EZ Track the only Bachmann track?

[whytfrog]

We are trying to put together a HO layout for our grandson, and were given a huge supply of various track pieces.  Some were still in the original packaging clearly saying "Bachmann" on the package.  Looks to be standard, tack in place track requiring joints and such.  While at a local hobby store I tried most unsuccessfully to get some help from the guy at the counter and was basically scoffed at with a snide comment to every question I asked him.  I told him I had the track, still in the package and was told in no uncertain terms that I was an idiot and Bachmann only made track with a base attached.  I finally walked out disgusted resolved to never ever enter Hobby Hut again and decided to ask this forum if Bachmann indeed never made "real" looking track, just the rails and ties, NO base.  I have some of the EZ Track, it is most definitely different.  I simply hate being treated like an idiot just because I am not well versed in a subject.  He said all the engines are the same, some cost a lot more and do no better.  If it runs, it is the same as any other.  I would really appreciate some real help, if anyone would care to educate me?  Oh, the track was purchased by the original person in early 1990's, if that makes a difference.

[jward]

to put it bluntly, the guy at your hobby shop  was an idiot. he needs to learn the principles of good customer service. he is, unfortunately getting more and more common.

that said, yes bachmann did at one time make track without the roadbed. it cam with either brass or steel rail, both of which are not as good as nickle silver rail. i am not aware of bachmann using nickle silver on anything but ez track but i could be wrong.

that said, your track is usable even if it is brass or steel. you will just have to clean it more often, and if you decide as many of us do to solder your wire connections rather than use terminal tracks you will have problems especially with steel track. steel also rusts when used in a humid environment. your mention of the early 1990s leads me to believe steel is what you have because brass was pretty much phased out by then, though you could still find it in some hobby shops.

as far as locomotives go, there are some truly excellent locomotives out there, and alot of junk. be careful what you buy secondhand as most of the junk locomotives are older ones. most of the locomotives produced to-day are very good runners. i would include the current bachmanns in the very good category. until you know what you are looking at, i would advise only buying new locomotives.

there are alot of people on this forum who will be more than glad to help out where we can......

[Jim Banner]

Of course Bachmann made "regular" track before they invented E-Z Track.  It suffered from the same problem as all similar sectional track - unless it was glued down or nailed down, the pieces came apart when you ran a train over it.  The beauty of E-Z Track is those big plastic hooks in the base that that keep the sections together, allowing you to quickly and easily set up a layout that you can run for an hour or a year and yet modify as quickly and as easily.  I use a lot of the old style brass track and find it quite satisfactory as long as I remove the old rail joiners, clean the last inch of all rails, install new rail joiners, and solder the section together.

As for the know-it-all store clerk, perhaps they should stand him at the door as a greeter or give him some other, equally simple job rather than letting him chase the customers away.  To paraphrase Richard Lovelace:

Bricks and mortar do not a good store make,
It's the good help that the workers gave.

Jim

[poliss]

Bachmann still make track without the roadbed for the UK market. See the Bachmann UK website. http://www.bachmann.co.uk/prod1.php?prod_selected=branchline&prod=9

[whytfrog]

Thank you all so much!  We are only doing a small 4x6 layout, but I wanted to use the best base I could afford so as to reduce the number of potential issues as we use it.  Are there any suggestions or layouts anyone would be willing to offer for us to use?  This guy would sell me one... I found it a bit disgusting that someone who claimed to be an advocate for model train hobby enthusiasts wanted to sell me a plan for a young child's first set.  I don't have the guy's name, when I asked for a card he gave me one for the store.  I handed it to him for him to put his name on it and he said anyone in the store was as good as another.  Whew... Sorry to keep going on this guy, it just really yanked my chain.
Tyler's layout will have an 18x24 inch hole cut in the center so he can access everything.  We'll fill it in later if he wants.  I could use a suggestion for a good basic engine that is reliable.  Part of what we were given includes two diesel engines, but since the guy was a rude turkey he never looked at them to let me know what I had.  I could take photos of them if anyone would want to help us in this direction?
As far as track, my understanding is the silver/nickel is the best type of track?  I thank you all again,
Laura & Tyler   

