My original layout is over 20 years old using flex track and DC. I am relocating and building a new layout. With all the new technowledgy, what is the best track to use, flex track or something like Kato Unitrack since I will be converting to DCC.
Herb 29: My layout has track (prefab) older than 20 years. It has a mix of newer ATLAS flex and turnouts. DCC should not have much impact on your selection (still using DC for now). There are many more options of track and tracklaying tools, then when I first started. I like using “Sweepsticks” from" Fast Track". Check out their website. Also. Peco has full size turnout templates or you can photocopy ATLAS components to help you plan. Regards, Andy
Unless this old flex track is brass, there’s no reason to change.
Personally, I now prefer Peco code 83 flextrack over other brands, and fasten it with latex caulk instead of nails. Atlas flex track is also a very good choice, as would be Walthers track, which is actually made by Shinohara.
If it were me, I would not use Unitrack for a new layout. I model in On30, so I guess I am more of a train runner than a “Model Railroader”, atleast in some circles, but I find the following problems with it:
As with any sectional track, there are too many limitations. You have to build with fixed radii. Absolutely no way to create easements into curves. And lengths that always seem to be just a tad too long or too short. Also you have lots of rail joiners and you pretty much have to rely on those joiners to carry your current, whether it be DC or DCC. With all the articles available on MR as to “How To” re track installation of flex, I see few reasons to limit my railroad to the things sectional track has to offer. I have some Kato Unitrack, and it is certainly a fine product, easy to use, and seems to be quite reliable, but, as they say, “It is what it is”.
Just my opinion
Kevin
I am in the process of building my, “Last in this lifetime” layout. My trackwork uses a motley collection of flex track (back to but not including brass rail on fiber tie - I have some, but it won’t be used on the layout.) All of my specialwork is hand laid on-site without use of jigs or pre-shaped templates.
To my way of thinking, the, “Flex,” in flex track stands for flexible track planning. I model in Metric units, so my curve radii aren’t readily available in blister packs at the LHS. I also insist on proper vertical easements, spiral easements and superelevation - things which can’t be formed with sectional track on ballast (Kato et al) and are almost equally impossible when using no-ballast sectional track. (Interestingly, Kato DOES manufacture radii I use, but in a form that I won’t touch!)
One other factor. If you are modeling for the ages - or the decades - tying your track construction to a single manufacturer’s proprietary designs can lead to problems in the future, when something dies and the original manufacturer has either vanished or moved on to some different line of business.
A final thought. The only difference between analog DC and DCC is found in the placement of rail gaps and track power feeders. That ancient fiber-tie flex would perform identically with both. Ditto for any more recent flex or rigid track product. The so-called, “DCC friendly” commercial turnouts perform identically under a fresh-from-the-LHS wonderloco with DCC, sound, smoke and smell and under a fifty year old Mantua mikado with the original open-frame Pittman motor powered by leads from a storage battery. If anyone ever develops a practical radio-controlled loco with on-board batteries, it will run on the same track without a hiccup. The only concern is that the track must be in gauge, and that the curves must be smooth and kink-free.
Chuck (Modeling Central Ja
There are two different things to watch out for when using older track.
One is brass rail. It can usually be identified by a brass / gold type color.
The second is track that has fiber ties, and is held to the rails by spikes that look like staples.
If you track appears to be either of these, throw it away and start with new products.
Have you checked out Central Valley? They sell a system that is sort of like hand laying but much, much, simpler. Basically this is the way I want to go on my next layout. You lay down the ties, which connects together in long strips, then lay your rail and bend the preformed spikes into postion. Done. Nice thing is, you can weather your ties first, then use micro engineering weathered rail.
Chris
Throw it away??? Heaven forfend! Use it for scenery - raw rails on racks at MOW supply points, pulled-up rail where the track has been re-worked, the last two carlengths of an industrial spur…
My longer lengths of brass rail will be stripped from their stapled-on fiber ties to become continuously welded rail stretched along the right-of-way, scheduled to replace the existing jointed rail early in October of 1964. (Why is that scenery? Check my signature.)
I have also laid better-quality brass flex as the last length before the bumper on back-in staging - rail that will never feel the wheels of a locomotive. And short lengths are just as good as nickel silver when formed into guard rails, whether for bridges or as part of hand-laid specialwork.
As a last resort, a few pieces of appropriate length can weight a plastic flat car to NMRA specifications without being glaringly obvious. I’ve used steel rail stripped from toy train sectional track for that purpose, and could also see using it for all of the above except CWR and specialwork guard rails.
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964 - TTTO, 24/30)
Herb28 first let me welcome u to the board. Well it all depends on how deep your pockets are.If your like a lot of us working on a tight budget then Atlas is probably the most economical way to go. Their track is fine nothing wrong with it just some don’t like it’s snake like characteristics as it really flexes like all get out. If your pockets are flush with cash then I would probably say the top of the line flex track is Micro Engineering weathered flex track. I don’t believe they make track in code100 but I may be mistaken. As far as what sode to run well that strictly up to you the builder/owner