# Atlas flex track?



## Alaskan (Jan 7, 2016)

The wife grew up with trains and wants to get a track going again! 

I am looking to build an overhead HO track and like the idea of 3 foot sections of Atlas flex track. I want to start with a 12 by 18 oval and plan for sidings and more tracks in the future, I want to build the original oval with plenty of turnouts. My problem is I have no ideas as what it takes to actually set it up, does it require soldering? 

So any tips, how to links or opinions on the pros and cons of using atlas flex track would be appreciated.

Is the atlas flex track low maintenance? Our last track was bachman "black roadbed" steel and the constant track cleaning was a major pita. 

I have a big box of the Bachman track, rolling stock and a couple locomotives. Now I want a good quality Steam era locomotive, a half dozen pieces of good quality rolling stock and a quality track to run it on.

I kind of excited about getting a track up and running. Latter on I might add DCC, from what little I've read so far it's intriguing.


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## redman88 (Nov 25, 2015)

go get SCARM its free software for designing track layouts has a bit of a learning curve but simple enough when you sit down and start with it. Some people will tell you to design the lay out then build the bench work. if you are doing Prototypical then that is the way to go. if you just want to do what you want to do figure out your bench work first then fit your trains to it. that is the way i am building mine. i have a thread going in the Beginner Q&A showing my layout that i am designing with SCARM


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## mesenteria (Oct 29, 2015)

Alaskan said:


> The wife grew up with trains and wants to get a track going again!
> 
> I am looking to build an overhead HO track and like the idea of 3 foot sections of Atlas flex track. I want to start with a 12 by 18 oval and plan for sidings and more tracks in the future, I want to build the original oval with plenty of turnouts. My problem is I have no ideas as what it takes to actually set it up, does it require soldering?
> 
> ...


I intend to help you to avoid some mistakes, so I hope you will accept my questions and comments with equanimity.

Overhead will be difficult to appreciate unless you are: a) tall, b) on a ladder or step-stool. They get hard to build "up there", but they also get forgotten if they aren't easily viewed and set right when things go wrong...oh, yes...they do very much go wrong, for all of us.

Why this penchant for a lot of turnouts? They are very costly, both to you and to the real pros. They complicate things, and they invite the problems I alluded to in my first point above...the maintenance and the derailments when you forget to line them properly. We all do it several times a week. Turnouts will cost you the most in acquisition, placement, and then in maintenance and replacement over time. It is their nature, and your burden. My advice, and others will echo it, is to keep them to the barest minimum. Yes, they are interesting and fun....at first. 

Thirdly, the most common error, apart from spending too much on stuff you soon outgrow or decide is non-useful as your tastes and interests mature, is to cram too much trackage into a layout plan. For the ubiquitous 4X8 Plywood Pacific, it's often referred to as a spaghetti bowl effect. Tracks tangled, laying over each other at crossings, crossovers that are there just 'cuz you think they're neat, and other problems that the real roads would not dream of engineering.

The lowest maintenance track is track well though out and laid well. That means a smooth and non-undulating sub-roadbed (usually just the plywood or something else like it), on which one places cork or foam roadbed, and then the flex track lays on that, often held in place with a very thin layer of cheap acrylic latex caulking or adhesive (DAP Alex Plus with silicone works well, but only the stuff that goes on white and dries clear. I found the stuff that dries white to be about half as strong).

Your joints must be smooth. You get some small metal files and champher/bevel the ends of each length where they join another. This helps to keep derailments to a minimum as the wheels are 'cammed' across the joints and won't find sharp lips with different heights...IF your roadbed is smooth and non-undulating.

I have said a lot. You'll simply have to practice laying track. There is a skill to making non-kinked joints along curves which you can ask about later.


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## Bwells (Mar 30, 2014)

The OP mentioned "overhead". I assume we are talking about an around the room track that would be door/window height. Atlas Flex Track is easy to use and will configure to any radius. Nickel silver is the way to go with minimal amount of cleaning needed. I see a lot of shelf brackets but see no need for turnouts except for a passing siding to park one train while another runs. Looks like a fun project and you will have your work cut out for a while. Get a good 6 foot ladder!!!


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## Alaskan (Jan 7, 2016)

Thanks for the suggestions!

So a simple rectangle track with a 22 inch radius for the corners and a passing siding, keep it simple and cut down on the turnout troubles.

Yup lotsa shelf brackets! Then paint a mountain scene with the blue sky going up onto the ceiling, add some track lighting and it should be good.


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## mjrfd99 (Jan 5, 2016)

Our RR is 100% Atlas. Lots of flex track and was pretty easy to work with. One item that I felt was invaluable was the rail cutter.
http://www.micromark.com/xuron-track-cutter,7465.html
We also used Rail Zip on every rail connector to inhibit corrosion. Wahl hair clipper oil worked great but my can is 15 yrs old and I don't know if the formula is still the same. Here's a link. 

http://www.modelrailforum.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=8806 
Enjoy the build!!!


