Laying Track?

[Bergie]

In the October, November and December issues, Model Railroader published a 3-part series on track. With the peak modeling season coming up, what gauge track do you plan on purchasing for your model railroad? Vote then share your comments below.

Polls on Trains.com are not scientific and reflect only the opinions of the users who have chosen to participate. The results cannot be assumed to represent the opinions of Internet users in general, the readers of our magazines, nor the public as a whole. Bottom line, our polls are meant for fun and to stimulate conversation amongst our forum users.

[eastcoast]

All of my HO scale track is hopefully all bought, I just have to finish laying it at a real crucial area. I hope I don't need any more track but if I do , the hobby shop is not far away.

[Anonymous]

I already have most of my track. However I am pretty sure while me and my girlfriend (yes she is a model railroader to) are working on the layout, that the need for the odd turnout or two will arrise.

[Anonymous]

sorry i don't buy the U.S mag anymore i find there is more stories and tips in the UK mag

[Anonymous]

I have used both Atlas Code 83 and EZ-Track( which I used in order to decide on the track plan). The MR article was helpful. Thanks.

[Anonymous]

I am collecting code 55 , N - Scale track , Micro - Engineering , and D C C ready turnouts . Hopefully , I will start laying track this fall and winter ..
Ian

[walthuston]

This fall I plan on buying at least one more bundle of MicroEngineering code 40 flex track and a bundle of code 40 rail to make my own switches/turnouts. I love working in code 40 due to its closer-to-scale appearance.

[Anonymous]

Just bought 100 pieces of Atlas Flextrack and will be buying an additional 100 pieces next month. That should be enough for this cold Canadian winter's tracklaying project.
Karlgunter
Canada

[Anonymous]

Have been planning t reroute part of the layout, just haven't got around to it yet. Maybe be this winter's project.

[Anonymous]

do to me moving i have had to make my layout smaller 6x3 this is hard to do can anyone send me on the right track or any tips how to make this work.

[Anonymous]

Will have to purchase a few more N Scale switches in order to finish laying the yard tracks in two locations (east & westbound yards) Mainlines pretty much completed.

[Anonymous]

The october issue on track did not show eny S scale. S scale is code 100 or less. Shinohara is one of the finnest tracks made in S scale, it is availble from Scenery Unlimited I'm an S scale nut , and it cost me a lot of money to find this out. bobboob12

[Anonymous]

i have found that laying flex track for the first time is challenging because i did not learn the tricks until after i was almost done.i still need to redo some parts on the turns that don't line up very well in the turns. i think i have to solder the joints or something like that. i have also found that the store bought turn outs do have to be fine tuned because i can see that my cars would jump up and down as it rolled over it. i found that it helped to lightly file the tops of the rails were the point / (frog) is.

[Anonymous]

I use mostle HO flex 100 track with a little 22" radius thrown in to keep things straight.For the most part I have found this to be easy to lay as long as I have a solid raodbed but..Sometimes it is difficult not to get a kink on the curves and it is twice as hard to find! I am also useing mostle Atlas #6 turnouts because thay are CHEAP. Someday I will have to change all that out as they take a lot of "tweaking" to work right.I also have some Shinohara triple Y's, crossovers and Y's.They seem to work much better with very little maint. required.I know code 100 is not "prototype" but as I said it is cheap looks ok to me and serves my purpose for now.Mike1

[Anonymous]

The train my husband had when he was a small boy was put away for years, I talked him into setting it back up,It took us 4 weeks of getting track and layout,plus alot of wiring.We really enjoy it,kids grandkids and friends come to see it. We would like to put all new track down and hope to make it bigger.The trains are all o gauge Lionel and we are still adding to it,
Celeste

[Anonymous]

Hi All:
This winter I'm going to start laying out what I feel will be a nice layout, it will be 12' long, 3' wide on one side, the end 10' long and 2' wide and then the other side 12' long and 3' wide. This will be in a horse shoe design. About 25 years ago I boxed everything up in a wooden crate and since relocated 3 times, now since I've been retired 8 years it is time to dig everything out. I hope brass track is still in. I have many switches that I bought that are still in the boxes that I'm working in to the layout, I really would like to find a movable round house, don't see to many adds for these. Hope me luck.
bibba dad

[Anonymous]

At this time of year, it is time for us outdoors railroaders to start planning for the next leg of our construction. Personally I have the desire for another 100 feet or so of rail to accomidate some of the new heavy industries and so that I may extend a meandering loop around the garden pond. This time of year, for me, is devoted to design and building construction. in the spring, thr rails get laid.[;)]

[Russell2]

While I am into HO 11 months out of the year, I still have to run my O guage Lionel at Christmas! Can't wait to put up the Christmas Tree!!!

