The weathering on ME track makes it more difficult to bend. I got non weathered on purpose after trying a piece or two.
Stiff flex track holds the curve much better for laying track, but you have to be way more careful.
I used Atlas code 83 flex track for years. Switched to Peco because it mates to the Peco turnouts a bit better. A few observations:
I like the way Peco holds its curve, rather than the springy nature of Atlas. With the Atlas, the last few inches are harder to bend, and doing so forcfully could result in the track popping out of the ties. Soldering two sections together avoids that, then it also forms a natural easment at each end, but there needs to be a strong anchor at one end as you bend two sections around. That doesn’t work well with the way I lay track. Haven’t had any issues with Peco popping out.
Any kink that’s formed in the Atlas track makes it almost impossible to return it back to straight. Since Peco track molds easily, I just lay it on its edge on a table and form it back straight very quickly.
Both the ME code 83 joiners and the Atlas N gauge code 80 joiners work well with Peco 83, but are harder to fit onto Atlas 83. Those joiners both shorter and smaller, so they look better, IMO, then the Atlas code 100/83 joiners which were the standard joiner I used on Atlas 83.
Both tracks are both good products. Preferences differ.
I also find stiff brands of flex track unpleasant to work with such as MicroEngineering or Walthers/Shinohara. The why is you have to wrestle with it and massage it over and over, and move the ties around to get it to conform to a center-line.
Even stiffer? ME and Atlas are basically at opposite ends of the stiffness scale. ME is very stiff where as Atlas bends very easily and conforms very easy to a centerline.
I’ve used both Atlas code 100 and 83 on layouts and the springy nature is what makes it so easy to conform to any center-line I draw. Just tack it down bit by bit and you have a nice smooth flowing curve with little effort and no wrestling.
[quote user=“riogrande5761”]
Doughless
I used Atlas code 83 flex track for years. Switched to Peco because it mates to the Peco turnouts a bit better. A few observations: I like the way Peco holds its curve, rather than the springy nature of Atlas. With the Atlas, the last few inches are harder to bend, and doing so forcfully could result in the track popping out of the ties.
I’ve used both Atlas code 100 and 83 on layouts and the springy nature is what makes it so easy to conform to any center-line I draw. Just tack it down bit by bit and you have a nice smooth flowing curve with little effort and no wrestling.
Easements are a snap because the Atlas flex track “becomes” the bent stick in the bent stick method in John Armstrongs Track Planning book.
I’ve never had any trouble with the last few inches being hard to bend. The whole piece of flex track all bends easily and I’ve laid lots of curves on 3 good sized layouts so far. What I do is tack down each end while soldering so the track ends are nearly straight. After soldering they spring back to form a long even flowing curve. No kinking issues. But maybe I just have the Atlas track “gene”?
<
Huh. I guess it really is a case of “your mileage may vary.”. I never had any problem with ME code 83 unweathered.
i don’t pre form curves, I curve the track as I go. 30" min mainline radius, down to as tight as 16" on industrial trackage.
Just curious, what do you mean “lay as you go” when it comes to industrial trackage? Maybe plan the area precisely, draw all of the center lines on the bench work with mathematical precision, then lay once and secure?
When building switching layouts or industrial areas, I’m always laying, taking it up, adjusting, laying again, repeating several times. In order for flex track to fit into a small area, it needs to be cut, pruned, snipped; and the springy Atlas needs some pre bending in order to fit into a small area.
I can’t imagine taking a 14.375 inch of straight Atlas flex and anchoring one end to the fixed track and bending it onsite then anchoring the other end…then being done with that piece of track forever.
Exactly describes the difference in flex between Peco and Atlas. You can successfully curve quite short pieces of Peco which you cannot do with Atlas flex track.
Even so, you are better advised to bend the end of a longer piece of flex track to the shape of the short piece you need and then cut that useable curved piece off. For short radius pieces that are also short in length it is easiest to shape the piece you need some distance in from one end and cut off both of the ends that are too straight.
This “popping out of the ties” thing seems to be the general effect of curving any flex track, the outer rail pulls back fromt he tie strip. Just start with BOTH rails extended on the end you are connecting first, then bend the track into place, and cut as needed at the opposite end.
Atlas track kinks at the ends?
There’s no kink between the turnout and the right most track. ANd the joint at the turnout is NOT soldered.
ANd for putting the track down - yes, I draw the centerlines, not to some super precise level, if I wanted that I would just print full size from my CAD plan. Just fit in the turnouts mostly, so that things fit. Then fill in the track. And once it’s down, it’s usually done, I’m not constantly ripping up and changing things. Because I’ve already done a decent amount of planning on ‘paper’ (well, CAD) so I know what will fit.
