I may have made a mistake deciding to use ME code 83 on my high-traffic lines and code 70 elsewhere, but I’m sticking with it. The problem is that now I find it hard to tell the two apart as I work with it. (One of the reasons I chose HO on starting over after some years in N was the issue of vision.) I can find no mark on either the flextrack or the turnouts to indicate which rail size is used. Is there a simple method to distinguish them once they’re out of the packaging? Is the black horse two inches taller than the white horse?
I have trouble telling code 83 from code 100.
My answer to the problem is a micrometer.
I use a lot of ME track, and have never noticed a mark to distinguish rail code. The micrometer suggestion is a good one. Maybe you could ensure all the track is correctly separated by code, and then mark across the bottom of the ties with a permanent marker - drag along the whole length of the track so you won’t lose the mark as you remove ties and cut the track for use. Mark only one code, so if you see it you know which it is at a glance.
I segregated by rail code in different storage locations when I salvaged track off my last couple layouts. If I grabbed something from a specific spot, I knew it was 83, from another 70, from the last 55.
I have trouble between codes 83 and 100 in S. So I just use code 100 for everything.
Enjoy
Paul
EROSEBUD,
Do you have a, NMRA,Standards Gage?? the square looking notch on the left side of the gage,right above the wheels gage,a code 100 will fill the whole notch, code 83 will be about a 1/16 shorter and so on…very easy to check that way,if your not sure…
Cheers,
Frank
The difference between code 100 and code 83 is 0.017 inch. 1/16 is 0.062 inch. Did you mean some other number than 1/16?
I said about,1/16,I did not give a precise measurement,It does not make any difference, a code 100 will fill the notch,others won’t,Try it you will see for yourself,you don’t have to take my word…
Cheers,
Frank
The closest “fraction of an inch” between Code 100 > Code 83 > code 70 is 1/64".
I distinguish between them by the way they are detailed. Code 83 is mainline track, with either concrete or evenly-spaced wood ties (2 different mainlines.) Code 70 is used in yards and on sidings, with less-than-perfect tie alignment and less ballast of a lower quality. JNR Mainline tracks show ‘diesel traces’ - a line of dripped transmission fluid/gear oil down the track centerline, typical of 1964-issue diesel-hydraulic locos and DMU. Only those places laid with Code 70 rail where diesels might be parked (one spur at Tomikawa) have the same. (There are also catenary motor tracks, just inside the tie plates, where motors might run - only under my virtual catenary.)
The prototype uses different weights of rail for a number of reasons, logical, financial and historic. We modelers can capture that by striving to duplicate the appearance of those differences.
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
Easiest way is to look at the web of the rail. The weight, date of manufacture and the foundry are embossed on the side of the rail. If you cannot find these details on your tracks, then clearly you are not spending enough money on your track.
