Fastrack question

[IronHoarse]

Hi all,
I am designing a Fastrack layout with 36" curves. Could anyone tell me whether the 36" diameter is measured from inside to inside rail, center to center rail, or outside to outside rail? Thanks.

[lionelsoni]

I don't have any Fastrack; but I can tell you how to figure it out--for any type of sectional track. Measure as accurately as you can the straight-line distance from one end to the other of the center rail of a curved section. Multiply this distance by half the cosecant of half the change in direction through that section. The result is the radius of the curve to the center rail. Half the cosecant of 22.5 degrees (for a 45-degree curve, or 1/8 of a circle) is 1.306563 . Half the cosecant of 15 degrees (for a 30-degree curve, or 1/12 of a circle) is 1.931852 . And half the cosecant of 11.25 degrees (for a 22.5-degree curve, or 1/16 of a circle) is 2.562915 .

[IronHoarse]

Maybe I need to rephrase my question. When 8 curves are assembled into a 36" diameter circle, between which rails is the 36" diameter measured? I do not have any track yet and I need to know this so I can figure out what length straight sections to order as I am going to be running straight sections at 45° to each other.

[Roger Bielen]

Looking at a cat. I had near the computer the best I could come up with is the outside diam. as 39 1/2". This probably includes the base.

[Anonymous]

The 36" is probably measured from the center rail. I have a FasTrack layout and a full circle will measure almost 40" accross including the roadbed.

[Anonymous]

Oh and if I hadn't put a few hundred $$ into FasTrack already I would build my next layout with something else.

[lionelsoni]

I stopped by a hobby shop on the way home from work and measured a piece. The center rail distance was very close to 13 2/4 inches, which works out to a radius of 17.965241 inches, or very nearly 18. Working back from the radius to the chord gives 13 25/32 inches, only 1/32 more than I measured with the old yardstick that was at hand. So, obviously, the diameter is meant to be 36 inches between center rails.

(The roadbed is 3 3/8 inches wide. So Roger's measurement is very close to the outside diameter of 39 3/8 inches. If Lionel had named fastrack in the same way they do tubular track, it would have been called O39.)

[brianel027]

Yeah, this is the misleading thing about FasTrack: that they call it an "036" curve, but with the molded roadbed, it's larger. To give Lionel credit, at least in their FasTrack layout illustrations in the catalog they give the outer dimension as 39-1/2 inches. With the starter set descriptions the outside dimension is listed as 40 inches.

I agree you with Howdy... I think FasTrack is a mistake and it's only real benefit is instant set up and the ability to be pulled apart and put back together easily. Or at least without loosening the connections as happens with normal 027 or tubular 0 track. But given the success of Bachmann's E-Z track and that former Lionel CEO Maddox had been with Bachmann, it was a logical step.

I've felt small improvements could have been made to the existing 027 line of track that could have made it more appealing and probably at less investment cost. And there are others who wi***he older "Super 0" track had been brought back into production. Time will tell the true success of FasTrack, though I do know of a couple of folks who have bought Lionel stater sets and went with the far more affordable 027 track line, relegating the FasTrack to the 'round the CHRISTmas tree layout - which is the perfect use for FasTrack.

[Jumijo]

My biggest complaint about FasTrack, aside from the price, is that if you have a 4x8 layout, you can only have one loop of track. If you add a 10" straight to the middle of a curve, you're off the table at 49+ inches. I like the way it looks, I like the way it stays together, I like the electrical connectors, and I like the flat rails, especially the center. More surface for the pickup rollers to ride on means better contact. But whoever designed the 36" (39.5" footprint) radius did not even consider that most people who advance from a floor layout to a table layout do so with a 4x8 sheet of plywood.

I'm using O27 tubular on my layout, even though I have accumulated a lot of FasTrack. I'll use the FasTrack for outdoor runs when the weather is nice.

Jim

[IronHoarse]

Thanks Bob and DJSpanky, I thought it would be the center rail but I learned a long time ago not to guess.