[preceng]

Can you ever purchas enough track?

[Anonymous]

Recently completed Freemo-type modules for the GREAT EDMONTON TRAIN SHOW in code 83 (turnouts and flex) plan on 2 more 2x4 modules to complete over winter. also have 3 older modules to revamp(code 100). I'm dabbling in a bit of O-scale as well. Keep laying those miles of right of way friends; the public are still thrilled to see things move in the miniature realm. Bringing Up The Markers, Ken Morrison[^]

[Hawks05]

i plan on getting Atlas Code 100 snap-track. since i'm just starting out i don't want to monkey with flex track and screw things up so i'm going with the snap track. should be a lot of fun if i ever get a layout designed and a bench set up to work on. then i have to figure out all the electronics to get things working.

[spken]

I have profited from experiences - good and bad- over many years, starting with code 100 but now using cose 83 & code 75. I prefer Atlas track but it is almost impossible to obtain in Australia, so I now use Shinohora, Micro Engineering or Peco.
Shinohora turnouts are preferred as long as a bit of time is spent improving them for DCC ready. #8's and #10's are used for mainline with #8's & #6's for branch or yard use. I always solder the outside rail at least, to get smooth curves with flextrack and use transition easements whereever possible.

[Anonymous]

I started in O guage Trains in 1952 when I was 5 years old. I still have the original train and several more that I and my son play with. If I had known that I would need a 60 by 60 foot room when I restarted playing with trains I probably would have begun to collect N or Z scale trains. But now it is too late to change over. I plan on replacing all of the track I currently have with Ross and Gargraves Track. After researching all of the track available the Ross Custom Switches with Gargraves track will make my layout the best if could possibly be.

[JoeUmp]

Make mine Atlas code 83 in HO. I've finalized on the initial rack plan, but I'm still in the process of aquiring the right of way. Thanks for the encouragement.

[Anonymous]

My layout has the track all done hopefully, but I am always working on it. This said a person never knows when they have to add a piece of track I model in HO as it takes up less space and and is relativy easy to handle. I have explored the other scales but have settled on HO as it suits my limitations

[sparkingbolt]

I use Micro Engineering code 70 and 55 flextrack on my HO layout, All turnouts hand laid. Atlas Code 100 in the staging. layout is 11+' x 9+' around the walls. 75% of track is laid, I have about 70% of what I need for the remainder of the layout. Ahhh, the hard part's done.
The hand laid turnouts are built on the workbench, installed as a commercial one would be. 18 of the 20 made are installed . 3 of those are curved. All have powered frogs. Trains run smooooth thru 'em! (ok, i have 1 atlas #6 in the staging area) Dan, Bend Or.

[Anonymous]

When You look at the quality of trains you can get from such companies as MTH, K-Line, Atlas O, Williams, and Lionel ..... Why would you want anything other than O-Gauge??!!??

[sparkingbolt]

I use micro engineering code 70 and 55 flextrack, and hand lay all turnouts. I build them at the bench and install like commercial ones. 18 of the 20 made are installed, will need about 3 more. they have powered frogs, solid rail points. (no hinge) trains glide smooooothly thru 'em.
Layout is 9+' x 11+' around the walls. Have one Atlas #6 in the staging area which is atlas code 100. I'm about 75%done laying track. Have about half of what i need for remainder.

[rcl1930]

I voted for Large Scale because I am actively building track for my Garden RR using ARISTO TRACK. Newer track is Stainless Steel in place of the Brass that has been used in the past.

If I could vote again, I would choose handlaid HO for when I go back inside. I handlay all track and turnouts in Code 70 and 55 except for the staging yards where I use Atlas turnouts and Flex track.

Hand laying track gives me the flexibility of design with custom turnout geometry, and greater reliability than any commercial track on the market

Rich Laube
Trenton NJ

[douginut]

allways buy a box of flex track, a box of cork, little nails, and supplies. then stare at them for months, make a GOOD plan and begin.
the accumulation process is almost as good as the actual building though not as good as the running


Doug in Utah