Have found that the flanges of wheels on some of my rolling stock hit “spike heads” on my code 55 track.
What manufacturer can I count on so this doesn’t happen. Hate thinking of changing trucks of n scale with my eyes, hands and age!!
Lance
You can either convert all the wheels of your rolling stock to low profile wheels or get Micro Engineering track.
Or Peco code 55.
Thing is, Atlas code 55 is great track, but it’s very intolerant of pizza cutter (oversize) flanges on wheelsets. It actually not the fault of the track though. It meets the NMRA’s RP25 standards. It’s the wheel manufacturers fault. Their stuff is oversize. Like Lance said, swap out for low profiles and your problem will go away. If you don’t want to do that you’ll have to switch track brands.
You can either convert all the wheels of your rolling stock to low profile wheels or get Micro Engineering track.
You can also try switching to Atlas code 80 track. Code 80 rails are higher than code 55. I use it (code 80) because I have older trains with bigger flanges, as well as newer lower profile wheels. Easier to use the code 80 than to try changing trucks!
Some don’t care for the looks of the code 80 stuff. I know I’m not wild about it, but I have to admit, it’s pretty bullet proof. I use it in my staging yards.
I have not tried this, but I have read of more than one person successfully running a small screwdriver across the top of the spike heads, knocking enough off to clear the flanges but not so much as to compromise the track. It is worth a try.
I heard that too and I tried it. Apperently I didn’t do it right, because my test piece was a loss.
Peco C55 is the answer to your problem.There in fact C80 imbeaded deeper in the ties to look like real C55 without spike heads to hit deeper wheel flanges.And their turnouts are top quality.However,their tie spacing is based on european prototypes so that they won’t look as prototypical if you model north american railways,but this is important only if you care about this…
I love using Atlas Code 55. It looks more realistic than the code 80 . And to me, laying the flextrack is no different no matter which code you use . ( my opinion )
For some of my old cars I have changed the wheelsets to the low profile ones. They look much better than the pizza cutters anyways. To me , it was worth the extra money.
Any new cars I buy, I just make sure they have the low profile wheels.
You just have to decide for yourself what you want and how much you want to spend.
To me code 55 and low profile metal wheelsets are the way to go.
Craig