Ordered some Peco Code 83 flex and a turnout to play around with.
Ordered Sunday, got here today (not bad coming from Wyoming.
Turnout is great. Flex, not so great, looks like someone stepped ont he box and all 5 pieces are kinked and the ties are broken off. Already emailed seller with pictures of the damage. Luckily it was Priority Mail so it carries insurance for more than the cost of the flex track.
Enough of it was intact that on first impression - I do believe I will be switching to Peco track for the next layout… The flex bends easily, almost like Atlas, but doesn’t spring back quite as much. Seems easy to straighten back out though, it doesn’t take a permanent set and is much easier to work with than ME.
I became a big fan of Peco when I had on going issues with a group of Atlas turnouts on a yard ladder. I replaced with Peco code 83, and will never look back. The build quality is impressive, and they feel solid. Admittedly I have no experience with the flex track.
I have never again had a derailment at that ladder.
Randy, I had enough of the trials of matching my Peco Code 83 #6 Insulfrog turnouts to Atlas Code 100 flex on my last layout. Don’t get me wrong, both types of track have made my hobby most enjoyable. However, knowing what I know now, and because I have switched fully to Code 83 throughout, I felt that I didn’t want the hassle of fiddling with Atlas and Peco in my yard when I put it all together. So, last summer, just as the Atlas rails supply dried up, I ordered 25 lengths of the Peco. I still haven’t tackled the yard. That comes this fall and winter, but I have the proper joiners, all lthe turnouts, and now the flex, all from the one company.
My HO home layout is all Peco code 83 flex track and turnouts except for a couple of areas where I had to use Atlas crossovers because Peco didn’t make the degree of crossings I needed.
Peco flex track requires careful handling because the false spikes are a lot smaller than Atlas and it’s easy to pull the rail loose from the ties.
Once it’s down and ballasted, you can’t tell what brand it is.
Only thing I’m waiting on is Spring, when I plan to buy a huge layout room with a house over it. I have plenty of Atlas track on hand to finish what I had planned, but I’ve already started dismantling it.
Unlike some of the others, I’ve never had problems with Atlas track and turnouts. Other than attempts to run some older Rivarossi equipment witht he pizza cutter flanges, which would give trouble on any Code 83 rail, everything runs smoothly and without derailments.
My main reason to look into Peco is better turnout variety. I’ve tried Fast Tracks, and the only one I got done to my satisfaction was oddly the first one I attempted, though it came out rather ugly looking - it worked reliably. I have a hard time getting good frog points even witht he tools - could be the particularly alloy Atlas uses makes it tougher to smoothly file, compared to ME rail, but since I ws planning on using Atlas flex I had my FT fixture cut for Atlas rail. At the rate I was getting a working turnout, I STILL wouldn’t have enough for my current layout, let alone one that will be several times larger. ME, I really don;t like the flex track one bit, and they are pretty much limited to a #6 turnout. Peco flex appears to be a great compromise between the in-flexibility of ME and the nice bendy stick of Atlas, and they have a complete lineup of turnout sizes, and even curved ones. Plus the Electrofog ones, with a couple of snips and a couple of little jumpers, end up with a frog structure just like a Fast Tracks turnout for reliable power.
I have to say that I have been N Scale for thirty years and my first layout was Shinohara C70. I have never liked the Atlas spring back track period. So in my new build I went with PECO C55 and wow have I been pleased. Peco has everything that is needed and I love the Electrofrog turnouts. Wonderful to work with, I have not so far power routed anything except one double crossover in which I had to use a couple of Digitrax AR1’s to solve the stall. I did find that some dealers kept saying that Peco is hard to get, (I think because they wanted to get a better price break from Atlas) but let me tell you I never had any problem finding and ordering anything from dealers that sold the whole Peco line. My new build is 99 % Peco, even down to the Peco inspection pit. I saved my old Diamond Scale Turntable and reinstalled it which has Shinohara C 70 on the bridge so that is the 1%. Some say that the tie spacing is not prototype for North American Railroads but now that the Layout track is painted and ballasted it looks great and operates reliably for me. Happy in Northern Colorado except for the flood. No I did not get flooded as we are high but it is going to be a long time before everyday travel comes back to normal. Our home, according to my very ($5.00) good rain gauge received 8.6 inches of rain from these two storms. We have been in a drought for several years and needed rain real bad but not a flash flood. And yes we went through the 1976 flood also. It took years to bring everything back to normal after that storm. Doug
Not trying to start a track war, but - no one has yet been able to explain why they so dislike a track that naturally forms a perfectly smooth curve with little effort. I’ve never had any sort fo problem working with it - if the issue is trying to form curves and cut off the excess but you let go to grab the cutters and it flies back so you put down the cutters…etc - I just tape it down. In most cases I make a rough cut first, leaving it long, and then file the cut end for a nice smooth joint - it certainly helps having a rail nipper like the Xuron, but even the smooth side can stand some file work to make it absolutely square and burr-free.
