Rachel, I think I spoke to you at the convention in the pizza car Thursday evening. If I am not mistaken, you sat across the isle from me and my friend John. (If that wasn't you, never mind.) Anyway, John, I and a third fellow, Jim, had an S-scale layout at the convention in the vendor room located behind the NASG switching layout. I don't remember seeing you at our layout, but maybe you came by when I was away.
All this is to say that three of us recently built a layout with switches built with Fast Tracks jigs. We also hand laid the track. We built it using code 100 rail. (See note on "code" below.) However, before this project, Neither John nor I had built switches or hand laid track. That Jim had built switches (but not with Fast Tracks jigs) before was a huge help in getting John and me up to speed. With this recent experience, I can recommend Fast Tracks jigs for building excellent switches, but you need to be prepared for a learning curve. If you are adventurous and patient, you can build beautiful switches with their jigs. But, it really helps to have some other people to work with on it. Better yet, is to have someone who has built switches before to guide you. Finally, you should plan on building several switches before you get the hang of it, and be prepared for the likelihood that the first few may not be keepers. With those cautions in mind, once you get the hang of building them there is great satisfaction in building them yourself and they look so good! If you don't want to get into something as challenging as this yet, I would recommend using some of the pre-assembled switches such as those made by Tomalco. They are more costly than building them yourself, but the learning curve is much less. Much the same issues apply to hand laid track vs. flex track. Hand laid track doesn't have quite the learning curve, but it still requires a few tools you won't have if you haven't done it before. And, it requires some techniques that may not be obvious, and practice. Regardless which way you go, if putting down track is new to you, finding some local friends (regardless what scale) who are experienced and willing to help will make the learning much, much easier. Note on "code": If you haven't been indoctrinated to what "code" means yet, it is simply a shorthand for saying how many thousands of an inch something is. Code 100 means one hundred thousands of an inch (0.100 inch). Code 83 means 0.083 inch, and so on. The other confusing thing is how "code" is used when referring to rail and to wheels. For track, code refers to the height of the rail from the top of the tie to the top of the rail head. In wheels, it refers to the width of the wheel from back to front. The important point is that there is no necessary relationship between the "code" of the wheels and of the rail. Scale wheels are normally code 110, but with good track work, code 88 (or 87) can be used w/o problems. Except for special purposes, you can safely say "scale wheels" and ignore talk about whether they are code 110 or 88. They will almost always be code 110. Within the world of scale, people use code 100, 83, or 70 track. The size of the rail is a personal preference issue. Any size rail can be used with scale wheels, but you need to be aware that the Fast Tracks jigs are specific to the rail size you choose to use. I hope I have not bored you with stuff you already know. Best wishes, Lance McCold Knoxville, TN --- In [email protected], Rachel Covington <rcovington92@...> wrote: > > I want to thank you all for your kind words and patience. The information you all brought forward clarified things immensely!! However there is one more thing...I thought Fasttrack was suppose to be scale track based off the mainlines of the big railroads back east...furthermore after my questions on track several people had suggested Fasttrack as a viable option because of their excellent turn outs. At this point Fasttrack was the way I was leaning with scale wheels and DCC. But if Fasttrack isn't scale I have to start my figuring all over again. Can someone who uses Fasttrack way in on this discussion please. Not sure if it matters but my eventual layout will be in a room slightly smaller than 300 sq ft. > > > Thanks Rachel Covington > > > > ________________________________ >
