Track

[flaretired]

I am going with code 80 and want to know a couple of things. 1: Do you put track directly on the wood or use a road bed? If you use road bed how to you line up your buildings.IE: round house, stations Etc. 2: What is the best way to clean old track? 3: Should all rail joiners be soddered? 4: At what point in time should the joiners be soddered? When all track is layed or as you lay it? 5: Is a 40 watt pencil tip iron to hot? 6: Does anybody now anything about the new cold tip soddering iron?

[flaretired]

What do you mean by bouncing? Chuck

[ginzokid]

Chuck, I think Doug is referring to a derailed wheel set and the sound it makes just before your prized car or engine hits the concrete below.... B-)

[flaretired]

Thanks I sure will listen for that sound. Thank god I have carpet under my layout. Chuck PS: how do you get the smiley face on your answers?

[ginzokid]

Chuck, See the thread "Emoticons" I just renewed. B-) & :x

[beastranger]

Chuck Pete is right, a derailed wheelset. Kind of sounds like a baseball card in the spokes of your bike. If you hear that STOP! Nothing worse than seeing four prised engines and twenty cars of a fifty car train take a nosedive, to concrete. Punk

[ginzokid]

Hi Guys, Well now that I have laid the KATO sectional track, I notice that the ends do not mate very well on the straight sections. The track is seated properly but one rail seems to be higher than the other yielding a bump at the joint. I will take it apart, file that one end down to match the other section of track and hope that will cure it. This only happens on the straight sections and only one rail. Must be a slight misalignment in the manufacturing process. Bachmann track has bumps at every joint. That is why I chose the KATO for the test track. Now I'm disappointed in their quality control. Anybody else have this same problem? B-)

[flaretired]

Try twisting the track just a little and see if that helps. I used the Bachman track for my program track (the kind with the gray roadbed) and it did not line up either. All I did was give it a little twist and no problem. Chuck 🙂

[ginzokid]

Chuck, I tried the twist and had no luck. I filed it and it is OK now. Same problem, different fixes. Who knows. B-)

[ginzokid]

Hey guys. I need opinions here. I'm thinking of using code 55 for the coffee table layout. Have any of you used it? I would appreciate your thoughts, pro or con. B-)

[dl85vette]

All my layout is code 80, so I don't have anyhting to pass on. sorry.. dave

[untabubba]

All I know is that wheel flanges can be an issue. You'll have to wait for a more experiened response though. Marc

[flaretired]

I would like to now if you cam mix different brands of track? I am looking at a Kato double slip switch. Will it work with Atlas code 80? Thanks. Chuck 🙂

[ginzokid]

Yes Chuck, The two can be mixed together. They are both code 80. You might have to fiddle with the joiners on the Kato track and remove them and also shim the Atlas track up to the thickness of the Kato Unitrack (my assumption here) double slip switch. Assuming you are using cork under the Atlas the heights might be different. At any rate, the track will join up with standard Atlas rail joiners without problems. Just for general information, there are conversion joiners that enable the mating of different codes of rail to each other. Code 80 to code 55 is a common one. B-)

[g-pa1]

What is a double slip switch?

[flaretired]

My bag. I meant a double crossover. Chuck 🙂