Good idea, bad idea

[Madman]

The only question I would have would be possible damage to the Peco track if it is to be at ground level. I have soldered to LGB and Aristocraft track with minimal difficulty. I have no experience with Peco track, so I cannot say much about it other than what I have learned from others.

 

[MR SPOCK]

[align=center]I started with Peco,as I had used it in all my other scales,I find it easy to work with less cleaning flexible to lay, a lot cheaper hasd a 60% copper content looks better everything runs on it,

The down side is the lack of other componants, there is only a left and right hand turnout, the other thing that seems to put a lot of people off is the tales of woe from third parties who dont have any Peco track, but have heard from others etc etc etc.

improving the track will also lead to improving the loco running,small adjustmants such as throwing away those skates and more reliable electrical paths add up to more fun to me,

I have no connection with Peco,
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[trammayo]

I have to ask this question Mr Spock - how do Aristo & Bachmann locos and stock take to Peco track?

I want to extend my line some time and have been slowly collecting Aristo track. As everything in G scale has to come from the UK (or some other country which involves air and sea journeys), the cost of the item is not the only consideration. Postage is crippling - often doubling the cost of an item.

Having used (and liked) Peco track in other gauges I am giving seriouys thought to Peco for my future extension and presume it can be joined to my existing track without problems.

Mick

 

[stockers]

LGB locos with chips do not like peco points. The skates short across the frog and this can burnout the decoder. I have done this myself with my Heidi on the club layout. (the two chips right of centre in the picture, have melted)

 

[bobg]

I only have Peco Flexi-track so I would be interested in others experiences of it. So far I've had no trouble, but 8 mths is hardly long term usage. I've found it delightful to lay and run on.

The electrical bit is probably much the same as other types of 'fixed shape' rail, just less often, because of longer lengths.

 

[MR SPOCK]

[align=center]I have used all makes and models on this track with only two little mods,

as the rail height is code 200 some not all bachman stuff buonces over the molded chair bolts on the point work, ten seconds work with a file removes the 'bolt heads', no other problems. all wheel profiles plastic and metal run thro with no issues.

to join to any other make joining fishplate are needed, not sure who makes them, or a little work with my favorite tool Mr File, that will ensure smooth transition.

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[MR SPOCK]

[align=center]

LGB locos with chips do not like peco points. The skates short across the frog and this can burnout the decoder. I have done this myself with my Heidi on the club layout. (the two chips right of centre in the picture, have melted)

I dont think the problem is the track , the problem is those ridiculous skates, even with old fashioned DC analog the things are so big they can short out most track, my first job when I get a loco is remove them, I would agree that the chips will fry, but that is not the fault of the track, I use track and battery power with Locolinc system, I never have had any problems with shorts or burn out ,and can only concluded that I have done something right, I have used peco in all of the scales that they make it in and have never understood why only in the larger scales there would be a problem, the only conclusion after testing and trials that it goes back to those dreadful skates which are totally unesscescary in large scale, and definately pointless if using locos of a size we do, those skates are not used on even the tiniest of scales so why anyone thinks they are of a benifit is beyond me unless using very short radius turnouts with a high plastic content,

I do think that the likes of Peco should enclose a warning/ disclaimer in its boxes of points to save that horrible event that you describe happening as I have heard it has happened quite a lot.
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I can only speak from my own experience

 

[jacobsgrandad]

I have had peco track down, a lot of it at ground level, for about 3years, with no problems at all, running LGB on Massoth DCC. The only time you may have problem with the points is when running andigital engine in analogue with controllers whoch fail to cut out when they dete ct a short. This ncan be avoided by bending up skate slightly or insulating the first part oof one of the frog tracks with something like nail varnish. I have not found this necesary when using DCC. To date I have no problems with electrical continuity or strengh despite crossing it with a wheelbarrow

 

[dunnyrail]

As my railway is about to be moved, I've had the idea of swapping all the track I have for Peco track. The reason for this particular is because I assume that maintenance would be easier e.g. if there was an electrical fault, it would be very easy to solder wires to the rails. As for the track I have now, almost all of it is manufactured by such makers as LGB, Piko, and Aristocraft so they're all the same code rail (isn't it obvious?). I say 'almost', because I have some Peco track which, is flexible and it's just as well I have special rail joiners, as you know, which, join the chunky LGB-type rails to the skinny Peco rails. Either way, do any of you think that this idea of mine is good or bad?

I have been using Peco G Track for years and have no complaints except for the Frog Shrting problem. This I have resolved by converting all my Peco Points to LIVE FROGS. It takes a bit of time, but I have never regretted this decision. I even managed to persuade the management of the Ruschbahn that has Peco G in one of its stations to convert his to Live Frogs.

Note in my reply I quote Peco G, I do this to note the difference between the G and gauge 1 track that appears to be what Mr Spock is using. I do have another friend that uses the Peco Gauge 1 track on his RHB Metre Gauge Garden line. He uses it very successfully with no apparent shorting of track skates. His LGB Track Cleaning Locomotive does bounce a lot on the narrower rail profile though, and an older Harz 2-6-2t with deeper flanges used to bounced along until he replaced the pony trucks with newer ones. Funny that the Drivers were never a problem.

As for electrical supply, with the exception of the points conversion to live frogs, I do not reply on soldered joints for the track power. I have the complete line done with Hillman Rail Clamps, using their Power Supply Clamps for my track feeds. No reliability problems with this at all over 9 years of running. Plus alterations are a dodle.

