Pros & Cons of Flex Track?

Brandon,

Roadbeds in the days of steam were often ballasted with cinders, which are of course black. The branch line which I grew up with was mostly cinders with some areas of chatt here and there. When I started modeling the branch, I used Woodland Scenics cinders for the roadbed. I have recently been helping my Dad restore a 1948 Allis Chalmers tractor and we have been using Black Diamond brand sand to sandblast it. In the process, I've discovered that the Black Diamond sand would make a good looking cinder roadbed or coal load, depending on how coarse it is. And for $7.00 for 50 lbs., it's a bargain. You're right, though, in that you don't see many prototype lines with cinder ballast nowadays.

I remember a lot of ties on the branch line that were virtually solid black, because they were so heavily coated in creosote. We used a lot of them for corner posts on the farm after the branch was abandoned and they're still black as night. So in my opinion, you can't go wrong either way.

I did paint my mainline track with Krylon rust colored primer and used grey ballast. Although it's by no means the best looking track around, I think that it's appearance is much better than what you get right of the box.

Pat Moreland,
Union Mo.

 

Awesome!!!

 

The real key to believable ballast and tie color is not to be too uniform in whatever color. That is, make your tie and ballast color variable. Only freshly laid (Ballast and ties) main line "high iron" is uniform in color.

Tom G.

 

Pat, I really like how your track looks...rusty rails w/brown ties. I'm not a serious modeler. I don't really care about "code" as long as the ties are brown. I already have 3 sections of code 100 flex track and 2 code 100 turnouts that I've never used. I would like to use them on my new layout just to save a few bucks. I would only need 10 more sections of code 100 flex track to complete my layout. Now that I've seen your pics, I'm considering using what I already have and buying more code 100. Did you have to do anything to remove primer from the top of the rails for conductivity?

 

My recommendation is to keep a cotton swab soaked in alcohol handy and try to wipe the top of the rail down before the primer dries. I made the mistake of using a fine grit emery paper on several sections of track and it scratched the top of the rails. Any experienced modeler will tell you not to clean or wipe down the rail head with an abrasive, as it will leave miniscule scratches which will collect dirt. I haven't had too much of a problem with it, but I started using cotton swabs and rubbing alcohol to strip painted rail heads. Primer dries fast, though, so you have to work fast.

Hindsight is 20/20, so a better alternative may be to buy some of those railroad colors paint pens. I can't remember who makes those, but a set of them includes different colors for rails and ties, and they're relatively inexpensive. Seems like my local hobby store had them for around $10.00.

Pat Moreland,
Union Mo.

 

wpmoreland719, is "Big Red" #2020 on the "rusty track" your Proto-E-8 from this thread:

http://www.frisco.org/vb/showthread.php?5895-Proto-2000-E8-Problem ?

It looks great. Does it still run well? Thanks for sharing. Sorry to repeat myself, but there can never be too many E-8 Redbird pictures!

George

 

Thanks for the comment, George. Yes, that's the same unit I was speaking of in that thread. And, yes, it still runs great. No problems since I took the clips off of the bottom of the trucks and tinkered with the gears and wheels (not sure exactly what I did, but it worked).

When I get a little extra time, I going to take some more photos of it and post them in the "Favorite Frisco Model" thread from a few weeks ago.

Pat Moreland,
Union Mo.

 

I always liked "Big Red," the enigine and the name. When I was a hulking teen age ball player, "Big Red" was my nickname.

Tom G.

 

It was good to see that pretty locomotive.
One other aspect of flexible track is that it simulates welded rail. That may or may not be a good thing, depending on the era being modeled.
Despite recent line and surface work, trains on the jointed rail on the eastern division out the back door still make the "clickety-clack" sound, unlike the smooth "whirring" sound the "other railroad" has on its welded rail.
It is all in what you want, I guess.

George

 

Jim, Be sure a pick up a HO scale NMRA gauge, you will always have a use for it.

 

Regarding the 4-4-0 that derails in curves, I suspect that your track is out of vertical alignment. This often happens with flex track in curves, and if you watch closely as the locomotive passes through the curve what you will see is three wheels on the rails and the fourth one (the lead wheel on the outside of the curve) riding up over the top of the rail and into the swamp. You might try banking the outside rail just slightly and see whether this cures the problem.

GS

 

Thanks, Tom, Ken, George, and Brandon for your compliments. The layout and everything on it is still a work in progress. After posting those photos, I noticed a couple of things that need to be fixed: 1), there's a large gap in the rail on the farthest industry turnout, and (2) those darn phillips screw heads are sticking up in the roadbed on the main track. The rail on that side was a little higher than it's counterpoint and my westbound (opposite direction of Big Red) six axle units would pick the switch and derail prior to entering the tunnel. I tried to shim it, but that didn't seem to work, so I got flustered and put two screws between the ties so that the screw heads would push down on the ties and level things up. Works like a charm, but I forgot to cover them with ballast.

Since my layout is a dog bone style, I used Bachmann EZ track to make my 180 degree turns at each end. Everywhere else is flex track, including the Salem Branch. I also tried superelevating the curves when I was using standard Atlas sectional curved track, but still had trouble with derailments. The EZ track fixed that. To make it look a little more realistic, I covered the embankments of the plastic roadbed with white glue using a paint brush, then poured ballast on it. I would like to point out that EZ track sits up a little higher than standard track on a cork or foam roadbed, so for anyone who might be considering mixing in some EZ track with regular track and roadbed, you will need to make sure that they are at the same height, or you'll suffer some derailments.

I have noticed from my observations of prototype track that there doesn't usually seem to be a lot of difference in the color of rails and ties, at least not on main line track viewed from a distance. I've studied the appearance of the UP (Mopac) Sedalia Sub about six miles to my north, the BNSF (SLSF) Cuba Sub seven miles to my south, and the Central Midland (Rock Island) in my home town, and in every instance, the rail color and the tie color were very close. That's why I simply spray painted my track.

Pat Moreland,
Union Mo.