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## tkruger (Jan 18, 2009)

If you are going to have turnouts I would recommend not using the Atlas ones. While the Atlas flex track is very good their turnouts are not the best for the money. They tend to wear faster and cause more derailments. I personally prefer the Peco turnouts. Currently they are only $1-$2 more at my local hobby shop. The joints are better made and they reduce the number of derailments greatly.

One item that will help you lay your track is to get a template. They make templates that fit between the rails of the flex track as you nail it down. This helps you to get the arch correct. If you have room for a 22r curve see if a 23r might just fit. The reason I say this is that the wider the curve the better things will run, the difference between 22r and 23r is only 2 inches overall. For the passing siding enter and exit with a minimum of #6 turnouts, #8 would be far better. Final item for thought is have a safety zone between the track and the drop of death. Trains derail and cars fall off the track, sometimes over the edge if to close. A small Plexiglas lip may save allot of broken trains and headache (depending on where you are standing). I have never built anything higher than a table but have lost locomotives to something as simple as falling off of a rise to a bridge on a layout, that was a 6 inch drop to a wood base.


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## DonR (Oct 18, 2012)

Alaskan

I think there may be some confusion as to whether you are planning
an around the room layout near the ceiling. If that is the case you
would have difficulty with turnouts due to the fact you can't see the 
train in relation to them.

However, if you actually plan a much lower layout where all parts are
easily viewed, I would encourage you to go with Peco Insulfrog
turnouts to create passing sidings and perhaps spurs for industries.
Many of us like a combination of continuous running and switching operations.
If you have enough industries, a session of switching can be
as challenging as a game of chess. 

The flex track is by far the easiest way to build a layout. Atlas code
100 nickle/silver is likely the most popular. It is low maintenance,
but you should have a track cleaning car..a car with a felt pad that
is soaked in alcohol and pushed around the layout by a loco, cleaning
the top of the rails as it does. 

Flex comes in 3 foot
sections. It bends to fit your curve plans. You would need a cutting tool
for it. The previously recommended track cutter is one. You can also
use a Dremel cutting wheel or a fine tooth razor saw. In addition you
would want a 25 watt soldering iron, resin flux and resin solder. 
This would be used to solder wires to the tracks.

The track looks best if mounted on foam or cork roadbed. 

Don


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## tkruger (Jan 18, 2009)

For keeping track clean rather than a cleaning car I use Dust Monkeys. They attach to the axle on many different pieces of rolling stock. Using these has cut down the maintenance of the track in my layout, it is in the basement so there is dust. The link below is to the manufactures web site. Others may have them cheaper. My local hobby shop sells them.

http://woodlandscenics.woodlandscenics.com/show/Item/TT4571/page/1


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## CTValleyRR (Jul 26, 2014)

I agree with most of the other guys so far. If you are going to make a true "overhead" track, do you really want to do switching? You won't be able to see much.

My personal opinion is that you will be much happier with something down around chest height, in which case my recommendation is to include a number of turnouts to add interest to the layout.

For DCC, unless you're going to be running multiple locomotives at once (or have several parked without worrying about electrically isolating them), then it's a waste of money. The more locos you have on the layout, the better this option is.

Atlas flextrack is kind of the industry standard, and now that Atlas has more or less solved their supplier issues, it's readily available. I have to agree with the others to avoid the Atlas turnouts. Other suppliers (Peco, Walthers) are more expensive, but much more reliable, especially over the long term.


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## Alaskan (Jan 7, 2016)

Wow so much helpful information! :thumbsup:

Many Thanks!

Not having any local hobby shops on our island, it is great to get so much advice on setting up a train set!

redman88 - I use Linux, after reading your advice I found a track planner called XTrkCA that I can use. 

mesenteria - There is a lot of helpful advice in your post, I am sure you saved me a lot of headaches! :thumbsup:

mjrfd99 - Rail Zip to protect against corrosion sounds like the plan, especially since I live in a rain forest. 

tkruger - Peco turn outs. To stop falling trains, I think I will set up a safety wire with some fat 80lb dacron fish line and set it up to look similar to a fence next to the tracks. Dust monkeys look interesting.  

DonR - Soldering kit and track cleaner, both great advice! 

CTValleyRR - I will just start with a basic rectangle, later if I can't live without a siding or spur I will buy quality switches as has been suggested Peco or Walther. 

There is a lot of great info here, you can bet I'll be rereading this a few times as I get setting up our track.


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## lajrmdlr (Apr 25, 2014)

If you are going to run anything over 60 scale feet, increase the curve radius to around 30". Otherwise the longer cars could derail. As others have said don't have it super high. It'll be very hard to see &/or fix problems. But if you do, have a step ladder on wheels.


