12 THINGS NOCH & OTHERS DON'T TELL YOU ABOUT LAYOUT TRACK LAYING!
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- čas přidán 1. 08. 2024
- Preformed layouts by Noch and other manufacturers are a great way to save time, effort, and money in building an awesome model train layout. The most important part of building a train layout is laying track; however, the track plans supplied by manufacturers leave out many things that are crucial toward building a layout that is aesthetically pleasing and smooth running. In this video, I am going to share twelve suggestions for getting the most out of your preformed layout while saving you a lot of frustration and heartache!
Always use new track for your layout. With quality track and good track laying skills all locomotives will run on their specified radius with little to no derailments.
Depending on the scale, you only have a handful of good options for your layour... The rest are junk.
For HO and pro modeling there are no better options than Tillig elite track (for European and some Asian themed layouts) or Kato track (for Japaneese and American themed layouts). Kato track comes already with roadbed (4/5 stars from any tracks that come with roadbed). Tillig has the best proprietary roadbed system (Styrostone) and with it the discussion about nails vs glue is redundant. Styrostone is expensive, but is the best and you can use it with other quality track systems (Atlas makes good track, but no good roadbed).
For HO tracks with roadbed incorporated, the best track is Roco Line (use nails with that one), closely followed by Piko and Kato (use glue with those due to aligment problems). Marklin is the only option for AAC, but I would avoid Trix due to track geometry and due to better options available.
For TT scale, there is only one option: Tillig
For N scale, ALWAYS use Fleischman Piccolo track or Kato. All other track systems will just create problems and headaches in the long run.
For G, both Piko and LGB tracks are good, but Piko wins due to track geometry and less liabilities in the long run.
Thank you for your excellent comments!
I've used Fleischmann on most of the layouts I've built and sometimes I've used Kato. I have almost never had problems with the former but a couple of times I had some issues with Kato. I chose Arnold for the Rigi layout for three reasons: First, I just like the looks of it. Second, the layout came with no track plan and I could not find one on the Internet. Thus, I had to cut several pieces of track to connect everything together. Third, I purchased a couple of BLI digital locos - seen in the videos - and I had a bunch of Fleischmann left over. I tried them out on an oval of radius 2 Fleischmann and they did not run well. I then tried an oval of R2 Arnold and there were no problems. I think the rounded rail on the top of the Arnold track made the difference. R2 is probably cutting it close for the minimum radius for the BLI locos, and that likely factored into difficulty running on R2 Fleischmann. Since I knew I had to use R2 for the outer loop, Arnold was the best choice for this layout.
By the way, Hornby makes TT track as does Peco. Moreover, only Hornby make R1 curves, Peco makes good flex track but ... I just have never been good with flex track curves! In fact, I had an old Noch Traunstein layout sitting in the garage that I retired when I got the Rigi. It's kind of beat up with a big hole where a turntable was. I acquired some new TT trains from Hornby (paying for it by selling off Marklin HO trains and track (some still for sale on eBay), and I'm working on converting the Z/N Traunstein to TT. I guess the word we used when I was a kid was "jimmy fixing it!" I do a little bit each day when my three-year old permits or takes a nap. I also have some TT Tillig for sale on eBay. It's really nice track but I need an inner loop of R1 radius and Tillig does not make that radius. Ah, live and learn!
Thanks again for your comments!
I've found used track that is like new and works well, such as the Arnold track in the video. But, I agree that there are a lot of brands that are of poor quality! Thank you! Blessings to you and yours!