I can understand objections to the appearance, althought he Code 83 doesn;t have such grossly oversized spike and tie plate detail that the Code 100 does. I’ve just had no response ro rhose who hate the springyness of Atlas track from a workability standpoint. Seems to me is makes getting perfectly smooth and trouble free curves a total breeze, vs others that you need to work into place. Obviously such track is not going to work unless fastened down, but I don;t think anyone is making temprary on the floor layouts with flex track.I’ve found that if the ends of the curve, ie the tangent sections immiately before and after the curve are in place, the curve will hold its shape, assuming the rail ends are trimmed, and form a perfect smooth arc between the endpoints, with no kinks.
Update on the original topic, replacement order of track being sent out.
So while my bad luck resulted in getting a damaged order, on the whole it’s good luck because I now have yet another honest and reliable seller to look to when ordering stuff. Kudos Will at Cherry Creek Hobbies.
Yesterday I was putting in some new subfloor plywood to beef up the floor before I have new hardwood installed. I had to cut a curve in a piece around a stairway. I used a piece of Peco CD 100 flex bent around the step to match the curve then traced around the ties for the proper curve on the plywood. The flextrack straightened out when I bent it back while pressing it down on the kitchen countertop. Good stuff.
Yeah, he said they had problems like this before - mostly when they used FedEx - considering FedEx is the one with all the YouTube videos of the drivers just throwing stuff over fences and so forth…
I meant to reply back after he said he was sending replacements, when I got flex track from MB Klein, they packed it in a thick mailer tube, it would take LOTS of effort to bend that. But then I bet they are just over 3’ long, and the Peco flex is 3 meters, more like 39", and might not fit.
At one time I had pretty much standardized on Walthers code 83. There was a period of time maybe 6 or 7 years ago when they experienced a year long outage and I could not get turnouts at my local hobby shop . I tried a few PECO code 83 turnouts and flex rack and have not looked back. I am replacing my Walthers with PECO as time allows. These are bullet proof. The only loco I have ever had a problem with shorting were my new style Athearn SW 1500’s. A little filing on the frog, based on inputs from this forum, and the problem was solved.
I’ll definitely be using Electrofrogs, and cutting the stock jumpers, and applying the stock to closure rail jumpers, and of course powering the frog - no place for shorts! And solid power throughout.
Motley adds, “I don’t understand why people keep waiting for Atlas track, when you can buy Peco and be happier.” To which, I respond, because Peco flex track does not make me happier.
Randy states, “no one has yet been able to explain why they so dislike a track that naturally forms a perfectly smooth curve with little effort.” To which, I respond, because once you bend Peco flex track, you cannot straighten it once again. If you err in setting the curve, it is all but impossible to return it to its original form in order to start over.
Without exaggeration, I say, I hate Peco flex track. I love Peco turnouts, but I hate Peco flex track.
I say, no one has yet been able to explain why they so like a track that naturally deforms into a perfectly unworkable section of track with so little effort.
Oh Boy! I promised myself that I would not say anymore. BUT! I have installed cases of Peco C55 track and I have curved it, straightened it again, re-curved it, “S” curved it, changed my alignment again, curved and soldered it together for hard to reach areas and so on. The Electrofrog turnouts have been bullet proof for me. There are other brands out there that make MR’s happy. I personally am real patient when laying track and turnouts after thirty years of learning by my many mistakes. In doing my re-build I have been really impressed with Peco track, turnouts and even the inspection pits. Peco has been so reliable for me. I promise this is my last said on this subject. Doug
Now Rich, if you were talking Micro Engineering, I’d agree. But I have my 5 sample pieces of Peco flex track, and I’ve bent it every which way, and now they are all nice and straight. The couple of pieces of ME flex I have, they weren’t straight right from the get-go. The Peco seems to me to be right in the middle. it somewhat holds shape when curved, but has some springyness, but not as much as Atlas. This Code 83 is the only Peco track I’ve handled, perhaps their other types are not this springy. I can video bending it and letting it spring back to demonstrate. It doesn’t return to straight like Atlas but it does freely slide back. And it seems easy to make a slightly curved piece back to straight even without using a straightedge.
I also like the attention to detail - on the turnouts, they undercut the end ties so the joiners fit in. You don;t even see that from a normal viewing angle, but it means no more shaving off the spike heads or cutting off the end tie to get the joiner in.