track compatability

[arthur0109]

returning to hobby after many years. question is how compatable are such areas a track, couplers,etc between suppliers? also are track joiners required for the bachmann EZ track system?    thanks arthur0109

[jward]

track is compatable as long as the rails are kept in line. note that there are several different rail sizes od "codes"

it is best to keep the same code of rail. ez track is code 100, and will work with any code 100 track which is raised to the same height as ez track. you may have to do some minor modifications to get it to work. code 83 will also work with code 100 if you use special code 83 to 100 rail joiners to compensate for the difference in rail height.

ez track sections come with rail joiners already attatched, but you can substitute any code 100 rail joiners should they become damaged.

from my experience, any knuckle type couplers will work together. some are stronger and more durable than others but all are compatable. there are other types of couplers out there as well. the most common of these is the horn-hook coupler which was the standard in HO for many years. you will often find older cars at train shows that still have these couplers. they are not compatable with knuckle types. there is also another type out there called the magic mate, which claims to be compatable with both types. i would recommend against these, as they have a hard time staying coupled together, especially two magic mates together.

[Doneldon]

art-

Jeff has good information for you. Listen to him.

Model Railroader did an article on coupler compatibility a couple of years ago. They found that most of the knuckle couplers played together quite well except that different manufacturers' couplers often had trouble coupling on curves.

I stay with Kadees for the most part though I don't replace knuckle couplers that arrive installed (at least until they either break or show problems in operation).

Welcome back. I predict you'll be stunned by the changes in the hobby, virtually all of them for the better.
                                                                                                                                                        -- D

[Terry Toenges]

Flory- You're assuming everyone used cork roadbed.

[jonathan]

My memory may be getting fuzzy, but I seem to remember a new type of roadbed made of a mixture of cork and soft rubber.  This would have been the late '70s or early '80s.  I bought some when I was toying with building a layout.  I never got to.  I kept some and actually used a little on my present layout.  It was still flexible after thirty years.  

I believe I mentioned in the past I waited 40 years before the stars aligned and I could actually build a  real layout.

I didn't notice that big difference when I transitioned from EZtrack to cork roadbedded code 100 track.  At one spot I used some 1/4" plywood instead of roadbed.  That worked, too.  Results may vary I guess.

Regards,

Jonathan

[Doneldon]

There are some minor discrepanies but they are not at all difficult to deal with.

[jward]

flory

not only do i remember tru scale roadbed, i used it extensively in the past. my dad's layout is almost entirely on tru scale or the similar campbell roadbed. i wish they still made this stuff. it was excellent for handlaid track, being white pine without ANY knots whatsoever. we switched to tru scale after being dissatisfied with cork on plywood on a previous layout.

unfortunately i lost all my tru scale when i moved and switched to n scale. no room to take the HO stuff so only the cars and locomotives made the move....

imagine my dismay about 6 or 7 years later when i finally had the room to build in HO again, tru scale was no longer being made.....

since that time, i have not used roadbed, instead opting to lay my track directly on pine board. while cork may be fine for prefab track, i've found it unsatisfactory for what i do.

that said, i've done a little investigation involving cork roadbed and ez track, in response to somebody else's query a while back. it appears that the answer to the height mismatch is to use o scale cork roadbed, which is only slightly thicker than HO. when i investigated this with a couple of pieces of track in a hobby shop, the o scale cork roadbed resulted in an almost perfect height match between ez track and atlas code 100.

[Doneldon]

3/32" rail height differential between EZ track and cork-roadbed track may seem like a minor difference ......I have to shim the connection point with 3/32" basswood tapered to zero over a foot or more to get it to work right.

flori-

As I said, not at all difficult to deal with. I do agree with you that the Bachmann screwed up on this one.


flori and jonathan-

I've got yo both beat: Played with Lionel birth through 1959 and then went to scale HO. 52 years of scale model railroading. Yes, I'm an old fart. But it's kinda fun!

                                                                                -- D

[Terry Toenges]

2 layers of 1/4" inch woodland scenics foam work pretty good, too. Plus, it's easy to sand to adjust the height or bevel the edges.

[jward]

if that is a problem don't use transitions in the yard. or slope the yard the other way. i found that's a good practice anyway, to slope the yard at about 1/2 % grade toward the stub ends of the tracks. according to nmra specs a car is not supposed to roll on a 1/2% grade.

[Terry Toenges]

Another thing to consider is that Bachmann's EZ Track started as an entry level track that could be attached together for use on the floor or a kitchen table. It wasn't until later that they got serious about it with nickel silver rail and the variety of track pieces they have now.

[Terry Toenges]

Then again, why would Bachmann want to make it easier to attach to someone else's track? Bachmann is in the business of selling their own track.

[Doneldon]

flory-

We had our Lionel trains before 1952 when we moved from Chicago to the house where we resided while I was in grade school. My Dad started building the house when I was born in '48 and he needed four years to get it suitable for habitation since the railroad (the Santa Fe, not the Lionel) kept him too busy away from home to work on the house during the summer which was prime building time.

You are so right about the fun of those old Lionel trains. My brother, who is five years older than I am, and I had two friends who were also brothers and who had Lionel trains. We'd put our equipment together and try to recreate the close calls in the Lionel Christmas ads on TV. We weren't very successful although I suppose it was more fun to have train wrecks and flying (er, falling) trains in the air!
                                                                                                                         -- D

[czechwizard]

Jeff:  the o scale cork roadbed resulted in an almost perfect height match between ez track and atlas code 100.

PF:  Now THAT is what a forum is for!!!!!! NICE!!!! I'll order some and try it.

PF

Is this the almost perfect product to connect Atlas Code 100 to EZ track, O 2' Track-Bed Strips (12) by Woodland Scenics ? I need to use some flex track so I need a roadbed. I also plan another yard with Atlas #6 turnouts connecting to my bucketful of straight EZ track. So is this product, no matter O scale, good enough to level Atlas to EZ track ?

[jward]

what i had investigated was o scale cork roadbed. the woodland scenics might work, you'd have to try it in person to see. but keep in mind the woodland scenics roadbed is spongy, and the cork is solid. would the woodland scenics roadbed compressing under the weight of passing trains be enough of a misalignment to cause derailments, where it meets the solid ez track? i know with cork you wouldn't have to worry about that.