20 years of E-Z Track!

[wiley209]

As some of you might know, this year marks the 20th anniversary of Bachmann's E-Z Track. While it was not the world's first roadbed track (Marklin and Kato made their own way back when), but it was still new and innovative to the North American HO train market.

(sorry about the low resolution)
It was ideal for floor-based train layouts or playing, but could also be used for tabletop layouts if needed be.
Back when it came out, it was more limited. Only with steel rails and black roadbed (as steel was still commonly used in train set track back then), and only available in full 18" or 22" radius curves, 9" and 3" straights, standard left and right remote turnouts, non-prototypical bumpers and 90 and 30-degree crossings, and that was it. I think around maybe 1997 or 1998, the nickel-silver version was introduced, along with a much wider variety of track configurations and sizes. This version of E-Z Track was more ideal for tabletop layouts, and still is today. (I've seen a number of online E-Z track layouts that can be rather elaborate!)

It proved to be very successful. Even Athearn and Walthers wanted in, and they began including the track with their train sets (though the Athearn sets appropriately come with the nickel-silver version, and the Walthers TrainLine sets typically include the steel track.) Some other companies like Atlas, Life-Like, MTH and Model Power came out with their own roadbed tracks to compete. Model Power's was discontinued after a while, due to a lawsuit from Bachmann, as their Lock-It track system was apparently designed to connect to E-Z Track, and I imagine Bachmann didn't want a rival company's track to be able to connect to their own without the need of cutting or adapters. Though the others had their own innovation in some way (Atlas's True-Track had a removable roadbed and Code-83 rails, Life-Like's Power-Loc could connect without the need of rail joiners, etc.)

I remember with Robert Schleicher's "The HO Model Railroading Handbook," the initial 1979, 1983 and 1992 editions only mention traditional HO track, so the 1998 edition had extensive new content added to reflect the roadbed track, along with other newer stuff like DCC, the use of a foam base instead of plywood, etc. There's even a nice 7x8 layout showcased in the book that uses weathered nickel-silver E-Z track!

Any comments?

[jbrock27]

I just bought some n/s EZ track last week for use under the Christmas tree.  Neat stuff

[Doneldon]

Back when it came out, it was more limited. Only with steel rails and black roadbed (as steel was still commonly used in train set track back then), and only available in full 18" or 22" radius curves, 9" and 3" straights, standard left and right remote turnouts, non-prototypical bumpers and 90 and 30-degree crossings, and that was it.

wiley-

I'm pretty sure that these still constitute the full breadth of the steel alloy line. I suppose
there was too little interest in the steel track once the better looking and better performing
nickel-silver track came along.
                                                  -- D

[wiley209]

wiley-

I'm pretty sure that these still constitute the full breadth of the steel alloy line. I suppose there was too little interest in the steel track once the better looking and better performing nickel-silver track came along.
                                                             -- D

Yup, that's pretty much all they have for the steel line. Bachmann figured more model railroaders would want to use the nickel-silver versions for building layouts (I don't blame them; nickel-silver does perform better, and it's got a huge variety of track lengths and configurations that make it ideal for elaborate tabletop layouts.)
I even seem to recall hearing a rumor Bachmann would soon only sell the steel track in their train sets and no longer offer it separately.