What track to use?

My experience with fastrack has been dead spots, slowdowns on curves, and the noise.   I’m in the process of moving to Menards track.   I am keeping the fastrack switches but the majority will be Menards.   I have low end engines.  I can run them slower now than With fastrack.  I used to have to go like heck to make the curve.   By the way, standard response will be gargraves with Ross switches. Thanks 

This topic always comes up frequently. If you do a search you will find the a number of them covering this already. Most of them will go into the pros and cons of all the different track options out there. .....Paul 2

Yep....click on the search in the blue bar above...you will find plenty of discussion on this topic.

@OGR CEO-PUBLISHER posted:

Yep....click on the search in the blue bar above...you will find plenty of discussion on this topic.

Ok

With MTH joining the dinosaurs, l am concerned about the future of scaletrax, and this accumulation of it l have?  I want a realistic flat top track, and not tubular. Nothing ideal exists.

@colorado hirailer posted:

With MTH joining the dinosaurs, l am concerned about the future of scaletrax, and this accumulation of it l have?  I want a realistic flat top track, and not tubular. Nothing ideal exists.

Atlas solid nickel silver is just what you need.

My last layout had a 1/2" homasote layer on top of 3/4" plywood with Ross sectional track and switches along with some of the long Gargraves straights and uncoupling/unloading tracks.  I also used the Ross roadbed which helped quite a bit with both appearance and, due to its foam construction, noise. 

While my train room was filled with the noise of trains running on steel rails, I didn't have the "rolling thunder" or "kettledrum" noise problem some people encounter.  The homasote-foam roadbed definitely made a difference compared to plain old Lionel track.  While I can't prove it scientifically, I think the ballasting helped a bit with reducing the noise, too.

Here's a view of the Ross track inserted into a piece of Ross roadbed that I spray-painted gray.

Here's a photo to show how the track and roadbed looked during ballasting.  (The blue tape was used to protect the rails during the mess of gluing the ballast into place.

Here's a video I shot in 2015 while resting my cell phone on top of an MTH Pennsy signal bridge.  I think the track noise was minimal; more or less you hear the sound of the wheels on steel track, the click-clack of the wheels over track section joints and the MTH locomotive sounds.

I hope this info is helpful.

I have been wanting to switch from FasTrack to Atlas-O, but am dissuaded by the hassle and cost of Atlas-O (wiring and ballasting).  The deciding factor I always come down to is the command control switches with integrated switch machine.  I don't have to run power or control wires, everything is through the rails.  I like easy!

But I like the looks of Atlas-O, and flextrack and numbered turnouts are great.  Lionel should add #4 turnouts to FasTrack, IMO.