HI everyone: I am a beginner into model railroading. I am getting an HO E-Z track together for an HO layout. I come across the black with steel track and also the grey nickel silver track. Can I use both on the same layout track? Thanks for the help!
There are people more knowledgeable than I on this forum, but I believe that the black road bed and gray road bed track can be used together, if you don't mind the contrasting road bed color.
The thing about the black road bed track is that the rail is steel and will very readily rust, so you have to be very assiduous about keeping it clean. If it was me, I'd use that black road bed track temporarily until it can replaced with the gray road bed nickel silver rail which is a lot easier to deal with over time .
The great thing about Bachmann track is that it all connects, whether you have the older no-roadbed track (like Atlas makes), the black roadbed track (steel rails), or the gray roadbed track (nickel-silver rails). It's cheaper to use the black track, but you are very limited in what you can do. I think it comes in 18"-radius curves, 9" straight sections, and a 90* crossover and not much else. With the gray track, you are limited by your imagination and 15"-radius curves.
If you want less than 15", you need to look to Kato track. Just know that most trains bigger than a 4-4-0 and 4-axle diesels will not work on less than 15" turns.