Cutting track?

[dragonbusa]

Anyone ever cut down Bachmann ez track? I need two four inch pieces. I know I can buy them but I thought it would be worth a shot, I have a few extras. Don't seem like it would be that hard to do. My thought was make the cuts with a dermal tool then use joiners and solder  them together. Any input is appreciated

[Terry Toenges]

I've used a Dremel to cut track. The plastic can melt doing it that way so you have to trim up the edges. You need a disk this is much larger than the diameter of the Dremel to get a straight down cut. I ended up with slanted cuts. Then, I bought a flexible extension for the Dremel and it worked much better. You have to make sure the Dremel doesn't loosen the rails, too, by keeping pressure on them.

[Len]

Another option is to use a razor saw to cut the plastic roadbed and a Xuron rail cutter on the track.

Len

[dragonbusa]

Thanks for the tips guys I'm gonna give it a go.

[RAM]

A razor saw will also cut the rails, if it is NS.

[Trainman203]

I found the cutting of EZ track cleanly to be a bit of an ordeal, using a razor saw.  I got it cut, but the cut didn't line up cleanly with the unaltered track.

EZ track was great for doing my first layout, which is really its intended use.  I found that its fixed geometry doesnt match free lowing prototype practice very well,  especially on a branch line setting like mine.  Next layout will be code 70 flex track.

[Bucksco]

This tool is great for an even cut on the rail. A razor saw would finish the job on the roadbed.
http://shop.bachmanntrains.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=258_272&products_id=6612

[Len]

Kind of pricey if you only need to cut a few pieces of track. For that I find the Xuron track cutter for the rail, and a razor saw for the roadbed, work just fine.

Len

[James in FL]

Kind of pricey

That's a $150 solution for a $10 problem.

[rogertra]

I found the cutting of EZ track cleanly to be a bit of an ordeal, using a razor saw.  I got it cut, but the cut didn't line up cleanly with the unaltered track.

EZ track was great for doing my first layout, which is really its intended use.  I found that its fixed geometry doesnt match free lowing prototype practice very well,  especially on a branch line setting like mine.  Next layout will be code 70 flex track.

EZ Track is, like all set track makes, designed for train set use.  It is not a scale modellers track, that's not what it's market is.  It is designed for dad and the kids to easily set up a train set on a 4x8 sheet of plywood and to get trains running as easily as possible.  That's its intended market.  You do not see any set track in featured model railroads in any of the magazines.  Where they do use set track is in articles, usually around Christmas, for beginners which is what EZ Track and all the others are deigned for.  My first model railway, in the UK, was OO Hornby Dublo three rail, all built with Horby three rail track.  Track disappeared into the garbage many, many years ago but I still have the two locos and all the rolling stock stored away in boxes that haven't been opened in 55 years.  That's when I switched to two rail and flex track.

Cheers

Roger T.

[Trainman203]

Yes Roger I thought a long time about what track to use on my present layout , which is a scale model railroad with a prototype, designed for realistic operations ..... a continuation of my last layout 52 years ago before life interrupted things. Nothing really has changed, it too had the same prototype and operations scheme as today.  In the South traditions and history have a long life in our mindsets. My layout has always been a re-creation of what I saw back home on the MP in the very early 1950s.

I thought a long time about code 70 and code 55 rail on this new, in 2007, railroad.  At the time, the layout was to have a life of about 5 years.  With that short a life, I didn't want to spend most of that time building the layout, operations is my goal.  So I tried EZ track and had a layout running in about a week after starting my "benchwork"..... something else I don't like doing, along with wiring.  And it's run really well for 10 years now, plans changed and I haven't moved.  I am thinking  about re doing a couple of up front spurs that really show in code 70 flex track.  I've painted  the EZ track a rust color and buried it in heavy pea gravel ballast and weeds as befits a branchline, and you can't tell what it is.

What I'm saying is that EZ track can have a place on an advanced layout.  You just have to handle it correctly.

[Terry Toenges]

Not everyone is, or wants to be, a "scale modeller". Some people just want to have fun and do their own thing in whatever way, shape, or form they like. Some folks don't care what every layout in every model magazine is or isn't using. This is one of the most "personalized" hobbies there is and you can have it your way however you want to do it.

[Trainman203]

My thought is that EZ track is useful somehow for everyone.  No disrespect meant at all for any of the various forms of fun that model trains can provide.  I've been a so- called scale modeler for a long time but I don't think I've  ever had more fun than with the first Lionel set or in the very earliest days of crude attempts at modeling on a 4x8 table.