is it possible to take the track off of the ez track plastic ballast base and not harm the track. and is it worth it to do so
The steel track on the black base will snap right off if you slide a flat blade screwdriver beneath the ties. What you end up with is the plain old steel track Bachmann sold for years after abandoning brass. The nickel silver track on the gray roadbed is another story. It’s a bit better secured and sometimes breaks, especially the turnouts.
I don’t know why you would want to separate the track from the base and I don’t really care, your plans are your own. EZ-Track can be ballasted well enough that people will mistake it for regular track laid on cork. Believe me, I know. I can show you photos of mine after it was ballasted.
i have the nickel silver. there are many reasons i dont like it
What don’t you like? (Inquiring minds want to know!) [;)]
I haven’t used the NS Bachmann track, just the steel.
Rotor
for a basic layout it is fine. but it is more expensive then regular track, i dont like the steep plastiv ballast and since and the end of a slope im have there is a turn out and the plastic base does not flex well. there are other reasons that i cant remember but those are the main ones.
EZ-Track can be ballasted well enough to look like regular track with cork roadbed. I know, I have the evidence right in front of me and I win bets about it fairly often. As for the track going down to a lower stance such as for a yard or spur or some such thing as that just come off the turnout, change to flex track and regular turnouts and mount them on a lower roadbed with graduated levels of roadbed coming down from the turnout.