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## Alaskan (Jan 7, 2016)

lajrmdlr said:


> If you are going to run anything over 60 scale feet, increase the curve radius to around 30". Otherwise the longer cars could derail. As others have said don't have it super high. It'll be very hard to see &/or fix problems. But if you do, have a step ladder on wheels.


A 30 inch radius should not be a problem, would even larger curve be of any benefit? 

I have been toying with the idea of adding a fixed resistor into the circuit to keep the speed down to about 1/2 to 1/3 throttle.

If I get to bored with just doing circles around the living room, I might get motivated to add a more conventional track out in the shop, I do have a *lot* of Bachman ez track. I cringe at the idea of a track in my shop as then I would have to heat that area, which gets costly.


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## lajrmdlr (Apr 25, 2014)

Alaskan said:


> A 30 inch radius should not be a problem, would even larger curve be of any benefit?
> 
> A larger curve wouldn't help much because anything longer than 12" should make it. Also it would eat up more straight tracks.


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## Alaskan (Jan 7, 2016)

Thanks for the help, you guys are great!

I bit the bullet and ordered a 25 piece bundle of atlas flex track, let the fun begin!

I can see Ebay and trains could become an addiction!


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## thedoc (Oct 15, 2015)

lajrmdlr said:


> Alaskan said:
> 
> 
> > A 30 inch radius should not be a problem, *would even larger curve be of any benefit*?
> ...


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## mesenteria (Oct 29, 2015)

Alaskan, did you remember to order a couple of boxes of joiners?

Also, especially for hidden areas where you need bullet-proof track, but also on tighter curves, you need a couple of flat needle files. They help to shape points that your wheel flanges pick if they are not sharp (not a huge problem in recent years, but it still happens), and you should dress the ends of all cut rails so that wheels and flanges pass over the joints reliably and smoothly. I made a diagramme below to illustrate:

The shaded areas, top of the rail head end and the inside flange face, should be champhered or beveled just a bit, mostly to get sharp edges off to keep them from causing your wheels to bump and jerk over them.


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## Alaskan (Jan 7, 2016)

Thanks for the reminder! 

When I started this post as I had no idea how the flex tracks connected! While searching Amazon I stumbled across the joiners and that answered that question. 

The joiners are part of an Amazon order I'm working on now.

After looking around at all sizes and shapes of cork I finally found railroad cork and cork road bed.

I am also ordering a rail cutter track nails and a 20 pack of shelf brackets.

Now I need to get busy and get to the woods and cut some 3/4" X 4" red cedar lumber for this project.


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## Bwells (Mar 30, 2014)

These are the rail cutter you need.
http://www.amazon.com/Xuron-2175B-Semi-Flush-Shear/dp/B000IBOOU8


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## redman88 (Nov 25, 2015)

Anyone compare those style cutters to a dremel and cut off wheel?


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## Alaskan (Jan 7, 2016)

Bwells said:


> These are the rail cutter you need.
> http://www.amazon.com/Xuron-2175B-Semi-Flush-Shear/dp/B000IBOOU8



Perfect, that's the pair we ordered! :thumbsup:


I was reading through the reviews and these cutters are highly praised for cutting rails.


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## tkruger (Jan 18, 2009)

redman88 said:


> Anyone compare those style cutters to a dremel and cut off wheel?


I have used both the dremel and the rail cutters. Prior layout built using a dremel and the current with the cutters. In the end the cutoff pliers were far easier and more convenient; never had to look for a plug, cleaner cut with fewer burs, quiet. The cutters also were cheaper in the long run as they did not wear down like the cut off disk eventually did. This said there are some spots that the dremel did work better but those were few.


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## CTValleyRR (Jul 26, 2014)

I've had completely the opposite experience from tkruger. The rail nippers are quieter, and maybe faster, but once I file of all the burrs, I think the speed is about the same. The issue is I have less trouble with torqueing the rails and breaking the little spike heads with the dremel. I use the "reinforced" cutoff wheels. They make a slightly thicker kerf, but last a very long time.


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## DonR (Oct 18, 2012)

I've used all of them. The nippers are perhaps the easiest to use.
They will, however, leave the flat of the rail slightly bent upward.
This will hinder slipping on a joiner. You'll need to file them down
after cutting.

Don


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## Shdwdrgn (Dec 23, 2014)

Don, I thought you were suppose to use the nippers across the _sides_ of the rail, not top-to-bottom? (But what do I know, I haven't taken mine out of the package yet.)


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## mesenteria (Oct 29, 2015)

redman88 said:


> Anyone compare those style cutters to a dremel and cut off wheel?


I have used a Dremel-like cut-off disk to make gaps in rails. It leaves an angled gap because I hold the tool and my goose-neck extension didn't work well. The angled gap works. Requires care and steady hands. More than once I have snagged the rail end and ripped it out of the plastic spikehead details.

