So I’ve finally decided on a trackplan and I went to a few websites to start buying track and turnouts. Holy cow! The cheapest I saw Peco turnouts were about $25 each and even on my small 4x8 I need 13 of them. I’m looking at over $300 in turnouts alone. Is there a place to get them cheaper that I’m missing or do I just need to go broke buying track? How do people who have basement-sized layouts afford this hobby?
Peco turnouts and track is much cheaper here:
From the tone of your message, it seems like you’re just starting out and don’t yet know how to shop around for the best prices.
[#welcome] to the any hobby…
Tom
Track is as important to a layout as the locos that run on it, so it is a NEED.
the problem is, we all want it ALL, NOW.
Right now, at any given time, there is a SHORTAGE of track. When a container arrives from China, it is GONE before anyone can shake a stick! SHORTAGES can lead to higher prices, but the prices really haven’t risen much YET for track. Track availabilty varies from time to time now, so SHOP well.
Yes, the track adds up. Hence the reason the prices for a “complete set prepackaged Atlas track layouts” {as seen below} SEEM so high in cost. Add it up and you may come out higher than the prepackaged deal.:
http://www.wholesaletrains.com/Detail.asp?Scale=HO&Item=150LYT83&ID=200434348
The cost of a sheet of plywood, some 3bys for bracing, some 2x4s for leggings,some hardware and some 1" foam to go over it ALSO adds up. Track is no different.
What you CAN do , is buy piecemeal to fit your budget. First start with the basic oval, {and don’t glue anything down yet} then add turnouts {switches} as you are able to. Do what fits YOUR budget.
People who have basement sized layouts either A: have good paying jobs, B: have budgeted well, C: have spent YEARS accumulating what they now have, D: have very understanding wives.
BUT they are none of your concern. Just work at the hobby as you are able to fund it. Remember track work that is done well when final will be your BEST ASSET, so don’t scrimp on it. Bulletproof track work is your friend to having a successful layout to have lots of enjoyment from!
GOOD luck!
Take it slow…
[8-|]
I’ve noticed Atlas Custom Line turnouts are significantly cheaper than Peco. Anyone have any opinions on those?
LION has 14 (scale) miles of track, and over 50 turnouts. Some of my turnouts were purchased over 40 years ago and are on their 4th or 5th reincarnation.Each turnout has a Tortoise switch machine, admittedly purchased when they were only $12.00 each. But it all adds up. My present layout is on its third iteration, that is to say that yards and terminals have been pulled out and the mane lion has been extended. And it is a four track maine line! Last track I bought was a bundle of 100 pcs of flex track from Trainworld. Model Power track, the cheapest that they have was already over $200. I had to go to the Abbot to ask for money to make that purchase. (BTW… Did anybody tell you that I am a monk and live in a monastery?–so money for hobbies is a very rare event.–This summer I will have to ask for $130 just to buy relays!–most of what I do is made from scratch!)
OK, What can YOU make from scratch. I do not suppose you have an old barn filled with lumber, but with prices of extruded plastics you probably do not even need wood anymore. I keep on the lookout for materials that I can work into the layout. Some structures are made of cardboard–corrugated cardboard!
Just take your time, build what you can, protect your track! You can reuse it if you do not glue it down or glue your ballast to it. LION uses sifted cat litter for ballast and does not glue it down. Him has forgone the cork roadbed under the tracks (him thinks that that stuff is too tall anyway) and this (tha absence of cork) allows the ballast to rest in place without glue.
Make friends with some guys who install business telephone systems, you can get lengths of 25 pair cat-3 cable that are too short for them to use, but will be perfect on your railroad for many things. If you have some old printer cables, do not toss them, but cut them open and salvage the wires. Put an ad in your church bulletin asking for them, you will get more than you can use, and you can send the rest of them to me!
LION used fiberglass roofing sh
Yes, LION only uses Atlas turnouts. They work fine. And my railroad runs over 800 trains a day.
ROAR
My layout is full of Atlas Custom Line turnouts. They work just fine. Half the price of Peco.
Rich
“Track The Hobby is expensive!”