[NarrowMinded]

So sorry to hear of your Bad experience, I would write a nice letter to the hobby shop and explain what happened, it's OK to vent here it may help others avoid this Nimrod,

As far as the track you were given, I will say some times free stuff ends up costing you an arm and a leg.  given the small size of the layout, Newness to the hobby and desire for reliability, You may concider buying new Nickle silver EZ-track if your budget permits, it can be found on eBay for very low prices.  Don't get me wrong the old track would be fine, just a bit more work to lay it and a tiny bit more maintenance once in a while, but that would give grandpa something to tinker with.

I don't think you mentioned your grandsons age, a lot of us have youngsters, if we know the age we can help you out with some ideas that are age appropriate, my nephew 2yrs is happy with a small circle Layout he runs at my house nearly everyday, while my girls 4 and 7yrs  always want to change the EZ-track around to new shapes.

NM-Jeff

[jward]

for a small child you could get him a thomas set. thomas runs pretty well.

for a good quality entry level locomotive, that is reasonably cheap, try the bachmann gp40 or ft diesels. they also are good runners, and unlike thomas they will couple up to any of the newer cars. they can also peach pull a decent sized train all by themselves.

for a layout, 4x6 is a bit on the small side (i am assuming you are in HO guage) but if you can go the size of a sheet of plywood (4x8) you can do quite a bit more, like figure 8s, over and under with a trestle set, etc. and if you can provide access to all sides there would be no need for a hole cut in the center of the table.

[jettrainfan]

I got an 8x8 with a 4x4 hole, it leaves me with about 144 inches of main line and 22 radius curves. Also got an inner loop, a passing loop and a small siding (ran out of track). it does look odd but i can have a decent 20 car train running on it. If you got the space, upgrading to an 8x8 with a center whole would be good.

Wish i took some recent video, but this is a good example of how big an 8x8 is. I've updated that about 3 times and moved it upstairs from the basement sense the video was taken...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIuUrSZ7bAw

[whytfrog]

Size is a really big issue, as it will be mounted on a fold down on the wall, in a bedroom.  4x8 won't fit, unfortunately.  I am of the opinion that good track is necessary, too.  Tyler is young... Only 3 but very careful, thoughtful and it will not be accessible to him when he is not supervised.  So most houses, things like that will have to be movable to be able to close it up.  It will have a 3 1/4 inch lip along the edges, the transformer will be attached to the table.  I know he is young... but he has such a keen interest in trains!  We live in western CO and we often have to stop along I-70 where the train tunnel can be seen from the road, to see a train coming through.  Never saw anyone so thrilled to be "stuck" at a train crossing.  LOL 

[Jim Banner]

Now there is a three year old after my own heart.  I may be 65 years older but I still like being stopped for a train, and I almost always count the cars and calculate the speed.

Jim

[jward]

for me, watching the real ones beats palying with models any day. i am fortunate to live 100 feet from the tracks, so i can do both.

i had often kicked around the idea  of buying a bunk bed, and mounting a layout where the top bunk would be. you could mount a 4x8 up there without excessive overhang, but it would be too high off the floor for a 3 year old.

having a fold up layout with removable buildings will work if that's what you have to do, but you;ll have to be careful the buildings don't get damaged. since you are dealing with a small child maybe a better solution would be to build the buildings out of lego blocks, which can take some abuse. best of all, if they break you put them back together. if you get tired of a building, build another one to replace it....

[Terry Toenges]

Here's a site with small layouts -
http://carendt.us/index.html

[Terry Toenges]

Here's another
http://www.thortrains.net/

[Doneldon]

froggy-

I strongly suggest that any layout you build for your grandson have as its base a continuous loop. While many model rails enjoy switching and/or seeing if they can build the world's smallest railroad, young children prefer to watch the trains go around. They also like to be able to just push their trains, which is impossible with electric trains because the gear arrangements don't allow that. Plus, you can severely damage a train with an electric motor if you attempt to force it to roll down the track. It's also true that little hands lack the fine eye-hand coordination which they need to get small trains on track. I suppose it's obvious that I'm going somewhere here, and I am. I urge you to avoid small electric trains, in particular, and maybe all electric trains at this point. That leaves the options of larger electric trains or non-electric trains.

