is not a big problem with the EZ Track. It is though with the FasTrack. Combine that with the lack of a smaller radius curve being available, and well.... I don't know.

The stuff is certainly good for the 'round the CHRISTmas tree layout. In fact I know of 2 people who have ditched the idea of a FasTrack layout and puchased either 027 or tubular 0 for their layout, relegating the FasTrack for active duty once a year - during December.

*Ironically the big step forward recently for 3-rail track was made by Atlas and not Lionel.

[Anonymous]

What about MTH track in comparison? (As a reborn newbie, I quickly checked my local shops and settled on the MTH with molded roadbed, which is handy since I am just recently enthralled with the MTH toy RTR sets - bought 3 - the Harley F3, Pennsy/Madisons, M10000 passenger --- have no interest in scale modeling-- just prewar and postwar semiscale toys....

[Big_Boy_4005]

With the MTH Realtrax, the only complaints I've heard are the electrical contacts. Little springy copper tabs are used, and after a few times assembling the sections, they tend to crush down. All you have to do is rebend them, and they should be good for a couple more goes.

One thing nobody has mentioned about Fastrack yet is cost per foot. Compared to tubular ( normal old fashioned O and 027 ) track, it is at least triple.

[Anonymous]

I've been reading this forum for some time now, and have learned a lot - Thanks! I thought I'd add my 2 cents worth to this... I bought a bunch of Fastrack to use for a temporary "on the floor" layout - I thought the molded roadbed would help keep lint and dirt out of my engines. What I've found in the 2 months I've been using it is that it gets dirty very quickly - worse than tubular track. I use DCS and have a very hard time keeping a good signal on the track. The best signal I can get is a "7" right after I thoroughly clean the track, and it quickly drops to about a "4" or less after an hour of operation. I'm going to use the Fastrack around the tree at Christmas time, and use something better for a layout.

[spankybird]

HI TBowdich,

Welcome to the CTT Forum.

If your track has the blacken center rail, be sure to remove it off the top of the rail for your best DCS single.

tom

[lionelsuperotrack]

[remember Super '0.' In fact there are many who wonder why Lionel didn't just bring back the Super '0' track]

Well, keep in mind that the average layout built is still probably in the 4' x 8' to 6' x 12' range. "Super O" remains readily available on eBay and from other sources. The mythes about "Super O" can be debunked or validated on the below Yahoo Group. So, if you still find "Super O" of interest read below:

The History of Lionel "Super O" Track
( http://www.tcamembers.org/articles/operating/supero/index.html )

Lionel_SuperO_Track Yahoo Group
( http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Lionel_SuperO_Track/)

Very best, Mike

[Anonymous]

Tom -

Thanks for the suggestion - but the Fastrack I have doesn't have the blackened center rail. I do know that I don't have enough feeders from the DCS controller to the track (about 40 feet overall length), but since this is a temporary setup I'm not really all that concerned - I seem to have a strong enough signal for all of the DCS functions. The thing that bothers me the most is how often I need to clean it - before every time I want to run the train. I think my next purchase will be a track cleaning car...

Thanks again.

Tom

[Anonymous]

I have owned Lionel O gauge track, MTH Realtrax, and Lionel Fast track and Atlas O and in my opinion given the very neat low voltage operation of the switches on Lionel fast track verses the cheap lousy plastic parts and circuit board transfer of power of one side to the other of the switches in MTH RealTrax, and the very poor brittle handling of Atlas O switches, I'll take the Lionel fast track any day. I do not see it any noisier than any other brand and found several interesting options for layouts in the available track sizes. I have a 16 X 4 layout currently and I didn't like was the problem my one locomotive has crossing over 90 degree crossing so I took it out and that I have to pull the switches to wire them since all wiring connections is underneath the switches. I can use track power for switches, I haven't expanded far enough yet to have an opinion on the uncoupling track. Anyone who thinks he can't make a layout on a 4 foot wide board has no imagination. I have yet to live anywhere that I can have a lot of width. I really like the 36 inch radius and I run only Standard O or scale cars. 42 diameter Locomotives run fine on the 36 inch.

