G3750 posted:Dave NYC Hudson PRR K4 posted:Looking good George. Yeah about curves and putting laying track, you always have a struggle with just the normal pieces fitting them together. I can't imagine messing with the different track makers and getting a big overhang.
Thanks Dave. I realize that sometimes people use different track types to economize, but that seems dicey to me. GarGraves, Ross, and Curtis all fit together (and more importantly) smoothly run trains without issue. I've found that curve radii are OK as well. It's just the number of pieces in certain curves that differ. So if you're using a Ross O72 curved switch, you pretty much have to use 3 more Ross O72 pieces to make a full quarter of a circle.
I talked to a guy who was using Lionel Std O tubular track with several other brands. Apparently, he thought he was being clever and saving money. I think he was making himself a problem - both in looks and performance. I've learned the hard way - the quality of your bench work and your track ultimately determine how well your railroad will run. That's not the place to take shortcuts.
George
My first real table that was built by a friend(not very well constructed but was okay) I had the same issue. I had some good Lionel Tubular track and had bought a bunch more not realizing it was K-Line track which was not quite the same(back in the early 90's). Well, I had to chop a piece of the K-Line track to get it to fit. I had never used a hacksaw at that point but did a good job. I did as per the usual sensible way, measure twice, measure again, check area to be sure everything's right, measure then cut. I know that sounds like overkill, but sometimes it seems like a great idea to be very sure instead of "I think so". Needless to say that part of the layout never had issues. However, the unevenness from the person who constructed the table gave derailment problems occasionally. I wound up not running too much because of the tremendous noise(small room) and those issues. After about a year and a half I decided to dismantle everything and scrap the table.
The table I built(Xmas tree table) I much better and square. The only mistake I made on that is probably using the foam core board and cutting my finger with an exacto knife. The board is slightly noisy and had seemed like a sound solution to tracks on wood. Even though that's there(foam) and the trackbed its not all that bad. As far as the cut to my finger, we all seem to do that at one time or another. I felt embarrassed as work they always preach hand safety.
