phillyreading Thanks Brent, as I had no idea of the curve sizes for Atlas. I know that Gragraves starts at 032, then 043, then 054, 072, 084, 096?, and 0110. Even when it claims 042 Gargraves is off by a little to the larger radius. As for MTH's RealTrax, Ready To Roll in north Miami FL may have it, as they deal in MTH a whole lot. Lee F.
Thanks Brent, as I had no idea of the curve sizes for Atlas.
I know that Gragraves starts at 032, then 043, then 054, 072, 084, 096?, and 0110. Even when it claims 042 Gargraves is off by a little to the larger radius.
As for MTH's RealTrax, Ready To Roll in north Miami FL may have it, as they deal in MTH a whole lot.
Lee F.
actually Gargraves has 32",42",54",63",72",80",89",96",106",113",120",128",and 138""
To me 138" radius would really be awesome 11 1/2 foot radius cool
Life's hard, even harder if your stupid John Wayne
http://rtssite.shutterfly.com/
it is in the 2010 ready to run catalog. yes it is no longer solid rail but it is still nickel silver. mth nas it in stock & so should your local hobby shop .I just wish they meaing mth would make curve switches as ineed two a left & a right
lionroar88 phillyreading The only track in 042 is Lionel tubular or Gargraves, K-Line made some 042 before Lionel buyout. The only flexible track that Gargraves amkes is the 36.25 inch straight, it used to have plastic strips underneath to keep it from bending but Gargraves stopped adding the little strips of plastic to cut cost. I think the Atlas track is 036 and 048 or 072, not for sure. Lee F. Lee, the correct increments for Atlas are as follows:36455463728190This maintains a consistant distance between tracks laid side-by-side, I think 6 inches between center rails but I am not 100% certain on that. I haven't been in the trainroom in about a month and can't get down there at the moment to verify.
phillyreading The only track in 042 is Lionel tubular or Gargraves, K-Line made some 042 before Lionel buyout. The only flexible track that Gargraves amkes is the 36.25 inch straight, it used to have plastic strips underneath to keep it from bending but Gargraves stopped adding the little strips of plastic to cut cost. I think the Atlas track is 036 and 048 or 072, not for sure. Lee F.
The only track in 042 is Lionel tubular or Gargraves, K-Line made some 042 before Lionel buyout. The only flexible track that Gargraves amkes is the 36.25 inch straight, it used to have plastic strips underneath to keep it from bending but Gargraves stopped adding the little strips of plastic to cut cost.
I think the Atlas track is 036 and 048 or 072, not for sure.
Brent,
Atlas O curves are all 9" difference between the next closest curve, this would give a center to center seperation of 4.5". I wish that they were designed for a 6" seperation without using any straight fitter pieces, 4.5" seperation can be awful close in the curves.
Doug
May your flanges always stay BETWEEN the rails
Atlas also makes O-27 dia. I've got enough for 2 loops if I ever wanted to use it--- my pike is O-45 & O-54 plus some O-36 for sidings.
A Day Without Trains is a Day Wasted
Lee,I did some more looking and Atlas also has:99108I thought O-72 was wide... O-108? That would be really impressive to see some of the larger steam engines on those curves!
Tower49 .... You think you have had your share problems!!!
Buckeye Riveter Chief....I hope you are paying attention because you need to see how I solved my problem with the MTH O-72 Realtrax Switches. Oh!! What's that? You say the Chief is off goofing off fishing at the lake? Anyway, here goes. A little history about the MTH Realtrax Switch Problem: The Chief and I installed a bunch of MTH Realtrax Switches on our layout. I have 12 MTH Switches and the Chief has a few more. When I started my layout, Fastrack by Lionel had not been born. About half way through the building of the second phase of my layout, I started to notice that the newer track did not fit as well as the old. The Chief was seeing the same thing as he connected his Realtrax. (Incidentally, someone in the last month provided a history about the manufacturing changes of Realtrax....THANK YOU!) The Chief and I really became upset when the new O-72 Realtrax Switches started not to work. The Chief had switches that the switch motors were DOA. I opened a box of a supposedly new switch and discovered it had been reconditioned. Then I started seeing derailments at two brand new O-72 switches. Two out of my six O-72s would derail certain types of locomotives including BEEPS, Post-war, and Williams. After watching a small new Lionel Steamer ride over the frog and derail, I said something has to be wrong with that switch and not the engine. Here is the MTH O-72 switch that was derailing random locomotives. Look at the gap between the back of the wheel flange and the guard rail. The car is an MTH tank car. Needless to say when I measured the gap between the guard rail and the main rail on an O-72 switch, it was the same as on the O-42 switches by MTH. Logic says that on a straight section of track, the gap between the guard rail and the main rail would be the smallest. On sharper turns, the gap should be the widest. To check to see if the gap width between the guard rail and the main rail was too large and causing the opposite wheel to ride over the frog, I put three (3) layers of 7 mil electrical tape on the guard rail, as shown below: The tape effectively, reduced the space between the guard rail and the main rail. After several hours of running various types of locomotives and rolling stock through the switch at different speeds, not one derailment occurred. I sent the locmotives through the switch in reverse, too, with loads and without loads. BINGO!! After a trip to the LHS, where I purchased .020 x .188 styrene strips, I added one to the face of the guard rail as shown below. After several hours of hard running, not one locomotive on the Baltimore, Ohio and Wabash Railroad has had any problems negotiating this switch. Now you know, Chiefie!!!