[siberianmo]

Hello again,

Many thanx for the responses - ask and ye shall receive!

Since my run will be strictly on a shelf in my trainroom, once the track is put down - it stays down. Also, it isn't a layout in that sense - so I'm not concerned about anything other than reliability for this rather simple idea to work on command. The grandkids will get a kick out of operating "their" Polar Express train while grandpa tends to the operating needs of his Can-Am HO railroad!

Next project is to figure out how to construct a back drop for this shelf railroad - something that will complement the Polar Express theme. If anyone has seen the movie and the poster, you will note that the sky is a very dark blue with snow falling. So, that's kind of what I'm going to try and replicate. A subject for another new topic!

[brianel027]

Davidvd59, I agree with your initial assessment of the quality of turnouts. Atlas turnouts though they may be nice, are fragile. And Lionel's 027 ones are nothing to write home about. But I've made some sound comparisions (and we can choose to differ) but I think that FasTrack is unquestionable noisier than even 027 tubular.

Since I made the reference to the typical beginner 4'x8' layout size I can assume the quote "Anyone who thinks he can't make a layout on a 4 foot wide board has no imagination" is directed to what I said. I'm one of the most highly creative and imaginative train folks you could hope to meet. I scratchbuild my own cars and kitbash engines like the I know the back of my hand. I've build many a layout in my day. Sure, 4 feet wide is good. You're building a layout double the length size though of many beginners. Just looking at the dimensions of FasTrack, on a 4'x8' layout size you will have little more than a large oval. With the 40 inch curve, you can't even get a turnout halfway through the curve: just a 5 inch straight track. Maybe you can do a dogbone on a 4'x8' with a cut-across, but then that would be it. Or an oval with angled cut-across and a siding... but that would be it.

Granted 4'x8' isn't big by any standards, but there are a good many more layout designs that are possible with tubular 027 and 0 that simply ARE NOT possible with FasTrack in the same exact space.

And since I have worked on a layout using MTH's track, I can also say the large roadbed fills up a small layout board fast. On the upside, I guess parents of a kid won't have to worry about spending a lot of money on accessories... there isn't room for them with the extra roadbed size. I same space principal would apply to FasTrack because of the roadbed also, regardless of whatever differences there are between the two systems. The large molded roadbed, though realistic, dominates the space on a small layout... it becomes a layout of little more than just track.

Furthermore most beginners (the audience Lionel states FasTrack is intended for) will probably not be running scale sized engines or cars given their price range. Unless they have a dad who is already into the hobby. Talk to parents the way I have and you find they sometimes have a hard time swallowing the price of $25 for a non-scale train car, nevermind the close to $50 it usually takes for a scale sized one (unless you know where the blowouts are at).

FasTrack is a mistake in my assessment given Lionel's own statements on who the track is intended for versus the acutal selection of track being made. If they really intend for the track to be useful to the beginner, it NEEDS to be available in a tighter radius curve, not bigger ones.

[nblum]

Well, all I know is that dealers have trouble keeping this stuff in stock, it is selling so well. People are voting with their dollars, whether or not it's for everyone, which it probably isn't. It's main advantages over tubular are that it looks more realistic, makes more robust electrical and mechanical connections, and it's much easier on the hands in terms of lacerations. Its main disadvantage is cost, but it is about the same cost as Atlas and other high quality three rail track.

[Jumijo]

I really like Fastrack and hope Lionel expands the product line to include tighter radius curves. It's much better looking than their 027 track, and stays together quite well. It's actually kind of hard to pull two pieces of track apart!

My two beefs are the price vs. regular tube track, and the fact that not all pieces line up exactly. I have pieces joined together that do not sit at the same height. Some rails are higher than others at the joints by as much as 1/16" on the outside and lower by the same amount on the inside. I attrubute this to the plastic roadbed warping during the molding/assembly process, and hope that the problem will be resolved once I screw it down to a table top.

Jim