Time to start thinking about track on the trestle. I am in HO and use code 83 track. I am looking for evaluations of ME’s bridge flex track,ie, how does it look, how flexible is it, 20"?, does it stay in scale ok, or any other experience you have had.
Thanks
I think it is an adequate product. Beats the heck out of cutting and laying your own bridge ties. Be careful when you bend it as the little plastic spike heads are not near as robust as the Atlas code 100 stuff. A little weathering and you’ll have a great bridge. I glued in gaurd rails on mine.
Art…ME bridge track is great stuff, I pretty sure you will like it, but its kinda pricey. …as stated above be as gentel as you were with your firstborn, reguarding bending the track. I was at a loss of how to insulate it as I wanted to hold trains on my Keddie Wye, I tried code 100 rail insulators, has held ok
I havent instaled the bridge guard rail as I have to remove the bridge to do my scenery and wire my bridge signals…John,
The posts above are true, it is a little more expensive but it falls into the “you get what you pay for” category. You DO have to be more gentle with it as noted, and it does look great. For what it’s worth, one of my most serious customers with a basement-sized layout has purchased quite a few pieces for all of his trestles and he is pleased. Very nice detail on all of the M.E. products. The only thing I might add, depending on where you or your model train shop buys it, sometimes because M.E. is a smaller manufacturer the track is out of stock, so plan ahead. It’s never out of stock very long, though, and is worth the wait if there is one. Remember also that the track comes with the fire barrels/platforms, guardrails, etc and is made in America.
I’m in N scale, so I can only tell you about that, but I think the products are similar between scales. I’ve used the code 55 bridge track and found it to be an excellent product. It does hold whatever shape you put it in, so make sure your curves are smooth if you’re doing a curved bridge. If you need to straighten it back out, stand it on it’s side and run a book across the ties sticking up to straighten it back out. This is especially helpful in getting out little kinks that sometimes develop as you handle the track.
Art,
The ME bridge flex track is a great product, and as mentioned care should be taken with handling and bending. I have used it with great success. A tip the bending and not getting any kinks is to make a template from 1/4" luan or other ply. I used the template for the curved bridge then traced the offset to account for the inboard tie edge. Bending was as simple as flexing the track to the plywood template. The one bridge in particular was not an even radius. At one abutment the track was straight for a couple of inches then eased into a 42" super elevated turn. The template made bending this odd shape a breeze. The super elevation was a bit of trouble though. I found that using Pliobond to glue the track to the girder assembly worked better than any other glues That I had tried. The curved viaduct is about 200 scale ft. long. Love the ME product, great to work with.
Acurate measurements are required when calculating the heights for the abutment shoe shelf to maintain exact railhead height. I like to carry the bridge stock rails and guard rails out beyond the bridge for added strength and smoothness. This is easily done with handlaid track, but can be done transitioning to flex as well.
I’ve used the M.E. code 83 bridge track on all of my bridges, and have had no problems with it. It’s not as flexible as Atlas track, and, as noted, the smaller spike heads holding the rail in place will snap off quite easily with repeated bending. While you can use plastic cement (MEK, lacquer thinner, etc.) to glue things like railroad crossing “timbers” to the rails of Atlas track, these solvents have no effect on the M.E.'s ties, so using these solvent-type cements to glue the track to the bridge doesn’t work. I used ca, although contact cement might also work. I also used ca to fasten the guardrails in place. All of the bridges are removeable.
Wayne
Thanks guys, good answers. I will order a coupleof lengths next time I get to LHS. Wayne, great pics. Nice RR. Fantastic water. When I get the bridge ready, I will need to try water. One more thing to learn.
Thanks, Art. The water was easy to do: the river bed is plywood. I dampened it with a misting of “wet” water (tap water with a couple of drops of liquid dish detergent added) then applied a thin coating of patching plaster. (I used Durabond 90, made by the Canadian Gypsum Company - the same stuff, made by U.S. Gypsum should be available in the U.S.) This plaster has a catalyst which causes it to set in approximately 90 minutes, regardless of the consistency to which you mix it. I believe that they also make other setting times, generally less than 90 minutes. This stuff dries very hard and resists cracking, even over plywood. It’s available at places like Home Depot, etc. I used a drywall knife to work in ripples and eddies, and a damp sponge is good for creating small waves: just touch it to the wet plaster, then lift. When you’ve got the effect that you want, let it dry. I left mine for a couple of days, just to make sure that it was fully hardened. I then used latex house paint to paint the surface of the plaster. In the shallow water area I used the same brown that I use as a basic scenery colour, while the deeper water was represented by the same dark grey/green that I use for distant foliage. When these colours are fully dry, you can add whitecaps, rapids, etc., using a small brush and some white latex paint. When all of the paint was completely dry, I applied three coats of water-based high gloss clear urethane. I hope this information will be of some use when it comes time to “fill” those rivers.
Wayne