I’m building a layout that has a small yard and will have five or six small industries. I expect to run out of the Atlas flex track that I have once the second main line is complete.
I have quite a bit of Atlas True Track that I used on an earlier layout. My question is would you use the true track in the areas of the yard and industries or purchase more flex track?
One of the things that draws me to purchase more flex track is having to solder more drops for each 9" piece of track I will be using.
Cost isn’t a factor. The fact that I have all this True Track just sitting around makes me think I should use it first. What would you do?
True-Track is designed with a “mainline” profile. It’s elevated well above the surrounding scenery, like thick roadbed. Yards, though, typically are laid much closer to grade level, so that high-profile appearance would not be prototypical.
The track is also sectional, so you would have to build your trackwork to fit within the constraints of sectional track. That’s again not so bad on the mainlines, but when you are shoehorning the track into an industrial area, you are likely to need lengths and curvatures that just aren’t available in True-Track. In that case, you’ll be cutting short sections of flex-track and mixing it in to get what you want, which makes the small-section problem even worse.
You could solder the the rail joiners together, by the way, which would reduce the need for feeders.
If your yard is just a series of straight, parallel sidings, though, you could put sections of straight True-Track adjacent to each other and just scenic over the edges to give a low-profile look. When I first built my yard, I foolishly used full-height roadbed, not realizing that real yards didn’t do that. My solution was to fill the gaps with Durham’s Water Putty, which resulted in a nice, grade-level yard.
Are you going to have any hidden trackage? A tunnel or stageing area - or tracks behind large buildings? You could use the true track there, whee it’s out of sight.
I thought about selling the true track on Ebay but have you noticed what the price is going for? I dont’t think it is worth selling it on Ebay.
I bought my current flex track for $235.00 for 100 peices, or 2.35 each peice. The price of flex track has greatley increased in the past two years. Now the lowest cost I could find online is $3.19 per piece.
That really isn’t an Issue but knowing that I have an abundance of sectional track and not using it is my delimma.
I guess since I already have the track I should use it even if it means I have to solder feeders to each piece.
I guess it’s just a matter of more soldering on my part and not having to purchase more flex track.
I’ll keep everyone up to date on what I will be doing and my reasoning.
What brand? I just checked standardhobby.com and they have Atlas code 100 NS Flex at $2.80 something or 100 pc at 240.00 something. Now I’m glad I have a stock pile I bought years ago thru one of their sale fliers.
I’ve seen the code 100 for the amount you are quoting but I’m using code 83.
After sleeping on it and rereading the feedback then test fitting a few pieces which by the way didn’t work out too good, I think I’ll scrap the idea of using the true track and purchase more atlas flex track as most have suggested.
I would sell the “True Track” and use Atlas flex and “straight secections” as needed on industrial spurs-this cuts down on having to cut a piece of flex to get a 6 inch piece of track that that goes by the dock.
I agree with everyone else who says ditch the tru-track and buy more flex.
Also, you might want to lay your industrial track on N-scale cork roadbed instead of HO - this will give it a lower profile and set it apart from the mainline track.
You could also seperate all of the ties on you industrial flex track, then pop a few of them off and re-space the remaining ties. This will give your indstrial track a different tie spacing than your mainline track. Of course you will want to paint the industrial track ties to make them look older and more heavily weathered than your mainline track.
George,My thoughts on industrial track is NO road bed.After all a industrial siding is owned by the industry and not the serving railroad.The serving railroad track ends at the derail.
I quite agree! It is just that I am one of the Neandthals who still uses plywood (rather than foam or spline sub-roadbed) and I feel I need something between the track and the plywood. [swg]