C55 track: should I stockpile?

[daniel_leavitt2000]

When the Atlas C55 track hits the shelves, there will undoubtedly be a run on it. With the previous production issues in mind, do you think it would be wise to stockpile flex and turnouts in preparation for the new layout?

[ryan_wilkerson]

I guess it all depends on if you KNOW you'll need it. If you do and have the funds, I would buy a small batch to check the quality. If good, purchase the rest.

My thought on a future shortage is that Atlas knows how painful it is to be out of track so they are less likely to run into that situation in the near future.

[wcfn100]

I don't think the turnouts are worth stock piling.


Jason

[nkalanaga]

In my case I did just as Ryan suggested, but that was years ago.  For twenty years I had the money, but no room, so I bought everything I could possibly need to build the layout. Now I have the room, but not nearly as much income, and the layout is largely finished from my stockpile.  If I had waited until I had the room, and then had to change jobs, I'd have been a lot slower getting anything built, and probably had a harder time getting the material when it was needed.

If you know you'll need it, it's what you want to use, and you can afford it, stock up.  It shouldn't spoil, unless you store it in an uninsulated shed, or other such plastic-unfriendly place.

[mmagliaro]

I don't think the turnouts are worth stock piling.


Jason

This is so funny... because it is so true.   I would not stockpile turnouts. 
Invest money and time in Fast Tracks and learn to make your own.
I know if I had it to do over again, that's what I'd do.   I have done all the shimming, jumpering and tweaking
to make my Atlas C55 turnouts work well, but I will never do that again.  If I ever build another layout,
I'm a-makin' my own.

[C855B]

I'm frustratingly ambivalent on this. When it started to look like the GC&W was going to have a home, I began to hoard #7s and #10s, some at MSRP. Three years later they are still unopened. Stockpiling would not have helped had I been able to start layout construction during the drought, as the stock would have been exhausted nearly immediately.

Then there's the issue of some of the early production batches having problems. Bent points, for instance, that were not fixable because they were cast and snapped-off at any attempt to straighten. Wouldn't it have been a bummer to have run into a "stash" in my hobby shop travels, just to discover that they were all from a problem production run from like six or seven years ago? I couldn't expect Atlas to correct these.

And Max's issue, sort of - what happens if the new production has its own issues and I've bought dozens only to have them moulder on the workbench in the repair queue, or while I negotiate with Atlas about replacements? And I would've been time ahead to make my own?

Another point is I do think that Atlas has learned their lesson. For all of our angst over the supply problems, you can multiply it 1000-fold for them. They're smart cookies and I would bet the farm they're not about to allow a repeat, and they will be doing somersaults to keep the pipeline filled. So there ought to be no point in stockpiling, and just-in-time ordering should be fine - unless you get a "great deal" from your retailer if you order by the case lot.

Short answer for me... I'm not going to stockpile. This time. I think.

[robert3985]

I agree with Max that true track-laying freedom comes from knowing how to make your own turnouts from an availability, function, variety, cost-effectiveness and appearance point of view.  The only downside I can see is that it takes an hour or two to make one...at least it does me, without any jigs or fixtures.  Might take less time with Fast Track jigs & fixtures, but frankly, I don't consider the time I've spent making hundreds of my own turnouts over the past 30+ years to be wasted at all.

I have stockpiled Rail Craft code 55 and code 40 flex, and I am very happy that I did that, as there is nothing available today that even comes close to the scale fidelity of this flex.  I also have a small stockpile (comparatively) of ME code 55 and 40 for trackage that isn't photographically critical.  I have a single piece of Atlas 55 flex, just for reference's sake.  I have 7 ME #6's that are either in a drawer at my workbench or on my DCC test module, and I have a single Atlas code 55 #7 I bought to measure up and test for reference's sake.

I have also stockpiled all the PCB tie material that I'll ever need (I bought all of Rail Craft's surplus PCB tie stock when they went out of the hand-laid turnout business) and I also have a substantial reserve of just plain code 70, code 55 and code 40 rail, as well as my solid core high-silver-content solder and my ever-present Supersafe Flux.

Additionally, I have half a dozen cartons of Midwest Cork Products N-scale roadbed and two cartons of their HO scale roadbed.

When my financial times aren't so good (I'm self-employed) one thing I can always do is make turnouts, lay track, carve scenery and run trains.

The whole "Atlas/China debacle" did not mean a thing to me, and I wouldn't have even known about it if I wasn't active here and over at TB.  All of my close model railroading friends either use Peco flex and turnouts (both 55 and 80), ME flex and lay their own code 55, and code 40 turnouts, or, lay ALL of their code 30 ribbon rail trackage in Nn3.

I guess the majority of N-scale modelers here in Utah are either semi or full rivet counters when it comes to their trackage, and Atlas 55 isn't good enough for us...mainly because of two things...the way oversize "spikeheads" and the funky turnout proportions on EVERY code 55 turnout they manufacture.

So, should you stock up?  If you're happy with the product, sure...why not...?   Should your learn to lay your own turnouts?  Definitely, unless you're totally happy with badly proportioned #5, #7 and #10 turnouts.  I'm happy I've been able to make 3-ways, spiral radius/33" curved turnouts, #12's, #9's, #8's, true #7's, #6's and several different wyes, all in code 70 (a long time ago for Ntrak modules), code 55 and code 40 rail sizes.

