Looking for advice on mating Fleischmann track with Bachmann EZ track.
The Fleischmann track has a roadbed, and I was wondering if it would be an easy connection.
Reason, the Fleischmann has a 3-way turnout where Bachmann doesn't. I can save approx. 27 inches on my layout by using a 3-way turnout instead of using Bachmann's individual 2- turnouts.
You'll need to clip off the connectors on the end of the EZ-Track pieces that will mate to the turnout. The roadbed on the Fleischmann track looks thinner than the EZ-Track, so you'll probably need to shim it with thin basswood or cardstock to match heights.
I use a heavy duty staples to keep dissimilar track from seperating from the EZ-Track. Mark the location of the staple legs and drill small holes for them. Add a drop of white glue to the holes and insert the staples. The glue keeps them in place, but they are still removable with a pair of needle nose pliars if needed.
Len
Is this the Fleischmann track design for three rail operation? With the third rail in the form of little metal studs in the middle of the ties. If it is, won't be a short circuit with the track switch is installed?
If you are buying a new three-way switch, it might be less of a gamble to buy an Atlas item and shim up the cork roadbed to match the Bachmann track.
The Fleischmann track I "inherited" when my repair shop was open was for two rail operation. No center studs.
Len
That's great. The only issue you should have is easily corrected, getting the railhead heights lined up correctly.
Update:
Okay, I was expecting concerned on the standards that the Fleischmann track presents. I could not find any info on the Fleischmann track as to its Code specifications. The Bachmann EZ track is code 100. The Fleischmann track still is a question as to what its specification is. It may not even be an issue.
A point that was brought up, will the Fleischmann 3-way have an issue with use of DCC. That's something that concerns me now. I'm looking into the manual version of the 3-way. So the electric switch issue is of no concern.
I looked at the Fleischmann catalog and I could not find any info as to its use with DCC power.
This is where Bachmann should fill in the gap and create an EZ track 3-way, my wishful thinking.
As for mating the two tracks, I really hate having to break off a good connector on my EZ tracks, since I'm constantly modifying the layout for all kinds of reasons.
Quote"I use a heavy-duty staple to keep dissimilar track from separating from the EZ-Track."
The main reason I love the EZ track is that I do not have to tie the track down with glue or nails. The surrounding ground cover does it almost magically. For instance, when a curve is made with the EZ track, I use my shrubbery to provide that support, and if that doesn't work well, then I place a nail underneath the track at both connection points, not through the track. Yes, I use foam board, so the nails are easily placed and removed, thus without damaging the EZ track.
Moving on, I figure that if its HO scale it should mate with the EZ track rails fairly easily... Am I correct in this statement? Or should I try looking at some other manufacturer's 3-way track. The reason I chose the Fleis track is because it has a ballast/roadbed like Bachmann's, just not as thick.
I don't find the appearance of grey plastic roadbed acceptable. If it was mine, I'd spray paint the whole thing a mid-brown first, then add ballast.
There are many different theories and ideas about how to paint track realistically since none it is realistic the way it comes. Some people mask off the rails or the ties and paint them separately, and some go as far as painting ties individually. I don't have enough time left on earth to do all that. The CSX main line track about 200 feet from my house, the rails and ties are almost the same brown color. Which probably comes from the rust washing down on the crossties from our frequent and heavy rain down here on the Gulf Coast. That's good enough for me. Spray painting the track with brown blends with the Browns and greens of the adjacent scenery very well. It also ties together different brands of tracks like Bachmann and Fleischmann.
If you are unsure about painting and ballasting track, practice on a couple of loose pieces first. You can try different colors of brown. Some people spray the track gray first, then paint the sides of the rails with a rust marker that's available, then wash-paint individual ties different shades of browns to show individual weathering.
Try any of this out, and I guarantee that you will never be happy with the appearance of plain out of the box track again.
I'm not into painting, and frankly, I like the grey ballast. I believe the reason most don't like the ballast is due to it's thickness. Cover up some of that thickness and it becomes a lot more pleasing to the eye...in my opinion. Since I am forever changing my layout, painting the ballast for a summer scene, then changing it again for a winter scene one would be constantly repainting the ballast over and over. Point being made here, for me, is too much paint and glue will ruin the entire track over time.
Update: I purchased the Fleischmann 3-way track (model: Profi-Gleis 6157), I'll let everyone know how it works out with the E-Z track. I believe I can mate the two without breaking off the connector. I hope I'm correct in this assessment. This 3-way is only 9 inches, where my EZ turnouts whether no 4 or no 6 take up 27 inches. This will be a godsend if I can get it to work.
My layout will not be anywhere near as good as Sheldon's work, plus I'd be more than embarrassed to show my haphazard work at this point in time.
Quote from: Ralph S on May 13, 2023, 01:36:12 AMMy layout will not be anywhere near as good as Sheldon's work, plus I'd be more than embarrassed to show my haphazard work at this point in time.
The only one your layout needs to please is yourself. I've known folks who were perfectly happy with a 4x8 sheet of plywood painted green and a few Plasticville buildings here and there. Not a tree or hill to be seen anywhere. I asked one of them about it and he said, "I like operating the trains, I can imagine the scenery. If others have fun building scenery, they should go for it, but it's not my thing."
Len
I've got a fully scenicked layout. Not one hill. I'm modeling river delta flatlands.
