Curved sectional track radii


RJasonB

ITS_MFRR est. 2010
Other than Atlas and Peco, do any other manufacturers offer curved sectional track (NON-integrated roadbed)? More importantly, anything larger than the 24-inch radius that Atlas offers? Jason.
 
Shinohara used to make circles of various diameters, consisting of sectional track, without roadbed, at least in HO Code 100. I have 1 complete 28" and 30" radius circle from them. Don't know if any of their track is still available or not. What scale are you looking for? (HO I assume).

I'm not sure if you can pry the roadbed from the Bachmann gray sectional track. It comes in 26" or 28" + 31" and 33" or so. I have some of Kato's HO Unitrak, and from what I can tell, the roadbed seems to be an integral part of keeping the rails in gage.

One time I saw some 24 or 26" HO Riverossi track, but that was 5 years ago or so, at a local hobby shop. It sat on the shelf there for a number of years.

Good luck!
 
Yes, Bachmann's track can be separated from the roadbed fairly easily. IIRC, there a at least 3 small screws holding the roadbed to the track, per section of track. In my mind, if you're going to use sectional track for radius greater than 24", you're stuck with Bachmann's brand of track. At one time, they also sold their track in 22", 24", 26", 28" 30", 32", 33", 34" and 36" radius.

A traveling hobby shop that I worked shows for several years ago, sold this track in those radius, and I kept meaning to get some 36" for use as a break-in track for my locos, but never bothered.
 
I suppose sectional track has some very good uses, but I always felt that I had 'graduated' from section to flex track.

If you're just concerned with getting the radius correct you could always make a few jigs to hold the flex track in perfect curve while you tack it down.
 
Other than Atlas and Peco, do any other manufacturers offer curved sectional track (NON-integrated roadbed)? More importantly, anything larger than the 24-inch radius that Atlas offers?
I do not believe so anymore. For a while Roco made some larger radius in Code-83 (up to something like 72") and Rivarossi did for a few years back in the early 1990s. The screwy thing was that to make a full circle of the Roco 72" would have taken something like 60 pieces of track!

If interested perhaps one could find them on-line in the used/old-hobby-store-stock after market.

I have accidentally removed Backmann track from the roadbed. I found it to be a bit flimsy after that. Like CjCresent I got a loop of 32" radius just to throw on the floor and test stuff on. Why don't you like the roadbed?
 
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As I've mentioned in other posts, I committed to HO Kato Unitrack long before I started buying and building structures. It looks good. It's user friendly and reliable. It comes in a wide variety of curve radii and straight lengths. The turnouts leave a bit to be desired, but they work with a bit of TLC. Now that I have a few structures built, I am realizing integrated roadbed sectional track neither functions well or looks very good in yards, spurs, streetscapes, etc. My wheels started turning and I considered scrapping the unitrack and starting over with more traditional track and laying ballasted cork roadbed where appropriate. A quick inventory of what I have in Unitrack and what I would need to buy to replace it with other track and cork roadbed, I decided to stay the course with what I have. As far as the Unitrack roadbed goes, I think it looks great, especially compared to the alternatives. It looks great on the mainline. It would just be nice if Kato made track without roadbed for yards and such. In the meantime, I will be trying a few ideas to achieve the results I want. I am going to raise my mainline by 1/4 inch (using foam sheets) and then attempt to superelevate the curves using a masking tape method I found online. Branch lines will stay as is with no modifications. For spurs and yard tracks, I am thinking of "trenching" the extruded foam subroadbed of my layout and then back filling with ballast. For transitions, I have a few spare pieces of Woodland Scenics 2% incline starters. We'll see how that works. Thanks for the replies!
 



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