When I'm planning an LDE, one thing that simply does NOT restrict me whatsoever is what style and angle of turnouts I need to use, since I can make any type that I will ever need, no matter what the international political/industrial climate is.

Here's a lil' sample of something that couldn't be done with RTR turnouts in C55...my Emory Center Siding.  One day maybe I'll get it painted, weathered and ballasted:

[rochsub]

I have stockpiled Rail Craft code 55 and code 40 flex, and I am very happy that I did that, as there is nothing available today that even comes close to the scale fidelity of this flex.  I also have a small stockpile (comparatively) of ME code 55 and 40 for trackage that isn't photographically critical.

I am not familiar with the Railcraft code 55.  Why is it so much more photographically critical than ME code 55?  In your photo the flex track looks identical to ME.

Daryl

[nkalanaga]

They're actually the same company, Railcraft being the original name.  However, some time ago, 80s or 90s, they changed the tooling for the code 40, and the spikes are now larger than they used to be.  That means it doesn't look as good, and some flanges that used to clear now won't.  If you ever find old Railcraft track collecting dust in the back of a store, and use code 40 track, BUY IT!

[jereising]

I saw elsewhere (https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=34516.0) that ME Code 55 concrete tie is available again.  It would appear the drought is breaking.

[Blazeman]

Notwithstanding valid concerns on quality, the price won't ever be going down.

[peteski]

I saw elsewhere (https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=34516.0) that ME Code 55 concrete tie is available again.  It would appear the drought is breaking.

But I think that the point of this thread was that since there is another batch of track becoming available, would it make sense to stock pile it now (before it is all sold out, before another possible drought period).  There is no solid guarantee that from this point on the track will be always in stock.  Things happen, tooling get damaged or taken hostage by Chinese manufacturers, etc. 

[robert3985]

They're actually the same company, Railcraft being the original name.  However, some time ago, 80s or 90s, they changed the tooling for the code 40, and the spikes are now larger than they used to be.  That means it doesn't look as good, and some flanges that used to clear now won't.  If you ever find old Railcraft track collecting dust in the back of a store, and use code 40 track, BUY IT!

Railcraft code 55 had equally small spikeheads.  I haven't taken a direct comparison photo of Rail Craft 55 vs Micro Engineering 55 flex, but I do have a direct comparison of Rail Craft 55 vs Micro Engineering 40 flex which shows the difference in spike detailing.  This is on my Emory Center Siding LDE and the center siding is ME code 40.  I've had to sand down the "spikeheads" so any engine or car that isn't equipped with true Lo-profile wheelsets will run on it.  Don't even think about running pizza cutters.  True Lo-pros, such as the early MTL wheelsets, NWSL, and later, BLMA and FVM run just fine on both Rail Craft and ME code 40 flex, but engines such as all Kato engines, Athearn engines, and maybe a lot of others, won't run on the ME code 40 as the spikeheads are just an RCH higher than the earlier Rail Craft track.

Here's that photo:


Just for comparison's sake, here's a photo of Atlas 55 flex (front) vs Rail Craft 55 flex.  The "spikehead" difference jumps right out and knocks me over the head...:

I am not familiar with the Railcraft code 55.  Why is it so much more photographically critical than ME code 55?  In your photo the flex track looks identical to ME.

Daryl

Daryl, the track in that photo IS ME 55, that's why it looks identical to it.  My Emory Siding LDE gets taken to shows where it buckles up to my fellow train-crazy Gregg Cudworth's D&RGW LDE's.  My Emory Siding LDE is split in the first 1/3 of its length by the end of one layout section and on my home layout, continues on for another 6.5 feet into Devils Slide where that side morphs into the Devils Slide Center Siding.  However, for shows, the photo I published here is a short 2' adapter/transition module that allows Gregg and me to buckle up together.  Since it's such a short module, it's not going to be a location where I'm taking a lot of photos, so I didn't use any Rail Craft flex on it.

As has been said, if you can find any Rail Craft N-scale code 55 or code 40 flex in the back of your LHS, either buy it up or get in touch with me! 

Here's a shot maybe some of you have already seen of my Echo Curve LDE with one of my GTEL Superturbines entering Echo Canyon on the way to Green River...with Rail Craft code 55 track, painted, weathered and ballasted...:


I have no doubt I was lucky to have stockpiled this track when I did, and perhaps getting more Atlas 55 or ME 55 (wood and concrete ties) or ME 40 might be a good idea for you.  It certainly couldn't hurt, and it is never gonna get cheaper.

[nkalanaga]

I'll agree that it will never be cheaper, and in the case of ME, which, as far as I know, is still made in a single factory in Missouri, it wouldn't take much to disrupt the supply.  A serious fire or tornado, both common in the Midwest, would mean no track for months, if not permanently. 

That's not unique to ME, either, as a lot of our suppliers are single-factory operations.  One of my concerns for years was couplers.  Until recently, if anything had happened to the Kadee/Micro-Trains factory, we'd have been back to Rapidos.