Please help a new person at this with track securement.

[corey9212]

Thank you for the info. I went ahead and ordered EZ track (holy cow it is going to cost me onver $500.00 CDN) I will look into other ways of secureing the track and find out whats best for my layout. I keep hearing about an EZ track book that explains a lot of stuff on model railroading with EZ track. I will look for that book and buy it. I get all my parts on Tuesday and will let you guy's know how it went (with putting together and securing the track.)

[SteamGene]

Corey,
Be very careful in assembling the Easy-Track.  The roadbed snaps together very easily - so easily it's easy to miss the fact that the track sections are not connected. 
Maybe that's the reason for the name.
Gene

[pdlethbridge]

I am presently expanding my ho railroad and I continue to use atlas code 83 on homasote and ply. The homasote is so easy to nail, just push in with needle nose pliers. Like this

[pdlethbridge]

I found this picture at the NMRA site of Steven Mallery's PRR Buffalo Line. Notice this is atlas directly on ply   http://pamodelrailroads.com/smallery/pictures.htm

[Jhanecker2]

That is a totally awesome layout !!! A lot of time and effort went into that . I must admit that I am planning to lay my tracks on extruded insulation when I finally get a round building my layout . Still have a lot of equipment and materials to buy. I finally finished replacing all the couplings with knuckles .

[pdlethbridge]

if you can find homasote, try  a 1/2" x 4' x 8' and see how you like it. It is rather dusty to cut so if you need smaller pieces have the lumber yard cut it. My pieces are 2' x 4'.

[grumpy]

I used (Tentest ) homasote for my whole layout . Ifastened it directly to the 1/2" plywood with a product called No-Nails. This made the whole base very ridgid and sound deadening.
My EZTrack is fastened to the base with nails that go through the homasote and just into the plywood leaving some space to allow the EZtrack to move a bit. The turnouts are fastened down firmly to make sure they are flat to the base . I have 10 turnouts and I have had a problem with only one. There is a photo of my layout posted on one of the threads . I believe the thread referred to what have we modeled . If I can remember the thread I wll let you know.
Don

[chuff_n_puff]

corey9212
Also, be careful if you have any grades to make them gradual with a smooth transition, or you will lose more sleep! SteamGene has helped me a lot of times with some good advice!

[DaveS]

Hi Corey,
I can relate to your problem as I was at that stage 2 years ago. I put together a small layout using Atlas TruTrack. It was secured with Atlas track nails. A great tip from my LHS helped a lot in securing the track to largely plywood. If you get a #62 drill bit and a pin vise, use it to drill into the plywood through the guide holes in the track. If you do that it is easy to put in the nails with just a nail set and a light tap with a small hammer. As noted by others, don't bend the ties. If you don't drill, the nails may bend and you will have to use far too much force likely causing the ties, and hence track to deform. TruTrack is the Atlas equivalent of EZ track.
A year ago I ripped up the TruTrack and replaced it with Kato unitrack as I had some problems with the Atlas turnouts when I converted to DCC.  The Unitrack is far superior to TruTrack.
I sympathize with the cost as I too am in Canada. Luckily I have a good friend in Minnesota so I ordered the Kato track on line and had it shipped to him otherwise I would have paid $60 each for Kato #6 remote turnouts.
Dave S

[corey9212]

I will deffinately check out that homasote, I got my new track today (EZ track) and am curious, I was using all Atlas before and now The only Atlas part is the Selector switch, I was looking at the wiring on the remote turnouts it has a green wire (that I know goes to the switch) but it also has a red wire. I am configureing it out so that I can run 2 engines. It has a total of 10 sections that have the terminal rerailers to power to each section. Do I need to use the red wire still on the turnouts? or can I just use the green one?

Thanks again.

[corey9212]

Ok, now I'm a little fustrated. I got my track and started putting it together when I found out the layout won't work. When assembled there is a space that is 2cm wide (in other words the track is too short to fully connect.) I checked around and no one here has the book (or even heard of)  'E-Z model railroads, The E-Z track planning Guide & layout book' I can't even find a digital copy that I can buy and download. Does anyone know where I can go to find E-Z track layouts (and supply list for the layout) cause I used RTS 8.0 for my initial layout and even though it said it would work, it didn't. I also tried AnyRail with no luck making a layout that would work. Any help with this would very greatly be appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Corey

[Joe Satnik]

Dear Corey,

2cm is about 3/4".  Expand the other side of your layout with a 2-1/4" straight, then use a 3" straight were your gap was. 

I call this differential gap filling.  (3" - 2.25" = 0.75")

Hope this helps.

Sincerely,

Joe Satnik

[Jhanecker2]

Good Afternoon Corey , the book in question is the book listed on the home page of this site. It should be available from either Bachmann or from your LHS .  It was long in coming to market but it should be still available . Checkout the dealer you acquired the track from.

[corey9212]

Hello, I finally got my track together and assembled, after a few wiring headaches (cause I'm running analog controll.) It's all finally up and running. (well, kind of.) My 2 locomotives and cars came from two different beginner train sets from two different companies. One has the newer magnetic knuckle couplers. But the other one has a different coupler (It was an older trainset.) It has a different coupler. I want to switch it to the new knuckle type with magnet but I have no Idea who made this trainset and engine and cars. The only info I could get from the engine was on the side it had '5506' as the engine number under that it had 'GR 20' on the bottom it said 'Lifeline' and had '19306' stamped on the bottom as well. I know this isn't much but if anyone has any ideas. Please let me know.

[SteamGene]

The maker of the cars and locomotive makes little difference.  What is important is the type of "other" coupler and where it is mounted. 
1.  Does the "other: coupler when viewed from the top look something like a sickle?  From the side does a long straight bar point towards the track?  If so, it's a horn hook coupler, actually about the same age as the knuckle.
2.  Are the coupler pockets mounted to the trucks or the body?  Can you see a way to open the coupler pockets? 
If the couplers are mounted on the trucks, the best thing to do is to cut off the coupler pocket and throw the thing away.  Buy some packaged #5 Kadees - thus giving yourself coupler pockets.  Mount them to the carbody, shimming if necessary, and follow instructions on placing the couplers.
If the couplers pockets are body mounted and they have a removable bottom, simplly remove it throw away the horn hook, and replace with a Kadee #5.  For this, buy a value pack of couplers - without the coupler pockets.
Gene