WHAT TRACK YOU LIKE BEST ????

I am using Ross switches and track and am very pleased with it. I like the way it looks and it has been easy to work with (I use the sectional track). I have worked with GG with friends, and it was good to work with, too. About the only bad thing I had with Ross track was the insulating pins, they are pretty delicate and well, I am not (I talked to Msr. Hikel about that at York in the fall, he 3d prints them and said he was thinking of using a different material). Plus it is made here, less problems with the crazy supply chain.

The one thing I can say is that Ross is run the way a small business should be, their customer service experience is first rate. Any questions I have had, get answered quickly and it seems like they stand behind the product, too. About the only downside is I had a somewhat large couple of orders and they took about 6 weeks to get filled, but the last of these was late last year (haven't been working on my trains last 5 months or so), and it was because they had a ton of orders (which I am glad, means they will be in business.

@bigkid posted:

The one thing I can say is that Ross is run the way a small business should be, their customer service experience is first rate. Any questions I have had, get answered quickly and it seems like they stand behind the product, too. About the only downside is I had a somewhat large couple of orders and they took about 6 weeks to get filled,

That beats Atlas by months haha

I'm old school. Lionel "O" Gauge track with Rick Johnson's Rubber Roadbed.

Really nice looking layout Jim.

John

All mentioned are fine each in their own precise way.  I prefer and  like the way Atlas holds the engines and cars on curves at higher speeds.  I also like the brass/nickel color verses the silver of ross and GG...

When I moved from PA to CA I had the thought to build my new layout with Atlas track until I added up the cost and looked at all of the Lionel tubular I already owned and the Ross switches I had and used it again. Installed on cork roadbed w/ extra ties and ballast. I still like the "look" of the track and when mated with Ross switches, it is really bulletproof IMO:

Ross track, turnouts, minimal Gargraves flex, Tortoise switch machines.

Service is fantastic… always helpful. We got this one right.

Craftech, Thank you.

Stangtrain,

      I really like gently used Lionel NY tubular track.  The Chinese made stuff is horrible though.

      I love the look of your added ties,  and have thought about it myself. 

      Did you cut and stain the ties yourself, or buy them?

     And, how long does it take you to put the ties under, say 4 feet of track?

     I have about  90 feet of track (already screwed down on foam trackbed), and I am very worried that it would take me forever to do.

    Not trying to hijack this thread, but the answers may encourage others to choose simple Lionel tubular track and add the ties.

   Mannyrock

@stangtrain posted:

When I moved from PA to CA I had the thought to build my new layout with Atlas track until I added up the cost and looked at all of the Lionel tubular I already owned and the Ross switches I had and used it again. Installed on cork roadbed w/ extra ties and ballast. I still like the "look" of the track and when mated with Ross switches, it is really bulletproof IMO:

Yeah, that looks brilliant.  Never thought about adding ties if I want more realism.  Any difficulties on integrating  the ross switches with tubular?

@stangtrain posted:

When I moved from PA to CA I had the thought to build my new layout with Atlas track until I added up the cost and looked at all of the Lionel tubular I already owned and the Ross switches I had and used it again. Installed on cork roadbed w/ extra ties and ballast. I still like the "look" of the track and when mated with Ross switches, it is really bulletproof IMO:

Before I reinvent the wheel,… tell me about the ties.  Where did you buy them and/or if you made them, from what?  Obviously I can rip down some pine or something but if I can start with something dimensionally correct… that would save a bunch of time.  Thanks

Chills: The RR ties were bought many (20+) years ago from a company in Canada. I’m not sure if there is another source now. Several years ago there was a company making some nice looking O gauge plastic ties, but I haven’t seen them advertised recently. Perhaps someone else may know. Good luck!

All foreground track is Atlas code 48 with N scale center rail.  Easy for me since my layout is a simple around the wall with one end hidden by a tunnel.

One of my main concerns and reason for not hand laying track, but using the code 1/48 2 rail was smoothness of running, ( IE ), no bumps nor jumps as the train passes. I paid a lot of attention to leveling the cork roadbed.

For example:  To portray the weight and ponderance of a large locomotive. Unfortunately, I had worked on the tender the night before and had not sufficiently

tightened the tender trucks. Oh well !

@Mannyrock posted:

Stangtrain,

      I really like gently used Lionel NY tubular track.  The Chinese made stuff is horrible though.

      I love the look of your added ties,  and have thought about it myself.

      Did you cut and stain the ties yourself, or buy them?

     And, how long does it take you to put the ties under, say 4 feet of track?

     I have about  90 feet of track (already screwed down on foam trackbed), and I am very worried that it would take me forever to do.

    Not trying to hijack this thread, but the answers may encourage others to choose simple Lionel tubular track and add the ties.

   Mannyrock

Manny,

I'm not sure what Stangtrain does but here is what I do with my Lionel O27 height track

Ties are 3/16 thick x 1/2 inch wide balsa cut to the length of the track's metal ties and painted to match.

