Fun Senior Citizen Thanks for the continued comments. It seems as if the chief complaint is the turnouts. That's good news to me, as my plan doesn't have any. It's a folded dog bone, over and under so none needed. I'm a happy camper.
Thanks for the continued comments.
It seems as if the chief complaint is the turnouts. That's good news to me, as my plan doesn't have any. It's a folded dog bone, over and under so none needed. I'm a happy camper.
I can't see your layout yet. I've got my fingers crossed for you.
Since this is your first layout, and you admit to the possibility of changing / expanding it later, it will probably be an excellent way to get your feet wet and learn some basic skills and techniques.
I suspect, however, that you will soon become bored with the fact that your trains have nothing more to do that run around in a circle, no matter how big. Personally, I would never build a layout that doesn't have the capability for continuous running -- we sometimes "take laps" to lengthen times between stops -- but generally a railroad becomes much more interesting when there are industries to serve, and you pull that train up to a siding, only to find that the cars you need to drop are buried in the middle of the consist and the 9:05 Hartford Express is bearing down on you, so you need to clear the main quickly!
Of course, one big advantage to EZ Track is that it will allow you to pop some segments out and throw some sidings in quite easily.
Connecticut Valley Railroad A Branch of the New York, New Haven, and Hartford
"If you think you can do a thing or think you can't do a thing, you're right." -- Henry Ford
The picture by the post is of a layout using EZ track on the floor....the late, great Santa Clause lines...It started out as a circle around the tree on Christmas.....then there was the first switch....then I tried the magnetic uncoupler...then a couple more sidings were added. Pretty soon it was like the eggplant that ate Chicago. One nice thing for beginners is to be able to change the track plan to see what you like and what works. Hard to beat a steam engine coming out from under the dining room table....Just great fun for what it is and if you decide to move on to something else it can be cleaned up in a couple of hours. After a while I was hooked and the G/F who gave me the small set to run around the tree at Christmas was freaking out cause I was channeling my Dad and the great times we had from all those years ago and the empire I had dreamed of building....So anyhow I moved my bed from the big bedroom to the small bedroom and built benchwork for this great plan from Lance Mindheim for a room layout. I'm saving for the track and switches now but in the meantime I splashed down the EZ track and Viola!....trains are running at eye level and I can work on the lighting angles and other things you don't think about till you are actually using what was on paper.
You may or may not get to the point where something different may suit you better but by then you will have all the experience of running trains and setting up a layout you like....invaluable experience for a beginner and maybe the best thing EZ track provides.....a way to get things rolling and the fun begun....
Above all....Have Fun! Bob
p.s. the switches do suck, though....
Maybe it's not up because it's the weekend. Seems nothing posted after 5/3.
No turnouts. Yes that definitely eliminates 90% of the gripes I've heard about EZ-Track.
Fun Senior CitizenI posted my layout plan in the gallery - at least I think I did - but can't find it.
I posted my layout plan in the gallery - at least I think I did - but can't find it. it must take a while for it to come up.
It's titled "Pops Plan - The Heritage Valley Railroad"
If anyone finds it, let me know what you think.
I recently helped a older gentleman who has some physical problems with his layout. He had EZ track and eight switches on a 12x4 table. He had tried to fit everything together and things did not fit because he had neglected to use the smaller straight section to make things aline. At first i was not happy working with the track( I have code 83 on my home layout) but as things progressed i became a happy camper. The layout is bullet proof and looks good on the sections that have some scenery. The quality of the turnouts is the only thing that left me with a less than positive feeling. From a cost standpoint the EZ is quite expensive compared to atlas flex and cork roadbed, but from a construction standpoint the EZ track for my friend"s application turned out fine.
Fun Senior Citizen CTvalleyRR - Nothing to take wrong. I appreciate all input. It all contributes to my education and I don't take different thoughts or views as negatives. It just gives more depth to the subject. Besides, I take your input seriously.
CTvalleyRR - Nothing to take wrong. I appreciate all input. It all contributes to my education and I don't take different thoughts or views as negatives. It just gives more depth to the subject. Besides, I take your input seriously.
Thanks! Not everyone does. I tend to be very direct. I wanted to make sure that by telling you we made my son's layout out of it, you didn't think that it was only appropriate for a child's layout. Actually, part of the reason I used it was that the layout -- at least the basic track work, had to go up after the kids were in bed one Christmas eve. I had cut the benchwork and foam insulation earlier, but I still had to whip the thing together in a couple of hours (I hate being up all night, in that I am awakened at an ungodly early hour on Christmas morning).
