3 rail track

Provocative title; so are U okay with 3 rails?

I'm a Lionel FasTrack fan.

It's not exceptionally realistic, yet not the worst.

It is very noisy, unless put a sound deadening substance under the track, e.g., short carpet.

It is extremely functional, especially the switches which can be had in Command Control.

I wouldn't call it economical, but what is in O-gauge?

Take a look at Atlas O's 21st Century track system. In MY opinion it is the best looking 3 Rail O track on the market. It has an EXCELLENT selection of curves, straights and switches, one of the most comprehensive in the hobby.

Doug

Not qualified to give advice, having said that, I have a layout with 7 loops all Fastrack. No, it is not cheap nor from the pictures on this forum realistic but Fastrack is good, easy to use, comes in several sizes.

Fastrack is Brent proof, I have experienced zero problems, I do try too keep it clean.

I am not a rivet counter , just like to see trains go round and round.

Have fun with your Railroad

Brent

Gargraves and Ross......best looking, cheaper than many, works great.

I chose Atlas for my layout. If I had to do it all over again, I would pick a Ross/Gargraves combo. The availability of Atlas track, especially switches, has been such a pain in over the past few years.

Stay away from MTH RealTrax. It is expensive, there are alignment issues with the rails section to section, and the switches are terrible. The worst mistake I made up front was using MTH RealTrax.

I too went through exactly the same transition, HO to O, a couple years back. My mistakes were the wrong track, and not a big enough layout. I have lots of O-31 curves and it limits your engine and rolling stock choices, and the fast curves are not very realistic. Spend a maximum amount of time on the planning of the track and the layout. Laying track too soon can put you in a corner, unable to make it better latter.

If I did it again (very unlikely) I'd pick Ross/Gargraves. But the small amount of Atlas track I use this time made Atlas track a choice to consider too. The Atlas switches are not that great. The Atals track sections I used to smooth the train flow were long sections of Atlas Flex track and it worked great. Some of these track system choices requires ballasting, one of my least favorite tasks.

LDBennett

My vote is for Gargraves and Ross combination.

LDBennett posted:

Stay away from MTH RealTrax. It is expensive, there are alignment issues with the rails section to section, and the switches are terrible.

LDB

Do you have the hollow rail version? Most of mine are the earlier solid rail version. I haven't had any alignment problems with those, but yes with the hollow ones. I didn't have any trouble with my switches, but mine are all O-72.

I just removed all the Real Trax from my layout and will soon put down Atlas O.

Keith:

My RealTrax is the newest version as it is only about two years old and is indeed hollow rails. I got it all workable. It was an eye opener to find MTH sold such shoddy track. But as time went along and my 99% MTH rolling stock increased, I came to realize that some MTH products seem to have a problem or two right out of the box new. What a shame to pay all that money and have to fix some new addition to get it to work properly. It has not yet been anything hard to fix by me. The switches were the worst. I had to tear all seven of them open and adjust the travel of the mechanism.

After several years I have gotten the layout to work reliably but not without work on my part to fix many of MTH's quality problems. I'm into MTH too far to change and I do like their DCS TIU and AIU and the control it offers. Lionel now offers an equivalent with Legacy, I believe. I realize I can use Lionel on my layout if I add some of their digital control modules but I just stuck with MTH because Lionel's stuff is made in China too.

Because my layout is so small at 7x9 it is basically finished with no physical room to expand. So my focus for the last year was populating the layout with structures. I arrive this year at "full" with an addition of 8 Banta craftsman laser cut structure kits I built. I have now moved to building rolling stock from Yee Old Huff n Puff and LeBelle. The Banta kits were a joy to build but the LeBelle passenger kit was very tough. Some of the YOHnP kits suffer from poor instructions but come out OK when I work around  the poor instructions. What's after when  the rolling stocks count exceeds my needs and capacity to store them off the layout? I really don't know? I'll not re-do the layout as my physical limits start to increase as I pass though my 70's. Maybe I'll be satisfied just running trains????

LDBennett

Is there a big difference between a hollow rail (gargraves) and solid rail (atlas) also anybody use scaletrax by mth, it looks really nice

I am using mainly Gargraves track and Ross switches now. I also use some tubular track with adapter pins to Gargraves track.

I have tried Fastrack about 6 years ago and got rid of it very fast! Nothing but trouble for me. Very difficult to keep clean and electrical connections between track sections were extremely poor. The price of Fastrack, even for a small one & a half inch section, is high and you must follow a track plan to the letter with Fastrack, NO free lancing of Fastrack like with tubular track.

Lee Fritz

Gargraves  rail is still shaped like traditional tubular, and the ties are grossly oversized, but is still a vast improvement over the traditional widely spaced metal tie tubular track. Using Gargraves track with RCS (Ross Custom Switches) switches, is a very common combination. Gargraves track is more affordable than RCS's track, and other than the tie color being a bit different IIRC, they work well together. RCS does have an even more comprehensive selection of switches than Atlas O.

  Atlas O track has more scale sized ties and rail profile than Gargraves. For awhile Atlas O was hard to find some pieces, particularly some switches. I have heard that production has been better, and that availability is much better now, but I have not tried to buy any in a Long time, and I found what I needed without trouble when I did buy it, but that was before the shortages.

Again, TO ME, Atlas O, is the BEST LOOKING track on the market, but I Like FORD trucks, others may like Gargraves and Chevies.

