Microengineering Flextrack - weathered or not?

Model Railroader Layouts and layout building
1

Hi,

I’m intending to use Microengineering codes 70 and 83 flextrack for my new layout. SHould I go with weathered or plain? What’s the difference? Here in South Africa I can’t just see the stuff in the shops, I will be buying mailorder.

Any recommendations?

Thanks, Ryan

2

Its a matter of prefence. the ties are a brown no marrer which type you get. wethered rail is colored almost the same brown. you’ll have to take the paint off the top of rail cause they paint the whole rail and it cuts contact, but it does look nice. any track cleaner or light sandpaper, or even steel wool will take it off pretty quick and easy.

good luck

snagletooth

3

I prefer non-weathered because it’s less work to get electrical conductivity between track sections and to attach track feeders.

4

I prefer weathered because it’s less work to weather them :slight_smile:

Plus the price difference between weathered and non-weathered is no more than a dollar.

5

Guys,

Thanks for your help. I see valid arguements for each variety. I was intending to airbrush weather the track, but when completed there will be about 300 feet of track, so I thought the weathered track might cut down the work.

Joe, your comment about the electrical contact I suppose also concerns soldering feeders to the rail.

I think I’m going to opt for plain unweathered. All my turnouts are plain unweathered anyway.

Thanks, Ryan in South Africa.

PS, the new layout depicts the WP in summer 1950 from Oroville to Quincy Junction. Rail ranged between 112 and 119 lb/yd, which is about midway between codes 70 and 83.

6

I have used both weathered and non-weathered MicroEngineering Code 83 track while building my layout. As I understand it, the weathering is not paint, but rather a chemical treatment that makes the rail turn the color that it is. That said, I have had no issues with electrical conductivity on the rails that remain colored on the railhead. I do use a block with 600 or 800 grit sandpaper to remove the color from the top of the rails because real tracks aren’t weathered on top of the rails.

The biggest factor for using the non-weathered track? I have found that it is much easier to curve the non-weathered rail compared to the weathered rail. It will slide through the ‘spikes’ of the ties much easier than the weathered track.

Just my [2c]

Don Z.