Fun Senior Citizen EMD#1 - I've seen the ad you mentioned, and thought it looked great. Sure, my first attempts probably won't look like that, but it's something to shoot for. Also, I had never thought about the dirt road bed. Thanks for bringing that up. Definitely something to consider.
EMD#1 - I've seen the ad you mentioned, and thought it looked great. Sure, my first attempts probably won't look like that, but it's something to shoot for. Also, I had never thought about the dirt road bed. Thanks for bringing that up. Definitely something to consider.
What a great attitude! Thinking like that will take you a long way in this hobby. It separates you from the two biggest groups of failures: those who use the "c" word (as in, "I can't do that") and the instant gratification crowd, who want a basement-filling, museum quality layout in 2 weeks for less than $1000 (slight exaggeration here, but not much, to read some of the posts).
Texas Zepher - Thanks for your outlook. It's a big part of why I decided on this forum. "Community" seems to mean more here, encompassing all. Your input is very encouraging.
By the way - TOM - I'm using your second photo as my screen saver. Just awesome! Thanks.
(any chance you could email me a higher resolution copy - hiny, hint)
Pops
racevid@earthlink.net
Fun Senior CitizenI have one strong advantage over most here. Most posters can't remember before they were first involved with this hobby. At 68 now, and never having a train in my life, I can truly enjoy the start of this great adventure for the first time. The fun and surprises will never be better.
Another fellow was Grandpa Coyote. He was interested in Route 66 and had just purchased a Walther's superchief set.
It is really great to work with people just starting. It is challenging not to overload them with too much jargon and try to not push our own prejudices.
On one of my earlier layouts I used Atlas Code 83 sectional track along with their code 83 flex track. To get an easement I had one curve with 22" radius curves (in the tightest part of the curve) joined to 24" radius curves to form an easement. It actually worked pretty good. I made this my tightest curve and used it as a guide to make adjacent tracks with the flex track.
Concerning EZ track there is an ad where it is ballasted sitting on top of painted deep pile carpet that looks pretty good in my opinion. It is done by Bruce Carpenter, I believe. Maybe some of you guys have seen it.
Make your model railroad however you want because if you are not happy with it you can always tear it down and start over using different materials and methods later. That is how we grow in this hobby. Even masters like Pelle Soeborg do it!
My advice to you is that if you are open to using other track than EZ track for your time period modeled I would go with at least Atlas Code 83 sectional track without the roadbed. Railroads back then were mostly laid directly on a dirt roadbed. As your skill level improves and if you feel like you need to go to the next level you may want to switch to Micro Engineering Code 70 or Code 55 flex.
Happy Modeling!
Don't take this the wrong way, but my son's layout is made of nickel silver HO EZ Track. Mine is flextrack with some sectional pieces.
Anyone else using EZ Track?
Awesome work. And thanks for sharing the photos. What an inspiration.
I knew it couldn't be just beginners using EZ Track. Neat work.
Though most of my garage layout is laid with Atlas and Sinohara flex-track and Sinohara turnouts, I do have several sections in which I've used the wide radius EZ track, simply because it's bullet-proof and the areas are where the trackage hugs several sheer cliffs (one of them an actual 6' drop to the cement garage floor). And painted and ballasted, it's very difficult to tell the EZ track from the flex-track.
This is one area with the 6' sheer drop:
Another area:
The track is their 34 and 36" radii, respectively. The track has been in place for 10 years or so and has been absolutely trouble-free. Not even the hint of a derailment. In fact, I'm thinking of replacing a couple of other curved portions using the EZ track.
So for me, it's worked out VERY well.
Tom
Tom View my layout photos! http://s299.photobucket.com/albums/mm310/TWhite-014/Rio%20Grande%20Yuba%20River%20Sub One can NEVER have too many Articulateds!
By the way - I've found another neat forum that is worth checking out -
www.thewhistlepost.com
Thanks CTvalleyRR - That philosophy is what brought me to this hobby. And, yes, to me it's "just" a hobby. The basic idea is get involved with something for fun.
MattD - I appreciate your time and effort to respond here as well. I'm glad you've been able to find the "sweet spot" of the hobby that gives you the most enjoyment too. That appears to be so many different things to so many people. This great pastime has something for any personality, and I can't think of many things that do.
