MTH REALTRAX opinions?

My view is that if you have a lot of it from your starter sets (for example) or someone is gifting it to you, you should go right ahead and use it.  If you are buying to start with, most people, including myself would recommend Fastrack, Atlas or Ross/Gargraves over Realtrax for all of the qualities you mention, whether bought new or used.  

Sounds like you are looking for a quick, easy and cheap way to start a layout. When I started in O gauge about 6 or 7 years ago, I bought a bunch of Realtrax and about 12 switches months before I started my layout. I struggled working with it and from day one knew I made a mistake. 

I have since removed all of the Realtrax and replaced it with Gargraves track and Ross switches. Over the past years I have worked with Lionel Fastrack and found that to be a very reliable, an easy "ready made track" that looks very nice. It's more expensive than Realtrax, but you get what you pay for most times than not. They have lots of different options for their track as well.

RAY

Tried the Realtrax (it came with a starter set) and didn't like the way it assembled.  I sold the Realtrax and built my layout (approximately 10' X 20' with 3 loops) using Fastrack and I'm very satisfied with the results.

Chief Bob (Retired)

Realtrax is challenging to work with.  The copper tangs that make contact when snapping the pieces together are frail and get bent very easily.  Extreme caution is needed to assemble that stuff.  I have a bunch of it and the price is what makes it attractive but it sure can be frustrating at times.  I don't have any of the switches and am not familiar with how they behave.    Someone else will have to speak to that.

Using Realtrax for around 20 years !  

s

Lots of good opinions here I did use it for around the Christmas tree and agree the copper tabs suck but if it's not being taken apart all the time I thought it might be ok. I have used LIONEL TUBE, GARGRAVES, K-LINE SUPER SNAP ROSS, ATLAS O & FASTRACK on layouts over the years I had problems with rust on FASTRACK & detest ballesting that's why I was thinking about giving the MTH brand a try.

On some temporary layouts, I have used Realtrax from starter sets and have had very few problems with it. As you say, putting it together and taking it apart frequently could be problematic over time, I think, but could be done with a little experience, finesse and patience. 

Personally, I think all track systems are basically good, but they all have some quirks. Good news is the quirks can be worked around with a little patience and the good tips from others here that are using the same track type. I have always liked the looks of Realtrax and Fastrack because of the built in roadbed. As you say, no ballasting!

CHOO-CHOO MIKE posted:

Using Realtrax for around 20 years !  

Perhaps the original stuff?  With all solid rails?  Hopefully the quality was spot-on at that time.

The new stuff, while not bad, ain't always the greatest either, IMHO.

Dave Ripp. posted:

Lots of good opinions here I did use it for around the Christmas tree and agree the copper tabs suck but if it's not being taken apart all the time I thought it might be ok. I have used LIONEL TUBE, GARGRAVES, K-LINE SUPER SNAP ROSS, ATLAS O & FASTRACK on layouts over the years I had problems with rust on FASTRACK & detest ballesting that's why I was thinking about giving the MTH brand a try.

In my neck of the woods, it's pretty easy to find used Real Trax at train shows for really good prices.  I put together a 6' x 16' layout using both used and new stuff.  It was somewhat of a pain in the posterior getting everything to run properly, but I finally got it figured out.  Basically, I like the looks of it and I like the price of it.  My next layout will most likely be GarGraves/Ross, but for right now my MTH track is serving me just fine.

If you want to go ahead and give it a try, by all means go for it.  Me and several others could give you some good pointers on what to look for and how to prepare the track and switches for painless track laying the first time around. 

Hey....pls listen to Ray of Sunshine...I've had far too many problems with Real Trax, and it with the new and old versions. I have about 90% of old 1st generation solid rail...but it is the tangs at the ends that are the problem....even after just a few assembly/disassemblies  Just use good old tubular...and Menards sells a good replica from what I hear.

