Idea for layout track.

[PostwarMan07]

Personally, I love tubular track.  I also love the fact that you can get a nice pair of postwar 022 switches for 30-40 dollars on ebay.  If money is an issue (I think it is with almost all of us) I would go with tubular track and postwar 022 switches. I hear the postwar 022 are better than the new ones for some reason.

You can also go with gargraves flex track and 022 switches.  I tore down a large layout that used this method and the toy look of 022s mixed well with the realism of gargraves track.

If you really want to use fastrack, then I see nothing wrong with doing it by sections.  Maybe do one loop at a time.

Good Luck

[nitroboy]

Others fund their train purchases by mowing lawns on weekends

 

Or build tiny telegraph poles

[Dave Farquhar]

Personally, if I were going to do ballast and stuff and I was going to have to buy something, I'd go with Gargraves. The price is comparable to tubular, it comes in a variety of diameters, you can get inexpensive switches for it (use O27 adapter pins to use O27-profile switches, or get Ross switches), and it's been around since the 1940s, so it's proven.

Of course, if you already have enough O27 for your inner loop and enough Fastrack (or nearly enough) for the other loop, it's worth doing the way you suggested. Given your age, there's no way this will be your last layout anyway, and if doing things this way lets you get trains running on a layout that you'll be happy with for a few years, there's nothing at all wrong with that.

My layout is all O27 for a couple of reasons. I already had lots of O27. I had a steady source for quality used O27 track, including long straights and wide curves (O34, O42 and even O54). I was paying $1 for long straights, $1 for wide curves, and reusing the standard straights I had, so each loop of track on my 8x8 layout, not counting switches, cost less than $20. And I run a lot of Marx, so I needed to use Marx O27-profile switches to accomodate those locomotives. I got it up and going with Marx O27 switches ($10 per pair, generally) and replaced them with Marx O34 switches as I could locate and afford them. Unfortunately one of the times a pair of O34s found me, I was in between jobs and couldn't really justify spending $35 when I didn't know what my income was going to be for the next few months.

One problem with track discussions is that we're all working with different budgets. Some of us can drop $500 without flinching. Others fund their train purchases by mowing lawns on weekends, so that same $500 purchase might take all summer to earn.

[Anonymous]

As one other said, "the choice is yours", but since you're asking our opinion who am I to hold back.  1st, I'd go with one or the other, mixed rail just looks odd IMO.  I saw a layout with a loop of Fastrack and a loop of MTH's version (Quick Snap?) and that took away from the layout for me.  2nd, once you come to your senses and realize that O-gauge was born to ride tubular you'll find that O-27 is too small, and then you'll go with the O-31.

[nitroboy]

Fastrack is a bit pricey, but worth it.  I purchased all my Fastrack for the new layout over a 8 month period. That way, it didn't hit the pocketbook too hard. Plus. if you go to York, you can get some good deals in the Orange hall from several dealers on track. I got 15 uncouplers for $10 each last York.

[kpolak]

I agree with TrainsandMusic.

There is a significant height difference between fastrack and 'O', and even a greater difference between Fastrack and O27.

I say pick one.  You can buy used O, and new O, as a difference, and build up with one mainline with foam roadbed or cork for a higher mainline.  Use different color ballast to further illustrate the aged roadbed.  Darker for older.

Kurt

[Anonymous]

The choice is yours and yours alone. I personally would go with one or the other. The tubular next to the fasttrack would really bring out the t profile vs the rounded profile.

[magicman710]

Ok, since I like the look of fastrack when ballast is added to the edges, I thought that I would do my 17ft. x 12ft. layout in it. But, like everybody else has noticed, it is expensive. My original layout idea was to have 2 mainlines, but with fastrack, its around $700 is straights alone.

So I thought of this idea, make one mainline in fastrack, and another right beside it in tubular. The tubular, being 027 and conevered with groud foam and ballast up to the rails, would represent the original mainline, but through years of wear, its had a brand new one built beside it, as well as the yard being done in tubular, to make it look old.

This lets me have the prototypical look I like, as well as tubular toy like look being desguised by ballast and groud foam. What do yall think about this idea?

 

Thanks,

Grayson