There was another forum I had been on, that tolerated me for a while. Most of the members were helpful and patient with me, but my attitude just wasn't one of them.
Although I've been a subscriber to MRM for a while, I never thought about there being a forum here. I'm glad to find a place where all it takes is enjoying this hobby to become "one of them". For any newbie lurkers, or seasoned veterans who look at things a little differently, now is your time to post.
My name's Pops, and I'm a model railroader.
I too, just started in the hobby, and started with EZ track. It's now boxed up, haha. It lasted about a month. Like most guys said, you do the hobby for you, so if it works for you, then by all means! Personally, I found the switch quality lacking. More importantly for me, the sound and noise from plastic roadbed did not work for me at all. I switched to cork and flextrack and am much happier with the visual and audio quality. That said, I would recommend that if getting setup quickly is a bigger priority for you so you can start operations, then EZ track or Kato unitrak are great options to fit those priorities. Best of luck and have fun!
I know I'm a little late to the party (been out of town for a few days), but it sounds like the new guys have it figured out.
You don't want to come here to get "approval" for anything. The ONLY, and I repeat ONLY, approval you need is yours. "Model Railroading" is a term that encompasses a broad swath of activities (and yes, I know I'll raise some hackles here) from the guy running a loop of track on his ping pong table to the guy with a 20,000 square foot museum quality layout and $1M worth of superdetailed brass locos and rolling stock. Only you can say for sure what is right for you.
The idea of having a "starter" layout and building a more advanced one later is an excellent one.
FWIW, sectional track, with or without roadbed attached, takes a lot of the guesswork out of tracklaying, and is a great option if you're just starting out. True, it can be very limiting, but that's probably not an issue for someone who just wants to get something up and running, and will learn what he likes over time.
Have at it and have fun!
Hey Wilson, I know what you're talking about. I just turned 68 myself and having a ball with my trains all aspects of it. You got a great attitude and thanks for your posts too! Above all have some fun with this great hobby! Jim
First, Texas zepher, your comments are not irrelevant. I still take ALL input very seriously into consideration. However, more importantly, there might be other readers out there with the same questions, but afraid to post - or whatever. I'm not as nervous about sounding like an idiot as some are. LOL.
As I progress, I'll try to get some photos. (Have to buy a camera first - or get a friend over here).
As for the limits, every track has some limits - sure, some more than others - but you just have to accept them and work within the parameters necessary. I have the software "RailModeller" and found it a great help.
I have one strong advantage over most here. Most posters can't remember before they were first involved with this hobby. At 68 now, and never having a train in my life, I can truly enjoy the start of this great adventure for the first time. The fun and surprises will never be better.
Thanks for your reply, Wilson.
I'm new to railroading. And i use it. And like it. My layout wont be the best out there but. I'm enjoying my self with it. Maybe in the future when i get more knowledge on the subject i mite change track. who knows.
Fun Senior CitizenIt seems like I'll start my layout with the HO nickel/silver, gray EZ Track. Perhaps on my next layout I'll go another route, but from what I gather from here, it should fit my needs fine. I appreciate everyone's time and effort to post replies.
I appreciate everyone's time and effort to post replies.
Well, thanks gang, for all the input.
It seems like I'll start my layout with the HO nickel/silver, gray EZ Track. Perhaps on my next layout I'll go another route, but from what I gather from here, it should fit my needs fine.
I appreciate everyone's time and effort to post replies. Thanks
Doc in CT narig01: One other comment. I'd forgotten about this. A few years back Model Railroader did a project with KATO Unitrak I think. It was the N-scale "Salt Lake Route" from the Jan-2010 issue. This layout was the topic of a recent discussion here.
narig01: One other comment. I'd forgotten about this. A few years back Model Railroader did a project with KATO Unitrak I think.
It was the N-scale "Salt Lake Route" from the Jan-2010 issue. This layout was the topic of a recent discussion here.
The Black River Junction scale project layout also used HO Unitrack, beginning in the Jan. 2007 issue of MR.
