Which track?

Hi Chris

For concrete track its worth looking at the stuff exactoscale sell.



This is the P4 version but its available in EM and OO via Intercity models. It takes peco code 83 rail which is the right height for 4mm scale, code 75 is OK for HO which is what OO track actually is but in side on views it looks too small and you cant see the gauge discrepancy from that angle.

HTH

Jim

*** The nice thing about Templot is the ability to specify a track standard and the turnouts will be set at that standard.... clever ability to create everything needed etc... downside is that its counter intuitive if like me you use adobe creative stuff a lot - I have to shake myself and unlearn keyboard habist if I haven't used it for a while...

However it is easy to get back into the habit and a pleasure to use once the shortcuts come back into the mind ... and Martin supports it brilliantly.

Illustrator is a brilliant bit of software though - I can understand why you use it if you have its mastery under your belt.

I'm about to get into Templot again with a layout for our Focus modelling Group... based on the area of liverpools fringes between Edge Hill and Bootle where L&Y and LNER goods lines parallelled the main lines into Liverpool... It will have a lovely track centrepiece with 2 tracks crossing 4 main lines via diamonds.... bracketed with two double junctions. It will test my patience in Templot and turnout creation!

Actually the ends of the layout have already offered an interesting challenge.... The layout is back to back with an AU prototype layout... both effectively about 45 feet long, and we share the end spaces with two contra rotating helixes each end, average diamter 2.6 metres.... one 6 track becoming 8 for the UK layout (at 1 in 100 max) and one only 2 tracks and mercifully steeper so I don't have too much more ply to cut - they have already consumed 9x 2400 x 1200 sheets!!

UK layout will be C&L and steel rail....

Regards

Richard

QUOTE (jim s-w @ 24 Jun 2009, 17:35) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Hi Richard

While the approach is the same I don't actually use templot. Preferring to use illustrator instead as its what I am used to. I am sure Templot is much easier if starting from scratch.

Cheers

Jim

Very interesting thread....

I have just started dismantling my MkI layout (12'x10' which used code 100 Peco) and thought I might bin all the track work and start again using something that looks a little better. I'd firstly better point out that making my own is a no brainer due to arthritus in my hands - I simply don't posses the dexterity I once had. Secondly, I think having them hand made for me is another thing I should discount due to cost.

My eye has been drawn to Tillig - I like the one piece point blades which give a much better visual than those awful pivots half way along the blades that Peco use. They also produce an insulated ballast inlay thingy which would help considerably with ballasting and at the same time, hopefully eliminate the drumming I've had up to now. By the way I'm changing the baseboard design from solid to 'L' girder whilst I'm at it so this should also help with the noise. With the Tillig trackwork I want to use Fulgurex point motors for a more realistic operation.

The layout will be a long convoluted, three level tail chaser with a return loop at each end of the run. Somewhere in the middle of the run will be a small country station with appropriately sized goods facilities. It's DCC British outline 1950-60 ish.

Is Tillig trackwork only available in code 80 (or is it 83)?

Am I thinking along the right lines (excuse pun) with my trackwork replacement idea, or have I got it all terribly wrong?

Mike

QUOTE (16A @ 28 Jun 2009, 11:39) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>My eye has been drawn to Tillig - I like the one piece point blades which give a much better visual than those awful pivots half way along the blades that Peco use. They also produce an insulated ballast inlay thingy which would help considerably with ballasting and at the same time, hopefully eliminate the drumming I've had up to now.

I have laid completely in Tillig and used the Styrostone. The Styrostone requires quite a bit of experience to master particularly round curves using flexitrack.

QUOTE (16A @ 28 Jun 2009, 11:39) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>With the Tillig trackwork I want to use Fulgurex point motors for a more realistic operation.

I used the Tillig point motors. There are some drawbacks but they are probably better than Fulgurex but not as good as Tortoise.

QUOTE (16A @ 28 Jun 2009, 11:39) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Is Tillig trackwork only available in code 80 (or is it 83)?

It is 83. Older stuff needs re-wheeling. A Lima CCT actually ran along the sleepers!!

QUOTE (16A @ 28 Jun 2009, 18:58) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>I think I missed the obvious question - as Tillig is HO will my 00 stock run okay on it? Some of it is over 20 years old and I've read that flange depth can sometimes be a problem with different code rail.