–Randy
Thanks for the picture of a siding. Kink is a word I was repeating and wouldn’t choose myself.
That sharp curve you have in the siding requires the track to be curved right at the end where it meets the turnout then straight again as it runs parallel to the main.
The springy Atlas track wants to curve along its entire length, not just the last six inches. I always needed some sort of anchor mid curve from which to pivot around to then form the straight section.
It became easier to just prebend it. In doing so, the force required sometimes caused the rails to pop up…not slide along…out of the ties. Shears off the spike heads when it pops out, because the ends want to stay straight.
After your siding track has been sitting there for years, I suspect that it has formed a little permanent bend in it if you took it up. The track would no longer be perfectly stra
If you just bend Atlas flextrack as you nail it down to hold it in place it will always exert a sideways force and will spring back to some extent if the nails are pulled or work loose.
I prefer to pre bend the flextrack to the exact required alignment before fixing it down, especially when making connections to turnouts.
If you do not then you will see little “kinks” at joiners, especially if you use those plastic isolating joiners. Those little kinks never go away.
Just BTW, it is physically impossible to bend one section of unconnected flextrack to the same radius for its entire length. You cannot exert the same leverage on the end as you can on the middle of a section of flextrack, a major drawback. It is true the sections are self easing in that way but only in less than 3’ sections of curve (you lose a bit of length with every curve).
Well, I don’t use caulk, I use spikes into Homasote. And I start at the switch and move on, adjusting as I go.
That’s exactly what I did on my last layout. This is the first layout where I’m using Peco, but the previous layout had Atlas…which is fine.
To make an 11 inch long 26.5 inch radius curve, or whatever was needed in the space provided, the preferred method was to prebend the Atlas track, then snip off the part that wasn’t 26.5 inch radius.
That left me with a fair amount of scrap track pieces, which I straightend best I could and soldered together to make some wiggly nonuniform industrial spur tracks.
Yes, that would have to be the way. Anchor it down as you go.
Its all good in model railroading. Different preferences beget different approaches.
I have been making perfect curves, perfect easements and lazer perfect straight track with Atlas flex track for the last five decades, it’s easy. I have no kinks at my rail joints. Of course I don’t waste my time with track nails or cork roadbed.
Sheldon
If the curve is limited to one three foot section of track, then the less curved ends act as a natural easement. Forming a curve longer that three feet would be best to solder the two sections together as straight tracks first , then work the curve and shorten to fit, …even so there is a little less curve along the joiner (but who cares).
Bingo. No issue with kinks. If a joint may be prone to it, a ME spike or two holds things firmly in place.
I have no issues with curving Atlas flex at the end with the rest straight. I can provide a few photos in my staging yard where I am laying track presently after work tomorrow. As Bayfield noted, these things are possible with good old Homasote and spikes. Perhaps a distinct advage over adhesives on foam. After building 3 previous layouts this way I’m a believer.
I use adhesives, I don’t use foam…
Sheldon
Layout before the last one, I used foam roadbed. I drew the outside lines for the foam. But also caulked down the track, no kink here either, just a smooth curve off the turnout (and the curves to the right)
With adhesive, instead of nails, there is something holding the track over the entire length, not just every so many ties where you have a nail driven in. So yet another advantage to caulk over nails, the track is fully supported. Temprarily just use pushpins to keep it from moving until the caulk sets:
As you can see, not many pins needed, when you spread the caulk thin like you are supposed to, it sticks very well from the get go. Takes maybe an hour to dry enough to remove the pushbins and not have it move on its own, maybe less. But I just keep on working if I have more to go.
–Randy
Well, I get similar results, but do use cork roadbed and track nails for most (but not all) track.
However, I don’t quite get this…
as it conflicts with this…
If the nailed-down stuff springs back if the nails are removed, why wouldn’t your pre-bent track simply do the same thing, as, at the beginning, it wouldn’t be fastened down at all.
If you wish to make long curves, simply curve and fasten most of the first piece in place, trim the excess rail and ties as necessary, then solder another length of track to the not-yet-curved portion of the previously laid piece, then carry on with your curve, repeating the same process every time.
When I was ready to end a curve, I simply let the Atlas track form its own suitable easement, then fastened it in place.
All of my mainline curves are superelevated, and all have self-created vertical easements
I was, though, surprised to learn that what I thought to be some of the fairly long curves on my layout, weren’t really all that long. Most of the “bigger” ones were between only 10’ and 15’ long.
Most of the lower level of my layout is on cut-out 3/4" plywood, with the majority of it on risers of various heights