Hope this helps.
JonD

 

[Madman]

The bottom line here is this; if scale appearance appeals to you, use Peco track. Otherwise LGB track and others like it, are more suited to long term abuse in a garden setting. I must disagree with the skate issue. I believe that skates are demonized much more than they deserve to be. I honestly believe in the LGB program. They must have had some top notch engineers designing every mechanical aspect of their train system. Even they switched to skates after the very early production without them.

 

[dunnyrail]

The bottom line here is this; if scale appearance appeals to you, use Peco track. Otherwise LGB track and others like it, are more suited to long term abuse in a garden setting. I must disagree with the skate issue. I believe that skates are demonized much more than they deserve to be. I honestly believe in the LGB program. They must have had some top notch engineers designing every mechanical aspect of their train system. Even they switched to skates after the very early production without them.

I too believe in the benefit of the LGB Skates and the program. However the Skates do occasionally short out on LGB Rad 5 points. We get over this on the Ruschbahn by bending up the skates a bit more at each end. It is a real pain to have to do this on my locomotives. But as they all visit the Ruschbahn on occasion I just have to do it.
JonD

 

[Bredebahn]

Maybe the simplest answer is to use Peco on plain line and use LGB and others pointwork, with relevant adaptors connecting the differing rail profiles. I have always liked LGB as it is bombproof and the large cross section of brass rail ensures good conductivity over long runs - I too believe that pickup shoes improve running current collection, as well as clearing significant crud.

Please don't take offence Mr Spock, but I do find your posts very difficult to read when written in such a large typeface

 

[ntpntpntp]

I don't have an issue with loco skates, LGB thought it a good idea and some of the other manufactuers (not all) have followed suit. To some extent I do feel they help to keep the track a little bit cleaner in the outdoor environment. Oh, and skate or plunger type pickups have been used in smaller scales, though not seen these days. I've had examples of N gauge locos (Rivarossi) with additional plunger pickups.


As I see it, Peco made a bit of an error in designing their G45 points with frogs that can cause shorts with skates - after all LGB locos with skates existed before Peco G45, and you'd have thought Peco would be designing to suit the existing widely available ranges of models (it's not as though Peco market their own brand of G locos).


Personally I run on LGB track in the garden at ground level but intend to use Peco G45 for a proposed portable layout, where I think it will look better at waist height with the smaller rail profile. I've already developed a method of converting the G45 points to live frog, and have applied it to points on friend's railways. I posted about it on old GSM.

 

[KeithT]

[align=center]I have used all makes and models on this track with only two little mods,

as the rail height is code 200 some not all bachman stuff buonces over the molded chair bolts on the point work, ten seconds work with a file removes the 'bolt heads', no other problems. all wheel profiles plastic and metal run thro with no issues.

to join to any other make joining fishplate are needed, not sure who makes them, or a little work with my favorite tool Mr File, that will ensure smooth transition.

[/align]

The code 250 to code 332 joiners are made by Peco.

On LGB locos skates can make a huge difference to electrical pick up. The path to the motor from the skates is more direct than from the wheels.
Try tipping the loco on its side and applying power first to the wheels and than to the skates. You will almost certainly find that the motor runs faster when it picks up via the skates.

 

[stockers]

The skates seem to reduce burning of the wheel chrome plate too when running analogue. This has been recorded several times here with regard to such locos as the LGB mallet which does not have skates - the chrome wears quicker.

 

[mike]

i point blank refuse to run my locos over peco points... sick off watching sparks fly..

 

[Wobbleboxer]

I use Peco and have for a number of years, like other have said because I used in in smaller scales previously. It's not a problem at ground level unless you're planning to walk on it in which case it's not as robust as the chunkier LGB profile. I only have Bachmann and Aristo stock and have never had any running problems. Peco G45 profile is code 250 not 200 as Mr Spock says. I know he has made some of his own trackwork so am not 100% sure what he's using, G1 maybe.

I've never had any electrical problems, just make sure the joiners are good and tight when fitted and use a bit of something to stop them corroding, graphite paste, copperslip or even vaseline to keep the moisture out. I tend to solder to a connector on the workbench and then fit them to the track, as I find it easier than trying to solder to track in situ.

 

[stevedenver]

The skates seem to reduce burning of the wheel chrome plate too when running analogue. This has been recorded several times here with regard to such locos as the LGB mallet which does not have skates - the chrome wears quicker.

exactly-
skates prevent pitting from micro arcs

my mars flyer-which has ball bearing pick up wheels-no skates-
on my indoor, relatively clean track-turn out the lights and theres a mini electrical storm at the point the wheels contacts the track-and the wheels become fouled and pitted-

to counter i now have phosphor bronze wires lightly trailing under which ride the rail continuously and no more pitting or arcing-some drag but makes a huge difference

 

[trammayo]

Well ..... evaluating all the posts here I think I'll stick to Aristo & LGB track (nice as Peco is).

Mick

 

[MR SPOCK]

Maybe the simplest answer is to use Peco on plain line and use LGB and others pointwork, with relevant adaptors connecting the differing rail profiles. I have always liked LGB as it is bombproof and the large cross section of brass rail ensures good conductivity over long runs - I too believe that pickup shoes improve running current collection, as well as clearing significant crud.

Please don't take offence Mr Spock, but I do find your posts very difficult to read when written in such a large typeface

No offence taken but I have really poor eyesight and struggle with small typo to read this my nose is four inches from the screen, one of the pleasures of age I suppose,