See above.

Thanks very much for your replies, which have cleared up one or two problems for me. I may bin all the old stuff or put it in a display cabinet.

QUOTE (dwhite4dcc @ 28 Jun 2009, 19:27) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>The Styrostone requires quite a bit of experience to master particularly round curves using flexitrack.
What was the problem David? and did you use the 'super-elevation' add on?

QUOTE (dwhite4dcc @ 28 Jun 2009, 19:27) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>I used the Tillig point motors. There are some drawbacks but they are probably better than Fulgurex but not as good as Tortoise.
Why do you think they are better or worse?

Sorry for the extra questions but this time I'd like to get everything right and to achieve that I need to obtain as many opinions as possible.

Thanks again

Mike

QUOTE "Just a couple more questions on the C&L track. If you went that way and wanted points but couldn't be bothered making them yourself could you knock up what you wanted on Templot and get someone else to make them for you? Are there places that make points designed on Templot and who are they?"

I would like to know the answer to that one too. I have read this thread with great interest, as one who has started a layout and recently just abandoned it half way through, because Peco track is just not the look I want. C & L appears to give the look that even if there are no trains running you can appreciate standing at the lineside. However to quote the inimitable Clint Eastwood. " A man has to know his limitations". I think I know mine and do not feel I have the skill or time to buld my own pointwork. So who out there can do the job? Also and this might seem a ridiculous question to those in the know. How do you join C&L track together, by using Peco track joiners! I know C&L do cosmetic fishplates but I have not seen any guide as to how to lay this trackwork. Even if you read Rice's excellent little opus I don't think he goes through the mechanics of laying and joining it up.

***Silurian

In UK, contact Brian Lewis at C&L who could put you in touch with local bespoke turnout people. You have the choice of several who do a nice job.

re joining it, I laid over 400 metres of C&L bullhead track and used not one rail joiner. I simply butted them together carefully so to speak, using a wood block at exactly gauge width to ensure alignment as the glue dried to hold them in place. You should get a couple of lengths of C&L bullhead track and see how well it bends!

if you feel uncomfortable with that, then I'd think an N scale joiner would do it fine - I did actually look at Z joiners which nearly fit (I was experimenting/looking at ways to hinge double slip blades) but they are a wee bit too tight really....

Neil. If there's nobody local put out a call on the BRMA egroup - there are several who can do it well on that list.... and you have at least one local BRMA member who could do it I think... If U have no luck, and can be patient, then email me.

Optionally of course, there are UK people who do it and can post a parcel I really have no idea as to their costs though

Richard

Richard

Oh heavens - the track doesn't join up? And here was I planning to buy some, slot it all together and push my Hornby power thingy in. This gets more and more complicated - I think I'll have to go and haunt the threads on wiring now

QUOTE (16A @ 29 Jun 2009, 07:26) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>What was the problem David? and did you use the 'super-elevation' add on?

Mainly getting the rigid foam Styrostone to go round curves. You have to use a hairdryer and the melt temperature is critical. I also used standard contact adhesive which, in excessive quantity, dissolves the foam. You are also advised to fit the flexitrack first which can, if starting from a parallel joiner straight can cause some problems with sighting sleeper sets at the far end. Difficult to explain on here but I suppose it could be solved by using huge lengths of Styrostone and track to arrive at the next set of fixed track (point, crossover etc.) Bit unwieldy.

QUOTE (16A @ 29 Jun 2009, 07:26) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Why do you think they are better or worse?

Mainly from hearsay on this and other forums plus a fair amount of practical experience ( ten motors laid so far ). The Tillig point motor is small, noisy (unless mounted on sticky tape) and expensive ( £15 each ) plus it needs 16 volts AC to operate properly although there is a way of using 9 volts DC but using complex switchgear to address polarity issues. I think these motors are really good. They offer good control, frog polarity switching built in plus adjustable point throw and a useful cascade system for crossovers saving DCC switches. Avoid anything labelled Pilz (the old label for Tillig) and check that the supplied piano wire is just that.

Fulgurex seem to have a small following and are also noisy. Tortoise are a really good slow motion motor which will work well and operate on twelve volts making them operable from accessory decoders direct. I have had to use home built relays for the 16volt AC supply to my Tilligs.