Installation goes VERY quick. On existing trackage just loosen the screws, insert the ties, and tighten back down.

On elevated sections a drop of hot glue in the center if the tie is all that is needed.

WVRR has about 1,900 of these ties

@Chills posted:

Before I reinvent the wheel,… tell me about the ties.  Where did you buy them and/or if you made them, from what?  Obviously I can rip down some pine or something but if I can start with something dimensionally correct… that would save a bunch of time.  Thanks

Chills,

See my post above, O gauge track would require thicker and wider balsa. 1/4 inch thick, 5/8 inches wide, I would assume. Measure the existing ties and find or cut something to match

More code 48 rail.

I was in the process of scaling out the steps on this locomotive. That's why they're missing.

Of course, near scale wheel flanges are required for this rail.

@Lionelski posted:

Chills,

See my post above, O gauge track would require thicker and wider balsa. 1/4 inch thick, 5/8 inches wide, I would assume. Measure the existing ties and find or cut something to match

Thanks!  Yeah, I run the O27 as well.  I was intending to make them from balsa or pine, then today found a guy that makes O27 out of cedar.  100 ties for $12.  I can’t buy the balsa for that, so I put in an order.

I preferred the look of MTH Scaletrax .. no mention of it above...but never found enough of it to get to building a layout with it...(just a photo diorama).and use 0-27 tubular as test track.  Really dislike high profile track, favoring the look of weed-grown branch lines, and have wondered where l could get the ties planed off of Gargraves to lower the stance.  (Haven't attempted that).

With O27 track, before I decided to go with Ross track/switches, I played around with using tubular rail (which I had a lot of at the time), I took the rails off the metal ties, and I built curves and straights using wood ties (I bought wood from the craft store, prob 1/4" square) since this was POC. used a piece of track on either end of the rails to hold them in alignment, and then glued ties to the track (I think I used gorilla glue), and then I 'stained' the ties using a brown marker, and then did some "rust" on the rails, and given what a hack it was, it didn't look half bad. If I was constrained by cost, I would have used tubular, spiked the rails to the ties and do the staining right.

Great info on ties under O gauge track.

The online cedar pack looks interesting, but most cedar is very open grain, and it may be that it does not take the stain well, creating and uneven coloring appearance.

On the other hand though, this may actually look more realistic.  :-)

Mannyrock

I use Lionel tubular track with 096  curves and Ross Switches and Woodland Scenics foam road bed and Brennan’s ballast.

@mikey posted:

I use Lionel tubular track with 096  curves and Ross Switches and Woodland Scenics foam road bed and Brennan’s ballast.

Thanks for the pics.  Looks great. I am working on a new layout and have been planning to use the woodland scenics foam roadbed.  How was it to work with (especially concerned about curves)?  What did you use to glue it down?  I use O27 tubular track as I like the lower profile.  I just purchased some cedar ties to fill in the gaps.

@Mannyrock posted:

Great info on ties under O gauge track.

The online cedar pack looks interesting, but most cedar is very open grain, and it may be that it does not take the stain well, creating and uneven coloring appearance.

On the other hand though, this may actually look more realistic.  :-)

Mannyrock

I actually would prefer uneven… I spent much of my youth walking train lines (and jumping trains).  The placement, color, etc of the ties was quite varied.  But, I can’t really get too realistic, just closer than it looks without the fill in ties!

@Chills posted:

Thanks for the pics.  Looks great. I am working on a new layout and have been planning to use the woodland scenics foam roadbed.  How was it to work with (especially concerned about curves)?  What did you use to glue it down?  I use O27 tubular track as I like the lower profile.  I just purchased some cedar ties to fill in the gaps.

I did not glue the road bed down,I pinned it until I screwed the track down and no Problems on Curves,3 main Lines 096 and sidings 072.

Mikey

All depends on your goals for realism or lack thereof due to the actual height of our rails available from most manufacturers. MTH ScaleTrax was the only one that attempted to give a better more prototypical appearance by using a noticeably smaller (and lower) overall rail on the outside and an 'inverted T' reminiscent of Lionel Super O track for the middle pickup. The others using 3 actual rails appear too bulky and overpowering, especially true with Atlas.  MTH achieved a smaller track size differential that made our scale equipment appear more massive.  I liked ScaleTrax and enjoyed working with it. Easiest flex (think HO flex) of all and solid rails. Needed more switches but their #6s were very good.

Ron H above went quite a bit further above using Atlas 2 rail Code 148 and added a N scale rail down the middle for electrical pickup. This looks great as in his photo here:

ScaleTrax was almost as nice as seen on my old layout here. The models appear to be larger than most due to the lower profile of the rails.

Especially this shot

Lookin good Sam !

Had Scaletrax incorporated a similar RR Tie system as Atlas using their own lower profile Rails and center blade they would have easily had the runaway best 3 rail track system out there by far!  Some years ago I took a short section of Atlas and pulled the 3 rails. Substituted rail and center blade from ScaleTrax and the effect was terrific.  Wish I still had some photos of the result - MUCH improved over stock ScaleTrax AND especially over Atlas. :-)  If any of you guys have some of both around, give it a try - Very nice looking hybrid track.

