# TRACK TRANSITION



## Bigdaddyfab (Apr 9, 2020)

Can I transition Lionel HO Magnalock to BACHMANN EZ track or other standard HO track?


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## markosjal (Jan 28, 2020)

it is explained here


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## markosjal (Jan 28, 2020)

BTW , for Bachmann EZ Track you may need to modify either a Piece of Bachmann track or Lionel Track or both, and connect them with rail joiners as the proprietary magnets on Lionel and the locking devices on Bachmann will not allow them to butt up to each other.


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## Severn (May 13, 2016)

While I don't know how easily, I would guess with some fiddling you can make a transition piece and get it to work such as suggested above. I have to say in my own experimentation with O-gauge track this was mostly a waste of time. However it took me a while and a lot fiddling to reach that conclusion. I then sold off all of the one track I didn't like. But maybe HO is a little more forgiving. The Lionel fastrack I had with O was something I adored until one day the noise got to me and I couldn't stand it. Eventually that's the one I sold off. But the new magnetic lock version seems pretty clever. I wonder also if its a bit quieter. The bachmann HO track which I have some of is hollow. At first it did not seem that noisy to me but then I got some plain or traditional rail/tie track. Putting these two together on the same line reveled a solid 10 point drop on a DB meter I borrowed -- very noticeable. Still I like the solid feel, the pre-made form and so forth of that plastic base track...


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## J.Albert1949 (Feb 3, 2018)

To me the Lionel Magnalock track looks very similar to Kato Unitrack in its design, apart from the method used to join the pieces together.

Not sure about the rail size, however.
Kato uses code 83, I believe.

It looks like you could take a piece of Unitrack with a conventional rail joiner for code 83, and perhaps connect it to the Lionel track that way.

Do you actually have the Lionel track?
If you don't, I'd suggest the Kato system as "the better way to go". More of a selection (at least right now) of switches, curve sizes, etc.


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## markosjal (Jan 28, 2020)

I have done much of this kind of thing connecting Life Like Power Loc track to other roadbed track. Its not difficult. In this image , this is power loc track which gets cut off one side gets glued to the other side to make a flat side to connect to with standard (or other roadbed) track. You need only clip the Mageneloc track as shown in the video.


On the MageLock track you will probably find that it does not sit as high as the Bachmann EZ Track and the other thing is that in the third image you see that the protrusions on MagenLock









My modified PowerLoc Track connected to standard track above













My modified PowerLoc Track above










On the MagneLoc , to connect to other roadbed track you may need to cut out the end cap where the magnets and contacts are in addition to what you see in the video. Of course you may be able to cut out the end cap entirely 










The EZ Track also has protrusions









EZ Track connects natively to standard track with no modification. This however assumes there is space below and to the sides of the track 


Let me know how it works out!

Mark


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