The first option would be to go to larger electric trains. Paradoxically,you can purchase O-scale trains (a 1:48 ratio of size) which is easier for small fingers to control and which will run well on tighter curves than will HO, the hobby's most popular size. Additional options would be On3, (O scale narrow gauge trains which run on HO track) or large scale. Unfortunately, the On3 still requires better dexterity than young children demonstrate, so it's out even though it is larger than HO.

Large scale is a mess of ratios, everything from 32:1 to 12:1, with the sizes increasing as the ratios grow smaller. (1:1 is full size.) There are some affordable sets in the roughly 24:1 and 20.3:1 sizes. Bachmann sells some which are quite reliable. Other manufacturers in this size range tend to be very pricey. Even Bachmann is moving to more scale fidelity, better detail and higher quality electronic and dynamic functions. That all spells  m-o-r-e   e-x-p-e-n-s-i-v-e  which isn't a good thing for children's trains which even the most careful and smartest children (As a grandfather myself I know that am describing your granchildren at this point) will manhandle by adult standards. And we still have the problem of the trains not being pushable unless you specifically buy a non-powered locomotive for hand running. But just try to have your grandchildren understand and like that the motorized one can't be pushed.

This all leads me to suggest that you go in a completely different direction: Tomica brand Thomas the Tank engine trains. These run on colorful plastic track that bears a strong resemblance to the wooden railroads for young children but at a small fraction of the price. There is a huge selection of extras (operating log mills and such like) and an ever increasing number of items specific to the Thomas stories. Yes, this is the same Thomas as the one in the young children's stories which always seem to have a little moral lesson in them like don't be stubborn or don't be jealous. The stories were written by a now-deceased English pastor and they are everywhere. There are books galore and VHS and DVD collections of stories which were on television in England and the US. Plus, the locomotives have battery power but the motors disengage when the motor isn't running so these trains can be pushed safely. In addition, there are road layouts which can interface with the trains, but those aren't necessary. The only downside to these trains is their coupling system which is not as adaptable as the magnets on the wooden trains. (But even that's changing.) I speak from great experience here, having built two train and road layouts for two of my grandchildren, both of whom loved their trains and played with them until about age six when they decided that it was more fun to tear the tracks apart and put them together in different ways. That's good and educational, too, and it sure beat the short period of tear the tracks apart and see if Grandpa could put them back together. There are many brands of Thomas trains. I researched the market thoroughly and came up with Tomica as offering the best play value for the most reasonable price. Indeed, IMHO the Tomica trains have better play value than more expensive brands! The only problem is availability. The wooden Thomas trains and electric Thomas trains in HO, O and large scale seem to dominate the market. However, you can find whatever you're looking for with an Internet search, on ebay and at Amazon.com. You can also find videos on YouTube and read about the Tomica Thomas products at Wikipedia. Believe me, you won't be disappointed if you go this route and neither will your grandson. Plus, he can watch videos, have Thomas stories read to him (and which he'll begin to read), and even recreate the Thomas stories on his own layout. My grandsons especially enjoyed "Cow on the Line," so I had to find a cow figure of appropriate size. That turned out to be a tall order but I did locate a china cow. After two grandsons that poor cow was a quadriplegic which had also had his horns amputated. But the kids loved it.

Please understand here that I'm in no way trying to put down Bachmann or any other manufacturer (except maybe the wooden train); I'm just trying to steer you towards something which I think is more appropriate for small children and which they'll continue to enjoy at least into a couple of years of school. And I'm an informed user of the products and I have the training (no pun intended) to assess what constitutes an excellent toy.
                                                                                                                                                             -- D

[whytfrog]

Thank you very much, I will look into all the suggestions.  We are pretty much going to go with the HO scale, but the suggestion of non-electric has some definite plus features.  Are there non-electric HO scale trains?