I was finishing up my trackwork for a hidden staging yard on my new layout this morning before work and came down to the last track only to find out that I was one piece of flex track short. I thought I had estimated everything down so well but just didn’t have any left over to do the last 30" section. I didn’t want any left overs because I don’t usually use it. I have plenty of code 55 microengineering that I will use on all the visible track but the yard is all code humongous atlas flex with peco turnouts. (N scale) I wanted it all to run really reliably with minimal fuss and not to have to go back to it later so I decided on the atlas flex. It looks like it will work out great (I had a similar yard 10 years ago with good reliability with the large atlas flex). The problem is that I don’t have a Hobby shop in the area so I have to mail order and I think the odds of mail ordering one piece will be a little slim. Hopefully one of the toy stores will carry it.
Are you saying you have reliability problems with the c55?
No, actually both the microengineering and atlas code 55 work well for me. I generally use atlas code 55 turnouts and microengineering flex track (some of my rolling stock flanges are too big for atlas code 55 and makes it bump down the track). I just don’t see the reason for increased cost in hidden stagging. Also, I can really lay down the glue on the much larger ties of the larger code flex in staging without gumming up the rail. I put it down with a little more glue than usual, and I plan on ballasting the track as well to give it added stability for years of wear and tear (you never know when that staging might decide to become visible staging as well so might as well balast it now in the early stages. for that matter maybe I should paint it as well?).
If you have a Hobbytown USA store nearby, they can do a store to store transfer to get it in. I’m pretty sure the Hobbytown in Indianapolis on E. 82nd street has a couple of pieces. You could have it in a couple of days.
Now, about that kingdom…
Thanks, I’ll check that out. Theres a hobby town about 15 miles down the road.
What about a Hobby Lobby ? MY wife goes there all the time & it really surprised me when she told me of their model train selections…HO & N. They have a really good line up of Woodland Senics as well.
You know, I hear everyone talking about how great Hobby Lobby is, but around here they don’t have ANYTHING train related. They have a couple of model car & airplane kits (and I mean just a couple) and thats it. You can’t find anything directly related to trains at all.
cpeterson, your profile indicates that you reside in - or at least near - Nashville, Tennessee. Nashville may not be the biggest burg on the planet but it does, I am led to believe, have a population exceeding 600,000 in the metropolitan area.
The dealers directory in the back of the June '07 Model Railroader lists five hobby shops in or in the vicinity of your fair burg: Southbound Trains in Franklin,; Hobbytown USA in Murfreesboro; The Broadway Depot in Smyrna; and Aardvaarks’s Model Trains and N Scale Trains and Scenery in Nashville proper. Now if you can’t find any track at one of those five places I would give serious consideration to relocating to a more hospitable location for my hobby.
Brother Peterson,
If you’re on the West side of Music City, check out Phillips Toys and Hobbies.
If by some chance you drop into Aardvark’s late next week we could bump into each other. I have to go to Nashville for my granddaughter’s wedding, and I’m not about to let it be a single-purpose trip.
Chuck (ex-Ashland City resident modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
cpeterson,
I live in Christiana (just south of Murfreesboro). The Hobby Lobby in Murfreesboro and the Hobby Lobby in Franklin both carry some train stuff, not a lot, but some. The Hobbytown in Murfreesboro has a decent train selection(more than most Hobbytowns). I have not been in Aardvark’s in a couple of years because it is kind of out of the way for me. I still go to Phillips Toy Mart every once in a while, but the last time I was there, their N-scale selection was very small. They do however have an operating O guage layout. Southbound Trains in Franklin is a pretty nice store. They carry mostly O gauge but they do have some N-scale. If you have never been in there, you definitely should check it out. The Broadway Depot in Smyrna is now my favorite hobby store. It just openned recently(I believe last Fall) and his selection gets better all the time. I can tell you how to get to any of these stores, but I don’t remember off hand who keeps Atlas code 80 flex track in stock.
If they don’t have what you need, The Broadway Depot and the Murfreesboro HobbytownUSA are both good about ordering it for you.
[#ditto]
[#ditto] we don’t have a Hobby Lobby around here, but I’ve been to one and there’s not much stuff. I have a great Hobby Shop around here so… no problums.