Rignt now I am between a rock and a hard place…
Here is the Background…I am currently using Atlas Flex track Code 100 ( I have a lot of old trains that I run). I am thinking about switching to the Bachman EZ-snap track. Currenlty, the family christmas train layout is only up for 2-3 months a year… We put it up Thanksgiving weekend and take it down Superbowl weekend, sometimes a week or two after the SB. My purpose is for the kids to enjoy running the trains, they don’t care if things are “prototypically correct” or if this building is a bit out of scale… the main goal is to have fun running and setting up the trains, versus going crazy to make things perfectly modeled exactly right…
The benchwork consists of 2 4X4 platforms which are bolted together. The past 2 years I have used flextrack which is installed on the bench work directly on top of the grass like paper. Everything works pretty good, very few derails, I think this year we had about 4-5 total. My issue is when I pull up the flex track, a lot of the track gets mauled by the nails, or is I have to cut it down because it was used on curves for next year etc…
Next year I am expanding the train benchwork by about 300%. Since I will have to buy more track next year and I only have about $50-60 buck invested now, I was thinking about moving to the EZ-Track by Bachman because it would be easier to put down and pull back up and not destroy the track.
Also, typically the layout has 2 independent loops so that the kids won’t cra***he trains. I will go with the same methodology of indpendent loops 3-4 on the new layout but now may add in a few sidings as a storage place for trains that are not being run.
What is the best way to proceede? I don’t mind spending extra $$$ if it helps to prevent from throwing away unusable track… etc… Also how well does the EZ-Track work on grades?
EZ-Track does not work well on grades from the standpoint of transitions. If you had the room, and the patience, you could make transitions by rasing the angle slightly from piece-to-piece over a range of four or five pieces, and that would be small-o-okay. Even then, your large diameter wheeled locos, such as a 4-8-4 in steam, would lift at least one axle off the tracks in these transitions when it crosses each track join. Don’t bother asking me how I learned this. You already know.
Let me propose this to you. Buy and use the newly increased range of curves and pieces of EZ-Track for your flat stuff, but use flex for your transitions, both at the bottoms and at the tops of your grades. If you could see your way through on that, you would have good running and minimized track damage during your seasonal changes.
-Crandell
is your track plan always different or do you keep it the same from year to year ?
if it’s always different the ez-track is probably a good solution for you .
if the layout stays the same i’d think about nailing down the flextrack and leaving it nailed down , except for a 4" piece that spans the joints in the baseboards. for your purposes you could probably just use rail joiners to hold the 4" pieces in place , not even nail them down
I haven’t used any track that comes with the roadbed, so I can’t give you first hand info, however I have read a few comments on Bachmanns E-Z track. Some people seem to have problems with the connectors. I hope others who have experience with E-Z track will chime in on that situation. Personally, I avoid anything that spells easy as E-Z. Usually it’s anything but.
Atlas True-Track and Kato Unitrack are two other popular brands.
I agree with ereimer, If your layout plan stays the same every year, go with flextrack, and it might be a good idea to use flex on the grades. I’ve used EZ Track for three layouts, my second one being an adaptation of the “Berkshire Valley” from one of Atlas’s books. In my case, I have not experienced any major problems running six-axle diesels up a four-percent grade and 18" radius curves with the track. My American Flyer Hudson (50 years and still going strong!) does not fair as well, and derailed a few times.
If you’re set on using the E-Z Track, I would assemble the track on a sheet of plywood so you can see where it will be. Then, for track that you want to use for a grade, mark the outline of the track that will go up over the lower track. Then disassemble the track and cut about 1/4" outside of the lines. Leave a gap for the lower track, and you can put a bridge in for the upper level of track. Now, you can use risers to lift the subroadbed for the upper track. Attaching the EZ track to the raised subroadbed will smooth our your transition from base level to graded level. When you attach the track at the bottom and top, test some rolling stock to ensure that the couplers stay coupled. Hope this helps.
Thanks for everybody’s help…
Boy sometime I think that I should have left things better alone… now that I am going to make things bigger… I am thinking about changing to N Gauge… should not have read other posts!!!
I only have a total of a 2 diesels, and 3 steams and about 50 pieces of rolling stock including 10 passenger cars… I keep alot of what I run during the year displayed on shelves in my home theater/ game room so it’s not like the $$$ spent would be lost…
I am thinking about making the layout a bit smaller but switching to N so I can put better curves on (had 22 inch throughout on the HO planned) but with the N I can do more with less… How detailed are the N Loco’s (especially steam), pictures say one thing but does stuff look too toyish?.. What to do… What to do…
Oh… here is some additional information… My room space is about 12X 20 to work with… Also part of the reason to switching is so I could put down more trains. Our family likes to run them @ christmas time with all of my nieces and nephews who love to see trains run and run them theirselves… the end goal is for good family FUN and not concerned about exactness of scales…
im not much on easy track. im an atlas or peco person