Layout Design GalleryLayout Design Special Interest Group
tomikawaTT rrebell: With respects to the civil engineering guy, if you are running short equipment, then tangents are bull in model railroading because of the things that cannot be scaled like gravity, ????? What does gravity have to do with straight (aka tangent) track? if you run long cars (anything over 50', then you better listen to him!!!!!!!!!!!!! You can get a great looking layout with almost any track!!!!! It is all in you skill. They tell you a lot of things in this hobby but few do the research necessary to bring it into the scale world. The real key in model railroading, is bullet proof track!!!!!!!!!!!!! Repeat! The Real Key in Model Railroading is BULLETPROOF TRACK!!!!!!!!!!!! Once you achieve that, the rest is easy and yes you can make that track bullet proof, it is just harder than with flex but look at it this way, if you can master that track, you can then build with any track and one of the benefits of that track is it's low cost and the fact that you can have it up and running in no time!!!!!!!!! Then you can go back and tweak things to get it bulletproof!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Actually, sectional track is the quickest way to get a place where wheels can roll - and does fine if you recognize and work within its limitations. When I started building my present layout, the final iteration of close to a half-century-old master plan, the first thing I did, after erecting one L-girder table, was to flatten some cardboard boxes, plop them on the joists and put down a construction tramway - of (gasp!) EZ Track. Within hours of acquiring the layout space, my 0-8-0T-kettle (Baldwin, 1897) was dragging carloads of screws, track nails, rail joiners and such from the boxes at one end of the benchwork to the site of first construction at the other. Granted that the work train was transferred to permanent rails as soon as there were some to run on, the EZ Track is still available if I ever want to use it for something else. Nothing in model railroading is set in cement. We always retain the option to rebuild, extend, modify or simply clear space and start over. An extreme progression would be EZ Track today, cheap flex and prebuilt specialwork tomorrow, precision flex and jig-built specialwork next week, all hand-laid next month and Proto88 next year. I'm stuck about half way between next week and next month, but it took me thirty years or so to get there. Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964 - on track as bulletproof as I can make it.)
rrebell: With respects to the civil engineering guy, if you are running short equipment, then tangents are bull in model railroading because of the things that cannot be scaled like gravity,
With respects to the civil engineering guy, if you are running short equipment, then tangents are bull in model railroading because of the things that cannot be scaled like gravity,
????? What does gravity have to do with straight (aka tangent) track?
if you run long cars (anything over 50', then you better listen to him!!!!!!!!!!!!! You can get a great looking layout with almost any track!!!!! It is all in you skill. They tell you a lot of things in this hobby but few do the research necessary to bring it into the scale world. The real key in model railroading, is bullet proof track!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Repeat! The Real Key in Model Railroading is BULLETPROOF TRACK!!!!!!!!!!!!
Once you achieve that, the rest is easy and yes you can make that track bullet proof, it is just harder than with flex but look at it this way, if you can master that track, you can then build with any track and one of the benefits of that track is it's low cost and the fact that you can have it up and running in no time!!!!!!!!! Then you can go back and tweak things to get it bulletproof!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Actually, sectional track is the quickest way to get a place where wheels can roll - and does fine if you recognize and work within its limitations.
When I started building my present layout, the final iteration of close to a half-century-old master plan, the first thing I did, after erecting one L-girder table, was to flatten some cardboard boxes, plop them on the joists and put down a construction tramway - of (gasp!) EZ Track. Within hours of acquiring the layout space, my 0-8-0T-kettle (Baldwin, 1897) was dragging carloads of screws, track nails, rail joiners and such from the boxes at one end of the benchwork to the site of first construction at the other. Granted that the work train was transferred to permanent rails as soon as there were some to run on, the EZ Track is still available if I ever want to use it for something else.
Nothing in model railroading is set in cement. We always retain the option to rebuild, extend, modify or simply clear space and start over. An extreme progression would be EZ Track today, cheap flex and prebuilt specialwork tomorrow, precision flex and jig-built specialwork next week, all hand-laid next month and Proto88 next year. I'm stuck about half way between next week and next month, but it took me thirty years or so to get there.
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964 - on track as bulletproof as I can make it.)
narig01One other comment. I'd forgotten about this. A few years back Model Railroader did a project with KATO Unitrak I think.
Alan
Co-owner of the proposed CT River Valley RR (HO scale) http://home.comcast.net/~docinct/CTRiverValleyRR/
I set up a large oval of Kato HO Unitrack under the tree for X-Mas. I found it surprisingly "noisy" even when laid over carpet. Something to factor in. I did like the overall quality of the Kato product.
Good points. At least with HO it should be a little more forgiving.