Chief....I hope you are paying attention because you need to see how I solved my problem with the MTH O-72 Realtrax Switches. Oh!! What's that? You say the Chief is off goofing off fishing at the lake? Anyway, here goes.
A little history about the MTH Realtrax Switch Problem:
The Chief and I installed a bunch of MTH Realtrax Switches on our layout. I have 12 MTH Switches and the Chief has a few more. When I started my layout, Fastrack by Lionel had not been born. About half way through the building of the second phase of my layout, I started to notice that the newer track did not fit as well as the old. The Chief was seeing the same thing as he connected his Realtrax. (Incidentally, someone in the last month provided a history about the manufacturing changes of Realtrax....THANK YOU!)
The Chief and I really became upset when the new O-72 Realtrax Switches started not to work. The Chief had switches that the switch motors were DOA. I opened a box of a supposedly new switch and discovered it had been reconditioned. Then I started seeing derailments at two brand new O-72 switches. Two out of my six O-72s would derail certain types of locomotives including BEEPS, Post-war, and Williams. After watching a small new Lionel Steamer ride over the frog and derail, I said something has to be wrong with that switch and not the engine.
Here is the MTH O-72 switch that was derailing random locomotives. Look at the gap between the back of the wheel flange and the guard rail. The car is an MTH tank car.
Needless to say when I measured the gap between the guard rail and the main rail on an O-72 switch, it was the same as on the O-42 switches by MTH. Logic says that on a straight section of track, the gap between the guard rail and the main rail would be the smallest. On sharper turns, the gap should be the widest.
To check to see if the gap width between the guard rail and the main rail was too large and causing the opposite wheel to ride over the frog, I put three (3) layers of 7 mil electrical tape on the guard rail, as shown below:
Celebrating 18 years on the CTT Forum.
Buckeye Riveter......... OTTS Charter Member, a Roseyville Raider and a member of the CTT Forum since 2004..
Jelloway Creek, OH - ELV 1,100 - Home of the Baltimore, Ohio & Wabash RR
TCA 09-64284
Probably not. With a liitle "playing around" it will mate easier with other track types than before. I still like the solid rail better.
God bless TCA 05-58541 Benefactor Member of the NRA, Member of the American Legion, Retired Boss Hog of Roseyville , KC&D Qualified
They probably didn't want to put pictures of the track in the catalog because I think they are still switching everything over to tubular rail (realtrax is no longer solid rail), and probably didn't have the complete line produced and photographed yet. This may not be the case though.Wes
??? your right it's not in the "2010 Volume One" catalog --- don't know --- but if you go to the MTH Web Site:
Down at the bottom there is a row of products, click on "RealTrax" and it shows the complete product line and prices, even a video promoting it.
Don U. TCA 73-5735
Guys:
I've noticed that MTH isn't advertising RealTrax in their catalogs anymore, are they discontinuing it?, My double track mainline is RealTrax, and I have had my share of problems with it during the construction of my pike, but its ok now. I installed RealTrax 0-72 switches to access the prospective yards and branch lines of the mian line, but haven't bought any new track yet.
In lieu of RealTrax for this, I was thinking of using regular O-Gauge tube track, but I need O-54 and O-42 curves and switches.
I want to stay away from flexible track like Gargraves or Scaletrax and stick with sectional.
Any suggestions?
Thanks!
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