One of my friends didn’t want his realtrax oval anymore. His dad bought it for him, but to no avail, he could not find a affection for trains. So when I was over at his house he handed me a box of REALTRAX. [:D][:0]It had a complete 0-31 circle in it and 2 extra-long straights. So I biked home and set it up on the living room floor, hooked up the R. Then I put all of my 8 cars behind my 4-4-2. It worked slowly for a few laps until the black coloring on the middle rail got absorbed by my picup rollers on the 4-4-2. After that, I lightly sanded the middle rail until the top was free of black. Then the consist worked beutifully.
Jerry, glad you like the track. I think the “ease of assembly” is one of the main selling points to both this track and the Lionel FasTrack.
You mention the loud “clickity-clack” sound, which makes me wonder if ithe RealTrax is louder than the FasTrack… the FasTrack is loud due to the hollow rail and the inserting of the rail tabs into the plastic roadbed.
One thing I think MTH got right with the RealTrax is the diameter of the curves. I know with the roadbed, the 031 curve must be something like 34 or 35 inches. Still this makes it possible to have a few more layout options with RealTrax on the typical 4’x8’ layout than the extended oval you can do with FasTrack in the same space.
Also Jerry, your bit here proves some kids have trains in their blood more so than others… at least this worked to your advantage (instead of ending up in attic storage).
Enjoy!
His dad didn’t buy it in the set, he went to the hobby shop and got the track first. He is a really big ebay dealer. His dad dosn’t know much about any scale at all and bought a mth DUMMY for his son’s track[D)]. He then bought a tyco HO transformer for it and hooked it up to the track.[:D]The light went on in the dummy, but they could not figure out why it didn’t work. So dad sold the dummy and HO transformer on ebay again, and the track sat for 2 years, until I got it today.
Glad you were able to give it a good home. One thing to watch out for is the copper contacts. After you set it up and take it down a few times, the contacts may get slightly crushed and not touch. So, if you have any electrical problems, check those tabs, they may need tweeking.
Yeah Jerry, that’s the only real problem I’ve heard about Realtrax. I have a piece of Realtrax and a piece of FasTrack on my desk that I bought to study. I like the Realtrax system better, if you have to have integral roadbed.[swg]
I think you have the right idea Jerry. Integral roadbed track is nice for small layouts and beginners, but it just doesn’t have the flexibility needed for sophisticated layout design.
Yea, my layout sure looks tacky [:(] and my REALTRAX from MTH can’t conduct electricity [:(] because of all the broken connections. [:(] At least I have a layout [:D] with trains that run [:D] without major electrical problems [:)] for the last four years. It is hard to believe those Lionel and K-Line TOY trains run on that REALTRAX by MTH. And when the layout expands I am going to make the same mistake I made four years ago and use Realtrax to run more trains. I must have been a real fool to get my layout to be so reliable.[B)]
Oh and I forgot, the accessories work too, but I think that was by accident or Devine intervention.
I had decided on MTH Realtrax [plus my “Train Lady” promises me a discount]. I went by Buckeye’s house yesterday and saw his layout. Now I will definitely use Realtrax. It is great for all layouts. Got pictures of some guys that post here [and on OGR] who have full basement layouts with Realtrax and they look great. Anyone that wants to give away Realtrax and switches, let me know, I’ll pay shipping. OH, with Buckeye’s foam insulation “base” layout, no noise except for the sounds of TMCC.