There are many who like/prefer MTH's scale Trax, but it's selection is much more limited, and it's availability, as far as the last I have heard is almost impossible to find, and MTH has been unresponsive as what Scale Trax future is.

Doug

If you're just starting, why 3-rail?

Why not 2-rail?

I personally regret rushing into 3-rail. But, once you start buying . . . you're stuck.

Terry Danks posted:

If you're just starting, why 3-rail?

Why not 2-rail?

I personally regret rushing into 3-rail. But, once you start buying . . . you're stuck.

Why not 2 rail O scale? I know that 2 rail O scale uses DC power and that some of the prices for 2 rail items can be higher then 3 rail. Also there are more people into 3 rail then 2 rail in O scale, so 2 rail is harder to sell in the used market if you want to sell an item.

Lee Fritz

What TERRY DANKS said

challenger3980 posted:

Again, TO ME, Atlas O, is the BEST LOOKING track on the market, but I Like FORD trucks, others may like Gargraves and Chevies.

Doug

What about those of us Gargraves and Ford pick-up guys!!!

Atlas track does look good but when I bought all my track it was a point Atlas was hard to get.

Terry Danks posted:

If you're just starting, why 3-rail?

Why not 2-rail?

I personally regret rushing into 3-rail. But, once you start buying . . . you're stuck.

No More "STUCK" than either he or I was "STUCK" with HO, when we changed, and I was an AVID HO modeler with more than 50 DCC/Sound locomotives and hundreds of freight and passenger cars. Granted, I was/am a member of a large club, and didn't have a home layout.

In November of 2005, I went to my LTS, Whistle Stop Trains, in Portland, OR and told Charlie the owner, You know that I have been an HO guy for over 35 years, but I need some "Lionel" for "Under the Tree". It HAS to be Steam, GOTTA be Union Pacific, half a dozen freight cars loop of track and transformer. There wasn't an RTR set that fit my wants/needs so we put together a "Set" from loose pieces.

 I took that "Set" home and set it up on the floor, and was absolutely HOOKED on the BIGGER trains (I already had/have some Gauge 1). The very next weekend, I was back at Whistle Stop and took home the MTH Railking F3 passenger set, in Armour Yellow and Harbor Mist Grey OF Course. Since that time I haven't looked back, and haven't bought another piece of HO equipment. I am still an "Absentee Member" of the club, with reduced dues, so I still support the club, in a small way, but I haven't been there in over a year, and my visits get further and further between. HO may be more correct to scale, but to ME, it just doesn't have the heft and "Presence" that O Gauge does.

 As far as "regretting" 3 Rail instead of 2 rail, I doubt that will ever happen for me. 3Rail is far from "Cheap" but 2 Rail O is even more expensive. 3 Rail O, doesn't have any where near the "Off the Shelf" selection that HO and N scales have, but it still has a VASTLY BETTER selection available than 2 Rail O does. An IDENTICAL track plan in 3 Rail, does take much more room, than the same track plan in HO, but no where near the space it would take in 2 Rail O, to be able to run the same equipment, 2 Rail typically takes the same RADIUS curves, as DIAMETER curves in 3 rail to run the same type of equipment.

  Model Railroading is as much a Hobby of Balances and compromises, as it is about trains. I have heard SO MANY times "I could NEVER accept that THIRD RAIL", yet the same modeler goes on to describe how he is modeling a 100+ mile sub-division in HO on a 5x10 layout, and how his Big Boy can handle 22" or even 18" radius curves( a Big Boy would require a 40" radius in HO), with a Gleam in his eyes.

  We each make our own choices on our Balances and Compromises, to ME, that third rail is no more offensive than a 100 mile sub-division on a 5x10 layout. On a well scenicked layout the third rail is not at all noticeable to me, and on a painted plywood table, with Plasticville buildings, it is a time capsule back to the 50's-60's.

It is a shame that you "REGRET" 3 Rail, I would suggest that you sell or box your 3 rail, and build the 2 rail layout and collection that you evidently would prefer. For me, that little Hudson Jr. with Union Pacific on it's tender(UP NEVER had any Hudsons)will always be a Special piece for me, even though I now also have scale locomotives like a Big Boy, H7, AC-9, FEF-3's and GS4. One of the few regrets that I have had since going 3 rail is buying a PW 736, never ran right, it just never gave me the warm fuzzies, that some get from Post War equipment, I eventually sold it and moved on. Many Love the Post War trains, just not for ME.

  I can't answer for the OP, but for ME, I can think of MANY reasons beyond even those already mentioned on "WHY 3 RAIL". So I Hope for You, that you do someday find the Happiness in your trains that you should, I have, and I am Perfectly HAPPY with 3 Rails.

Trains are supposed to be FUN,

Doug

AMCDave posted:

challenger3980 posted:

Again, TO ME, Atlas O, is the BEST LOOKING track on the market, but I Like FORD trucks, others may like Gargraves and Chevies.

Doug

What about those of us Gargraves and Ford pick-up guys!!!

Atlas track does look good but when I bought all my track it was a point Atlas was hard to get.

Well, I'll have to look into it, but I'm sure there is a rule somewhere that if you drive a FORD pick up You HAVE to prefer Atlas O track

But I SUPPOSE, I could give you a Pass on this, after all, if you drive a FORD truck you can't be more than HALF BAD, Right

When I bought my Atlas O, availability wasn't the problem that it was for awhile, and I sure wouldn't criticize someone for liking/buying Gargraves/Ross, it wouldn't be MY choice, but there are a LOT of people that do like it, and it does have an Excellent reputation.

Doug