code 83, 100, and true track
- Thread starter MitchyG
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Selector
Well-Known Member
The Code # is what the height of the rails is in thousandths of an inch. 100 is 1/10 of an inch high, and would equate, in real world terms, to 165 pounds/yard track...which no one in N. America has ever used....ever. The Pennsy, in its heaviest train days of the 20's and forward, used 155 pound rail on its mains in some places. Most used 130 down to 110 pound rail, depending on the loads.
Most of us pick Code 83 for fidelity to scale in modern and war-era rail traffic.
The True Track is sectional track, much like Bachmann's EZ-Track and Kato's Unitrack. It has the fake plastic ballast fixed to the short lengths of rails in either tangent or fixed radius sections. Those rail sections make it hard to be flexible in making a unique track design. On the other hand, most of us eventually teach ourselves to use flex track so that we can make curves in any imaginable radius.
-Crandell
Most of us pick Code 83 for fidelity to scale in modern and war-era rail traffic.
The True Track is sectional track, much like Bachmann's EZ-Track and Kato's Unitrack. It has the fake plastic ballast fixed to the short lengths of rails in either tangent or fixed radius sections. Those rail sections make it hard to be flexible in making a unique track design. On the other hand, most of us eventually teach ourselves to use flex track so that we can make curves in any imaginable radius.
-Crandell
jeffrey-wimberly
Dr Frankendiesel
"Most of us" = most advanced modelers in most cases. Many novices and even quite a few veteran modelers still use code 100. The height difference between code 100 and code 83 = 17 thousandths of an inch. I use code 100 myself. When it's ballasted it's hard to tell what cose the track is, so I don't worry about it. Code 100 flex track is cheaper than the code 83 though the track I use (Bachmann EZ-Track) is far more expensive since it comes with the roadbed already on and the Kato Uni-Track is even more expensive.
flyboy2610
Loveably weird
Atlas True-Track is designed so that the track is removable from the roadbed.
When you compare the cost of a given length of track, say a 3 foot straight section, of Atlas True-Track (which is code 83 track, by the way) with a 3 foot length of flex or sectional code 83 track and a cork or foam roadbed, the cost is actually fairly close between the two. You have a much wider selection of track with regular track than you do with the True-Track.
Roadbed track is designed more for a temporary layout that has to be set up and taken down frequently, for example so a person in a small apartment can run trains. While people do use it for permanent layouts, that's not really what it was designed for. If you really do want to use roadbed track, I would suggest Bachmann's EZ Track, with the gray roadbed and nickel silver rails. Their track with the black roadbed has steel rail, which requires more maintenance than nickel silver does. There is also a slight height difference betweenthe two, so it's best to avoided mixing the two types, if you can. Bachmann's line has more choices of different pieces than does the Atlas line.
Atlas has a good, FREE layout design program. It has libraries in it for their lines of code 100, code 83, and True-Track track.
You can find it here:
http://www.atlasrr.com/righttrack.htm
You're doing the best thing a new model railroader can do: asking questions!
When you compare the cost of a given length of track, say a 3 foot straight section, of Atlas True-Track (which is code 83 track, by the way) with a 3 foot length of flex or sectional code 83 track and a cork or foam roadbed, the cost is actually fairly close between the two. You have a much wider selection of track with regular track than you do with the True-Track.
Roadbed track is designed more for a temporary layout that has to be set up and taken down frequently, for example so a person in a small apartment can run trains. While people do use it for permanent layouts, that's not really what it was designed for. If you really do want to use roadbed track, I would suggest Bachmann's EZ Track, with the gray roadbed and nickel silver rails. Their track with the black roadbed has steel rail, which requires more maintenance than nickel silver does. There is also a slight height difference betweenthe two, so it's best to avoided mixing the two types, if you can. Bachmann's line has more choices of different pieces than does the Atlas line.
Atlas has a good, FREE layout design program. It has libraries in it for their lines of code 100, code 83, and True-Track track.
You can find it here:
http://www.atlasrr.com/righttrack.htm
You're doing the best thing a new model railroader can do: asking questions!
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