One thing you really need to watch out for with Fleischmann and other European brands of track is the curve radii of the switches. These are not listed in the ads I've seen for the 3way, nor is it readily available in the ANyrail program I use for layout design. But European curves and switches are MUCH sharper than American track. In fact, in the Fleischmann system 18" radius is one of the broader curves they have. SOme curves are as sharp as 13.75" radius, far sharper than anything on the American market. In other words, your American style trains may not be able to negotiate the curved route on these switches. I'd hate to see you pay a hundred or so for a switch only to find that it is incompatible with what you run.
If you are going to use a 3way switch, I'd take a long look at Peco. Their track doesn't have roadbed, but it is available in code 100, and the curves are much broader. In their standard line, the equivalent radii of their small, medium and large switches are 24". 30" and 60" respectively.I believe the 3way is medium radius, but it is certainly no sharper than the small. If you go this route, keep in mind that these are NOT Settrack, which has the sharper European curves. You can use cork, or better yet pine moulding strips under the switch to bring it up to height. The points on Peco switches are sprung in such a way that they snap over into position every time you throw them, right out of the box. No need to buy switch motors if you don't want them. There are two versions available. Electrofrog is power routing, and probably not suitable for DCC. Insulfrog should be DCC friendly. I know people who have used these on DCC without problems.
The curve legs of the Fleischmann "Profi" turnouts is somewhere around 24" radius. The standard, not "Profi", curve legs are around 15" radius.
Another issue to watch out for is the flangeways of most European turnouts, Peco being an exception, are way too wide for RP25 profile wheels. At one time inserts specifically for Fleischmann turnout flangeways to make them RP25 compatible were available. No idea if they still are. If not, styrene strips can be used to narrow them.
Len
Quote from: Len on May 14, 2023, 10:17:52 AMAnother issue to watch out for is the flangeways of most European turnouts, Peco being an exception, are way too wide for RP25 profile wheels. At one time inserts specifically for Fleischmann turnout flangeways to make them RP25 compatible were available. No idea if they still are. If not, styrene strips can be used to narrow them.
Len
Those wide flangeways are pretty easy to fix. You can narrow the flangeways by gluing pieces of strip styrene to the guard rails or wing rails until you get to NMRA specs, then trim them with a hobby knife to fit the rail profile. A standard hacksaw blade is the same width are the NMRA flangeway standard. I use the hacksaw blade alot as a guage when I hand build my own switches.
Hand building switches? You must be a young man. I don't have enough time left on earth to do something like that, even though the results are much better looking than commercial, than to just buy something and put it in.
I used to dream of building a branchline layout and handlaying all of my own code 70 and code 55 rail on skewed and unevenly spaced wooden ties. That has fallen along the wayside along with a 50 mile hike along the abandoned roadbed of my favorite Railroad and a 2 month epic road trip to see all of my favorite railroad landmarks and operating steam locomotives.
Quote from: trainman203 on May 15, 2023, 02:55:05 PMHand building switches? You must be a young man. I don't have enough time left on earth to do something like that, even though the results are much better looking than commercial, than to just buy something and put it in.
Haha,
'm not that much younger than you, and probably older than most on this forum.
When handbuilding track, jigs help alot. Especially with switches. With a jig, I can take a 3 foot length of rail and turn it into a working switch ready to spike to the ties in about an hour. And it will be built to closer tolerances than anything you can buy. The jigs ar not cheap, but as with anything else if you're going to do the job you should have proper tools. I figure after I've built 5 or 6 switches the jig has paid for itself, and anything else I build I'm saving a ton of money.
Right now, the only commercially made track on my railroad is the turntable and associated radial tracks. The radials extend under an upper level industrial area, and were one of the last things I added. It was easier to use sectional track there instead of removing the upper level to get access to the area.
Do you make your own frogs and point rails? How can a jig do that?
I love the way that hand laid track looks.
There is a point form tool which is a metal block you clamp the rail into. You file the rail flush with the block and you've got perfectly formed points. It works for frog points as well. There is a similar tool used to notch the stock rails so the points fit perfectly. Everything else is a matter of bending the rail to fit the jig.
I remember filing nickel silverrail taking forever.
Handheld belt sander.
Still have to solder stuff, right? I despise soldering.
I thought this was a craftsman's hobby? Soldering is one of the crafts every modeller should learn. It comes in handy in so many applications from trackwork to locomotive repair to building construction. Metal is great to work with, especially when what you are trying to model is also metal.
Have you ever super detailed a brass steam locomotive by soldering on a minute detail like a Whistle? That's a lost art today but a common one in 1963. They used to be a certain crowd that said you weren't a real Model Railroader unless you did stuff like that. I mean, I drop of solder about the size of a pinpoint and no more. Some could do it, I couldn't, but I don't think I was less of a modeler because of that. There's other ways to attach details.
I never could do stuff like that and I got really tired of the broken record about soldering.
Soldiering is a skill that has to be learned, like airbrushing without leaving splotches or runs. One of the problems people run into is they don't have the right equipment. They use an iron that either too small, or too large. Or they use the wrong solder or flux. Etc., etc. Like airbrushing, it takes practice. It doesn't hurt to take a precision soldering class if a local community college offers one.
Len
Another problem these days is that people expect everything to be plug n play and are lost when it isn't. Anything worth doing is a learning experience.
QuoteHave you ever super detailed a brass steam locomotive by soldering on a minute detail like a Whistle?
One thing I learned is to solder the hand railings of the locomotive instead of gluing the railings. When I get the right soldering iron/pencil, I'm going to perform that task on all my locomotives. Currently they all are just hanging by the wire that's attached to the shell. The verticals leaning to and fro. I tried glue and that just ruined the looks of some of the stanchions.
Plug and play sounds like me, when it comes to laying/placing track... ;D