Colorado Midland Railway Engineering Report

[Chris333]

Wait, it was HO scale 10 min. ago.

[Dave V]

Well, Bryan, I do really appreciate the compliment!  Sadly, if I was unable to lay commercial Atlas code 55 well enough the first time I'm fairly certain I'd fail at any attempts to handlay in N scale.  I would try again in Micro Engineering code 55 if I thought it might help.  I'm really not doing great in N scale these days so anything that boosts my chances of success would help greatly.

[wm3798]

Two Words.  Retro Snap Track.  Okay ... Three... words.

Old Retro Snap Track... no wait... FOUR words.

DC Power Pack and Retro Track...  Dammit!  SIX words!

Cardinal Biggles

[johnb]

Two Words.  Retro Snap Track.  Okay ... Three... words.

Old Retro Snap Track... no wait... FOUR words.

DC Power Pack and Retro Track...  Dammit!  SIX words!

Cardinal Biggles

Cardinal Fang, fetch the comfy chair!

[Dave V]

NOBODY expects the Colorado Midland!!!

[MDW]

Hey Dave
I’ve moved from ME to Peco code 55 because of the size of my layout and the desire to efficiently & quickly lay reliable track with hand thrown turnouts - Peco checks those boxes for me.  I’ve seen really nice work done with ballasting, painting & weathering to make the track look great - if not totally prototypical, and your modeling skills lend themselves to being able to pull that off.   

Michel

[eric220]

Peco 55 is definitely worth a look. The tie spacing is all wrong for the Pennsy, but it might not look half bad for a Colorado mountain line. I’ve used a bit of it in the past, and I really like the functionality of it.

[CRL]

Peco code 55 — especially since yoy intend to transport this layout to shows.

[dem34]

Well, Bryan, I do really appreciate the compliment!  Sadly, if I was unable to lay commercial Atlas code 55 well enough the first time I'm fairly certain I'd fail at any attempts to handlay in N scale.  I would try again in Micro Engineering code 55 if I thought it might help.  I'm really not doing great in N scale these days so anything that boosts my chances of success would help greatly.

Why? I can do it, and if I can do it I imagine a much better modeller would be able to.

Handlaying track is pretty easy once you get into the groove of it, its just kinda tedious.

[Dave V]

Why? I can do it, and if I can do it I imagine a much better modeller would be able to.

Handlaying track is pretty easy once you get into the groove of it, its just kinda tedious.

I'm sorry, but I don't think I can handly my own turnouts.  I know what I can do and what I can't do.  More importantly I don't want to.  Tracklaying brings me no joy, so handlaying would just be even less fun.

[davefoxx]

I'm sorry, but I don't think I can handly my own turnouts.  I know what I can do and what I can't do.  More importantly I don't want to.  Tracklaying brings me no joy, so handlaying would just be even less fun.

I enjoy the instant gratification of tracklaying, but, yeah, if you're losing dexterity in your hands, it would very quickly become a chore.  I wish I lived closer, because I think I could probably fix up the track issues in the existing track without completely tearing the layout to pieces.

DFF

[nkalanaga]

I'm with Eric on the on the track.  The big issue with Peco is the tie spacing, and for a cheap, lightly built, mountain railroad, the wider spacing shouldn't be a problem.