Hi everyone New guy on the block here in sunny(sic) Scotland. I am in the fortunate position of being able to start my lifelong ambition of building a model layout. As I have limited (eg none) experience of track laying I have decided to go for Fliechmann profo ? track for the electric switches and turnouts and so avoid the need to fit under board electric point motors. To keep costs down I would like to use say PECO flexitrack for the majority of the layout Approx 16’ x 8’ Can anyone tell me what size of track code the Fleichmann stuff will be eg 100?, 83?and are they compatable.?[%-)]
Hi, to keep costs down I would personally use Peco throughout as its much cheaper, you don’t have to use Peco turnout motors you could opt for the slightly cheaper but just as reliable SMP motors, Peco also do Code83 US prototype track which looks in my opinion much better. The Fleischmann track is too toy like. If you want to go a step further you could go for the likes of Atlas or Micro Engineering, at the moment it’s so cheap to buy from the US the exchange rate was above $1.9/ 1£ making it almost half price. You also have some top notch model shop up there north of the border at Mac’s Models and Mackays Models give them a bell for more advice
http://www.mackaymodels.co.uk/
Shaun
Many thanks never looked at Atlas before but i think i may just go along with it as itlooks exactly like the effect I’m looking for. Do you have experience of buying from the states? Is their that big a difference in prices by the time you add postage? I would be ordering a fair bit once i’ve completed my track plan, but intend contacting those dealers youv’e mentioned. Cheers[:)]
I have lots of experience and all 100% satisfaction. I have used many retailers in both Canada and the US as for shipping although it can take 4 to 6 weeks surface mail the added cost is worth it. Another good retailer here in the UK is MG Sharp of Sheffield. If you wish to shop from the US I can give you the retailers I have used.
Shaun
Technicallly H0 is 1/87 which is 3.5mm= 1ft…while 00 is 1/72 which is 4mm = 1 ft. 00 is almost exclusievly UK outline/prototype. H0 is used for just about everything else. Both have a track gauge of 16.5mm - which is wrong for UK standards which should be 18.83mm gauge.
UK track details are UK specific. The European broad standard is the Berne Standard (IIRC) which is different from the UK - The Loading Gauge and Structure gauge are bothe larger. The USA broad standard is AAR or ARA depending on era. The USA gauges are larger again.
All three use different rail profiles but that doesn’t really effect the modeller too much so long as the uK modeller distinguishes between the older Bullhead rail supported by chairs and more recent Flat Bottom. Both Europe and the USA have lamost exclusively used flatbottom . Therefore any flatbottom rail will look okay.
HOWEVER… UK, EU and US ties are different sizes and spaced differently… so if you want any hope of a model looking right you want to use the appropriate track with the appropriate ties and tie spacing. Peco’s UK track is great for UK and their US track is good for the US. I would not use an Eu track for either US or UK.
I’m wondering why you want to give yourself problems hiding switch motors with surface mounted switches?
Peco, SMP and other motors including Tortoise are all good and pretty easy to install. The Peco motors plug in to the underside of Peco turnouts which measn that they can be installed and hidden pretty easily… they also have what I think of as an advantage in that they don’t need a holding current.
There is a huge advantage for the beginner in sticking with one maker and not mixing things up. One is that the different spacings between (in your case) two makes - Eu and US - will stand out as badly as the surface motors.
I would recomend that you start with all Peco US outline.
I have bought f
Hi Shaun Don’t know where my reply went However that would be really helpful I’ve tried Mackay’s unfortunately they don’t stock Atlas. Any contacts in Canada arround Calgary due there for ski-ing in March many thanks
Thanks for that Dave i have decide to go for the one supplier. I have looked at PECO the Ameican 83 Code but they seem to lacking in turnout/ slip types (only the Two) But will re-assess
Still got the time to make up my mind[%-)]
US RR don’t use slips anywhere near as much as we do but tend to use pairs of switches toe to toe so Peco’s lack of slips isn’t too much to worry about if you want it to look right for US. They only tend to use slips round big passenger terminals in big cities. Off scene you can use UK profile Peco which has just about any combination that you might want. Don’t forget that slips get more complicated in the wiring dept.
[:)]
Hi, I’ve only used Credit Valley Railway in Canada and they’re in Streetsville ON which is the other end of the country. I have often had things shipped to me whilst in the US & Canada, I was on exercise in Canada and CVR shipped to me in the middle of nowhere, the added advantage is you won’t pay the shipping to the UK only within Canada, even the US retailers will ship to Canada which is still cheaper than shipping here.
Shaun