If you need to make gaps, say in a turnout near a frog, consider purchasing a jeweler's coping saw. You can get very wiry filamental cutting blades about 1/2 mm thick that leave marvelously thin gaps near a frog. You place the turnout, and this seems especially important in curved turnouts made by Walthers/Shinohara, in a vise and remove one end of the filamental blade from its retaining clamp. Thread the loose end through the ties near the frog where you want the gap, reclamp it, and then gently saw through the frog, or the frog rails, to prevent shorts that happen when the wider HO metal tires make contact with both frog rails momentarily...again, this is mostly a problem with curved turnouts.


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## Cycleops (Dec 6, 2014)

Shdwdrgn said:


> Don, I thought you were suppose to use the nippers across the _sides_ of the rail, not top-to-bottom? (But what do I know, I haven't taken mine out of the package yet.)


In the Xuron instructions they say cut top to bottom with HO and side to side for N.


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## JerryH (Nov 18, 2012)

Xuron makes 2 models. One for side cuts and the other for top cuts.


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## Shdwdrgn (Dec 23, 2014)

Ah, so I need to look at the back of my particular cutters to know the correct method. I didn't realize there were different options.


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## Lemonhawk (Sep 24, 2013)

I have 2 Xuron cutters, how can I tell if they are up/down vs side to side cutters?


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## JerryH (Nov 18, 2012)

Here are the 2 versions.
http://xuron.com/index.php/main/consumer_products/3/313
http://xuron.com/index.php/main/consumer_products/3/13


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## Mr. SP (Jan 7, 2015)

*Atlas Track*

Ny railroad is 100% Atlas track. Use Nickel silver rail track on cork road bed. The only soldering is to attach power feeder wires and to solder rail joints.
Be sure all the "Bugs"are worked out in your track before soldering the rail joints.
My railrod is a shelf sixteen inches deep around all four walls of a room thirteen feet square. It's four feet off the floor.
If you wish to still use the room after the railroad is built I suggest a around the walls version.


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## mesenteria (Oct 29, 2015)

I have ten year old Xuron cutters with the orange plastic covering on the handles. They are 'flush-cutting' nippers with the angles toward the one face of the blades and the other two sides present a flat face when closed together. The instructions then said to use the flat side toward the 'good' end you intend to use with joiners and the angled faces toward what you will either discard or cut again as a filler piece, but with the flat side once more.

Also, the instructions, as best I can recall, stated that they are to be used with a vertical closing action, not a horizontal one. That is to say, you place one blade edge along the tire bearing surface of the rail head and the other edge cuts upward toward that head, but from the foot of the rail.

Maybe we could introduce some momenclature from time to time to help to standardize our terms and mutual understanding. The rail head is the top portion that bears the wheels, and it comprises a bearing surface and a flange face. Being symmetrical in cross-section, either of the two 'side's of the rail head could serve as the flange face.

Below the rail head is the web. It's the thinnest part of the profile. Below that is the foot.

When you use a Xuron, correctly or incorrectly, you end up with a fairly coarse cut, but of course the correct way is a vast improvement. Either way, if you want to have fewest hassles and fewer finger tip cuts inserting the rail feet into the joiners, you should just accept that you must 'dress' the feet with a few scrapes of a needle file along all four surfaces that the joiners will use for mechanical grip. That means swiping the top left, top right, bottom right, and bottom left. My point earlier is that, while you have your hands occupied and close together doing this, you might as well minimize rolling disruptions on the rail head by dressing the two other surfaces I mentioned, the bearing surface nearest the cut end and the flange face at the same location. Believe me, as you force your rolling stock around the tightest curves you present to them, those tiny bevels will greatly minimize any snagging, bucking, and eventual derailments.

We aren't talking about a 6 degree bevel or more. I only mean something very shallow, perhaps 3-5 degrees at most.


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## Cycleops (Dec 6, 2014)

JerryH said:


> Xuron makes 2 models. One for side cuts and the other for top cuts.


In which case there must be three models, one for side cuts, one for top cuts and one that does both as I have, which seems a bit unlikely.


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## JerryH (Nov 18, 2012)

What is the model number of your cutter?


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## Cycleops (Dec 6, 2014)

2175B. I do have an older one which is rather different with shorter jaws.


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## JerryH (Nov 18, 2012)

Yours is for top cuts. From Xuron web site.

2175B -Track Cutter
For best results, position track in the center of the jaws (top to bottom).


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## Cycleops (Dec 6, 2014)

Yes, top cuts for HO and side cuts for N, as it says on the box.


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## Lemonhawk (Sep 24, 2013)

As luck has it I have a 2175 (old must have gotten at a garage sale but it works fine) and a 2175B which is new. Looks like the 2175m model would work better on in place track. Have to look out for one. They really need to color code the handles!


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