I’ve been in and out of the hobby for about 45 yrs. Now retired, I’m in the design/room prep…and soon benchwork stage of a new (and probably final) layout. It will fill a 8x12 ft. fully dedicated extra room, be shelf in design with a liftout or gate, and employ the latest in DCC, staging and scenery techniques. I model the Lehigh & New England RR. Over the years I’ve used only Atlas track - code 83 most recently. I plan on using Peco turnouts throughout for reliability. Although the Atlas track is economical and works well, I have always found the “springyness” of the flextrack difficult to work with and sometimes downright ornery! Which code 83 track holds its shape better when doing tracklaying: ME? Peco? Walthers? Other? (I’m aware Model Power does but it’s only available in code 100). Though cost is always a concern, its not paramount. “Bullet proof” track work is my most important concern, and ease of tracklaying is my goal. Thanks for your help!
I prefer Peco’s flextrack, since it holds it’s shape, but isn’t as fragile or hard to curve as Micro Engineering (which is without a doubt the best LOOKING track on the market).
Have you looked at Peco’s line of code 75 flextrack and switches? It works as well as code 83, comes in a larger line than Pecos’ code 83 rackage, and isn’t quite as expensive as the new Peco 83. And it’s a better size rail toi represent most American mainlines (even code 83 is too big!)
Micro-Engineering makes a very good flex track. It bends and holds its curve well. But compared to the Atlas Track it needs to be “messaged” into the shape you want. You have to get it into a a rough approxamation of the curve you want and then you can adjust it to fainal shape as your taking it down. It uses Delrin Plastic for the ties so they can put much more spike detail into it compared to the Atlas track which uses poly styrene for its ties.
However after using both, I ust say I prefer the atlas track. With the atlas track you just simply bend it and it goes where you want. With the Micro-Engineering track you have to work slowly and methodicly to get it to do what you want. I like building things. But in the interests of sanity, I need to get my trains running fairly quickly.
In my experience, ME looks the best, but is very fragil. Atlas is the cheapest, but doesn’t hold shape well. Peco is a good middle of the road because it holds its shape when you’re putting it down and is moderately priced.