Realtrax is great. My father and I have built two separate layouts with it. I prefer the solid rail track instead of the hollow rail. The track fits VERY tight. The connections allow for good continuity. It’s easy to solder to. The turnouts work fantastically. I prefer to use separate power (not track power) of 14 volts. If you overpower the turnouts they can pop off an internal spring. It’s fixable after you remove the turnout and take the bottom cover off. The roadbed is narrower than Fastrack. That can be a positive aspect. Flat top rail improves traction when climbing a grade. It won’t rust. If you are trying to fit the largest radius curve possible on a 4’ wide sheet of plywood, 0-42 fits perfectly. Black center rails are nice. The cross ties are closer to prototypical than Fastrack. Some of the O SCALE purists may look down their nose at plastic roadbed, but it’s convenient. The roadbed can be stained and the sides of the rails can be painted to look rusty in order to give it a more realistic look. It’s less expensive than Fastrack. It looks better than Fastrack. It fits together tighter than Fastrack. It makes better electrical contact than Fastrack. Enough said. 

I've moved onto Atlas for better appearance, larger curves and # turnouts. The original solid rail stuff is good. Yes the connecting tangs are fussy, but if you straighten any deformed tangs before assembly, it works quite well. I don't like the new hollow rail. Sometimes the rails are misaligned. And without any pins, like conventional hollow rail, one has to use pliers to coax the rails into alignment. I never had any problem with switches.

"It fits together tighter than Fastrack. It makes better electrical contact than Fastrack. "

Also has won the Nobel Prize in Physics.

CoolHand posted:

Realtrax is great...The cross ties are closer to prototypical than Fastrack...Enough said. 

I knew this to be wrong so I got out a piece of Realtrax and a piece of Fastrack.

Realtrax:

Looks like 35 inches center-to-center.

Fastrack:

Looks very close to 18 inches center-to-center.

Now to consult the Wiki-thingy:

"The crosstie spacing of mainline railroad is approximately 19 to 19.5 inches for wood ties or 24 inches for concrete ties. (The spacing means the distance of the center of one tie to the center of the next tie, and equals to the width of one tie plus the width of one crib.)"

So Realtrax is waaay off and Fastrack is quite close wrt tie spacing. WRT tie width, real ties are 9-10 inches wide. From the pics Fastrack looks like about 8 inches and Realtrax is almost 14 inches so again, Fastrack is much closer to the prototype.

Speakina' opinion, I chose Fastrack because (1)tie size and spacing is very close to prototypical and looks it and (2) Fastrack rail height is closer to prototype than Realtrax. Fastrack rail height is 0.190" (code 190) while Realtrax is 0.250 (code 250).

From an old discussion here (in which Bob gives his OK to use this image):

https://ogrforum.ogaugerr.com/...ack-andamp-real-trax

From another old discussion here, quoting member "CHUCK":

"PRR used 155# rail on their main line.  This would scale out to code 172.  For reference purposes, Atlas O two rail is code 148 meant to represent more typical and lighter weight mainline track in the 130# range.  Branch line track could be even lighter while specialty tracks (like at a steel mill) could be even heavier."

https://ogrforum.ogaugerr.com/...-rail-certainly-fits

My layout has over 300 feet of MTH Real Trax, and it is 10 years old. There are 14 Real Trax 042 switches in my layout, and to date only two have required replacement for continuity failures. For a permanent layout, Real Trax is competitive with other sectional track systems. However, Real Trax does not do well when taken apart several times as for a seasonal layout.

As long as I remember  to hold the two Realtrax track pieces being joined at a 45 degree angle to one-another while pushing together they snap right together without any damage to the copper contacts.

I never had the sparking issue but was using O72 track switches so maybe the geometry is slightly different?

I did have to grind back the inside rails to prevent contact with the adjacent track pieces  to prevent the points-chattering issue. Other than that Realtrax track switches were bullet-proof.

Oh, and one other point about Realtrax: Magnetraction does NOT work (obviously-brass rail). To some this matters and to others it is no problem (think Post War vs traction tires).

While we are on the subject of prototypical, T rail vs. inverted U rail.