As others have noted, Model Railroading is not a cheap hobby. And in the past 5 years prices have shot up at a much faster rate. You ask how people afford basement sized layouts? They don’t buy all the stuff at once. I had nearly completed a 14x25 foot basment layout with a hidden 10 track staging yard of 18-24 foot length, a main classification yard and a single track mainline with a long passing siding, all with a (ex) wife who strangled my hobby budget with a torniquet. If you used lower cost track like Atlas and do it over a couple years you can build a very decent layout. Of course Peco is one of your more expensive turnouts so those will cost a good deal more.
Remember, once you have spent the $300 for turnouts, the cost is done. You can hand throw the turnouts for no additional cost, and if you are careful laying the track, you can use it over and over in future layouts.
That being said, I have often wondered if the hobby would be better off if track was cheap; a kind of “loss leader.” If track was perhaps a “break even” commodity, people would be able to spend more on everything else where the manufacturer’s profit could be made. In my case, the cost of track has led me to buy used (sometimes previously owned unused) track, which has its dangers, but which, unfortunately, does the manufacturers of track absolutely no financial good. Some way would have to be found to subsidize those businesses who only manufacture track, of course, and that makes this idea impractical, but I think about it once in a while, especially when shopping for (used) track.
I will take a look at the store that sells Peco turnouts at a reduced price. Thanks for the tip! That may be the compromise in price that makes the above possible.
Peco’s are the best manufactured turnouts, Atlas turnouts are fine, and work in most cases. When I do it again, I will use Peco’s only. This is my personal preference now and based on my past experiences (code 83 in all instances)
As others have mentioned, this is not a cheap hobby, and never has been. But what hobbies are?
I doubt any company will sell track as a loss leader - its hard to make money selling MR hobby products.
As for track, like anything you pay for quality and Peco are widely recognized among the best. When I built my layout mentioned above, I simply couldn’t afford the expensive stuff so I used mostly Atlas flex track and #6 turnouts. To maximize the staging yard tracks, I did use a number of Shinohara # curved turnouts, which at the time were $29 each, but now sell for around $45 each.
As others have mentioned, if you spend it all at once, the cost will seem mega expensive, but what you need to do is space it out over time and it will help make it more managable.
Your railroad runs over 800 trains a day?[:O]
Him not LION.
Or is he?
I use Code 100 Mains and Code 75 sidings…which are less expensive. modeletrainstuff.com
Remember that the lion models the NYC subway. His trains take relatively short runs, turn, and do it again. Others have made the point already, but I’ll reiterate. Few of us can afford to drop wads of cash on train stuff all at once. I put money aside out of each paycheck, which I can then spend on trains. But when I decided to replace my 2nd layout, I started buying materials two and a half yesrs before I started construction. Significantly, I have two double crossovers on my layout, which ran about $70 when I bought them (they’re about $100 today)., or almost a month’s hobby budget. So keep the dream alive, and try to resist the urge to buy everything at once. This also lets you wait and take advantagemof sales.
I’ve heard lots of recommendations to use caulk to attach cork and track to the layout. Does caulk allow track and turnouts to be reused? I am planning on this to be a practice layout and to do something bigger and better in a few years so I’d like to be able to reuse as much of the material as possible in the future. I had been planning to caulk everything down but may have to rethink that if it won’t allow me to reuse the track.
While it is true that I used to think this was a nice cheap hobby that has certainly change in the last 30 years, I mean a “good” loco has gone from $40 to $150, but I now have enough stuff for a super large basement size layout, it just took me 30 years to accumulate it.
Depends on how one counts a run of a train. Subways by definition have more trains per unit than other railroads. Conceivably if one has a 4x6 layout with a loop of track on it and one station. If one counts a ‘run’ as the train passing the station, I can easily see 800-1000-2000 trains a day.
When i first started my ‘dream layout’ about 6-7 years ago I bought Model Power Code 100 track in 100pc bundles for about $100, that’s $1.00 per 3 foot section! Now I have replace all of that with Atlas Code 83 and in the process replaced all the code 100 turnouts with Atlas, Peco and Walthers code 83 turnouts. Most all of this was purchased online or through Ebay. I found used or ‘left over’ track and turnouts at some really great prices this way. Even the Tortoise machines were bought in groups, ususally 6 packs, but sometimes used ones at $6-10 each. I am retired now (since 2008) and I fund my hobby with money made selling on Ebay. Tis has taken years to get to where I am, but you have to start slowly and grow into your layout. Don’t get too discouraged with the prices of track (or any hobby related items); shop around and keep watching Ebay, there are still bargains to be had.
-Bob