Another improvement would have been to cut down the size and height of the center blade to make it less obtrusive as illustrated by Ron H's use of N gauge rail with his set up. The center pickup doesn't have to be as large or as high as the two outer rails at all.

I wish MTH would release something like Scaletrax 2.0 which would include more ties but still be backward compatible with the original Scaletrax. The rail profile and height is beautiful. It has often been stated that MTH Scaletrax rail on an Atlas O tie strip would be the perfect combination.

Hello Suzi - I just posted a separate thread about this very concept!  I had a decent layout (24' x 16') some years ago using ScaleTrax and really liked it. After awhile however, the odd tie spacing got to me and a move necessitated dismantling it. Since then I have been (reluctantly) acquiring a good supply of Atlas in the event I am able to build another large layout.  :-)

Check my thread on the Atlas forum "Hey Atlas...  "

C.SAM,

I apologize for what was a repetitious thought to your response. I generated my response without the benefit of reading all the responses to the thread including your proposal of the same concept. It seems like we're just a couple of the many that would like to see an increase in ties.

Suzie - glad you are of the same mindset!  Just for the fun of it, some years ago I pulled the rails from a section of Atlas and replaced them with rails and the blade from ScaleTrax. It looked terrific!   Atlas should seriously consider revamping their system using smaller rails at least. Perhaps something could be worked out with Mike to produce a Hybrid system using Atlas ties as the base. The Atlas rails are so large they certainly must contain way too much metal and at current prices should be able to save quite a bit in manufacturing.

I use Ross switches and have been very pleased with their performance. For track I have used Atlas 2 rail flex track and Micro Engineering 2 rail code 148 flex track. I lay the center rail with N gage nickel-silver rail. The center rail is lower than the scale 2 rail track. It is also inverted so that a larger width of rail is provided for the roller pickup on the locomotives. The track is mounted on a cork subsurface. All of the track is soldered and ballasted. I have found that the Micro Engineering 2 rail flex track is better than the Atlas 2 rail track. The quality of the plastic ties is superior for the Micro Engineering track and the ties are more realistic. Overall, the combination of the Micro Engineering track with the Ross switches provides a realistic appearing track along with very consistent operation. A few photos are included. 

Does Ross make any of their track with UN blackened center rails ?

Does anyone have photos of Ross Bed out-of-the-box and of Ross Bed installed within a layout ?  Is it similar to Woodland Scenics’ foam for under the track ?  Or is it intended to be a substitute for ballast ?

Do Ross sectional 072 & 084 curved sections match Lionel FasTrack in dimensions ?  Have any of you used Ross 072 & 084 sectional track with LCCA FacTrack Modules ?

Thanks in advance for your responses !!!

@Paul Duesing and @Ron H do you guys have to cut down the wheel flanges/change to two rail wheels on all your locomotives and rolling stock?

Paul, that's a terrific idea to invert the N gauge rail. You track is among the nicest I've seen recently. Some years ago Ron H. and I talked back and forth about improving our track and he used the 2 rail and added N rail as well for part of his layout. Looks really good.  Q:   How do you attach the N rail? Do you cut a groove in the ties to increase the solidity?

I did the same thing with Gargraves track awhile back . I removed the center rail and inserted code 100 HO track into the slot upside down. Had to ramp it up for turnouts and grade crossings. Not everything would run on it. Depended on how much play the center pickups had.

Some really nice track work on this thread.  I’m so impressed what you guys can do.

@c.sam posted:

Paul, that's a terrific idea to invert the N gauge rail. You track is among the nicest I've seen recently. Some years ago Ron H. and I talked back and forth about improving our track and he used the 2 rail and added N rail as well for part of his layout. Looks really good.  Q:   How do you attach the N rail? Do you cut a groove in the ties to increase the solidity?

Initially to fasten the center rail I cut a small groove in the ties and used #4 straight slot brass wood screws. The center rail sets down in the groove and is soldered to the brass wood screws. Later I realized that a slot in the ties was not necessary and simply soldering the N scale rail to the brass wood screw at about a 6 to 8 inch spacing works fine. Of course the center rail needs a slight ramp upward to mate with the Ross switches.

@BillYo414 posted:

@Paul Duesing and @Ron H do you guys have to cut down the wheel flanges/change to two rail wheels on all your locomotives and rolling stock?

I have not had to modify the wheel flanges at all. The code 148 Micro Engineering track works fine with the high-rail wheel flanges. I have had to lower some of the rollers on a few of the engines. On some engines the roller pickup can be bent down slightly with ease. On a few I have used a spacer under the roller pickup mount.

Just to be odd, I've really come to like K Line Supersnap track on my little layout.  Easy to work with, good connectivity, and really like that black center rail.  That and my local shop sold me a bunch of it for pennies on the dollar some years back.