cdouglas
Member
Hello,
I am very new to the hobby again and recently I got some nickel silver Bachmann EZ-track and wanted to share my experience with it for those who are considering it.
Why I chose it:
I do not have any permanent layout space yet so I needed something that could be put up/taken down quickly and stayed together well. All I have right now is a dining table because my 16mo old would tear it up if on the floor. It's pretty much a toy layout at this point that my son and I have fun with on weekends. I was trying to do this with my old Atlas sectional track and it was a disaster. I went with Bachmann mainly because all of the Hobby Lobby's had it on 70% off clearance. But I have found getting additional track can be very expensive if you are not really careful on E-bay. But there are deals to be had.
Install:
Install is very easy. The track snaps together well and stays together but isn't so hard to get apart that you feel like you might break it. The layout in attachment takes about 10-15 mins to assemble. No complaints here.
Operation:
Electrically it runs very well. I don't use feeders and there are no dead/slow spots or other electrical issues, even through turnouts using locos that are 15+ years old. Currently using a really old DC powerpack but I have a Zephyr and will be using that soon. Tests with that shows it works fine. I don't think the rail joiners will last long with it being taken apart all of the time, but that's not unexpected.
Turnouts:
The turnouts so far have turned out not to be great, as I had heard going into this. I currently have 7 on the layout so far and I've had to work on 5 of them. Problems include needing to adjust the gear mechanism inside so they are in the proper orientation for maximum pressure against the rails, Most didn't come that way. I had problems with the rivets being loose on a couple which was causing derailments. Using a hammer and punch, I was able to fix those. And some filing needed to be done to smooth off the points. There are still problems with a couple where the points don't completely meet the rails on every throw and can cause derailments. Still working on that one, but I think I minimized it with steps above.
They have remote switches but I am using them manually right now. I was able to duct tape the wiring under the track so its not visible without cutting it off. It would have been better if they has used plugs instead permanent pieces of wire.
Included wires:
I cut off the wires to one plug and soldered on longer/heavier wires for track power. One thing I noticed was that 1 wire was already corroded inside the shielding to the point it wouldn't take solder, and it was new out of the box. I had another to use, but this could be a problem for others if they experience power problems.
Track choices:
So far the main complaint is that the layout I created was 1" short inside a passing section and Bachmann doesn't make a 1" section yet, supposed to come out this month. There was no other way to fill this with Bachmann track so I just used some cut rails to fill it for now.
Look:
It wouldn't have taken much more work to make it look more realistic, but they didn't. Its just flat gray with some bumps. Atlas and Kato put more work into theirs, but I still don't care for their execution either. I've considered adding my own ballast but since its being moved around so much right now, it probably would all get knocked off.
With scenery:
If you have any old structures that span the track, you will need to raise them up by 1/2". Example is the engine shed in attached pic. The road bed is exactly 1/2" tall.
Conclusion:
For my specific purpose, the Bachmann track works pretty well. The turnouts are the one negative standout, hopefully I can get them worked out. I will continue to use it in my next phase where I add lightweight modular tables to the table with scenery. I don't think I would recommend it for a permanent layout. I will go with Atlas for that once I get to that point.
-Chris
I am very new to the hobby again and recently I got some nickel silver Bachmann EZ-track and wanted to share my experience with it for those who are considering it.
Why I chose it:
I do not have any permanent layout space yet so I needed something that could be put up/taken down quickly and stayed together well. All I have right now is a dining table because my 16mo old would tear it up if on the floor. It's pretty much a toy layout at this point that my son and I have fun with on weekends. I was trying to do this with my old Atlas sectional track and it was a disaster. I went with Bachmann mainly because all of the Hobby Lobby's had it on 70% off clearance. But I have found getting additional track can be very expensive if you are not really careful on E-bay. But there are deals to be had.
Install:
Install is very easy. The track snaps together well and stays together but isn't so hard to get apart that you feel like you might break it. The layout in attachment takes about 10-15 mins to assemble. No complaints here.
Operation:
Electrically it runs very well. I don't use feeders and there are no dead/slow spots or other electrical issues, even through turnouts using locos that are 15+ years old. Currently using a really old DC powerpack but I have a Zephyr and will be using that soon. Tests with that shows it works fine. I don't think the rail joiners will last long with it being taken apart all of the time, but that's not unexpected.
Turnouts:
The turnouts so far have turned out not to be great, as I had heard going into this. I currently have 7 on the layout so far and I've had to work on 5 of them. Problems include needing to adjust the gear mechanism inside so they are in the proper orientation for maximum pressure against the rails, Most didn't come that way. I had problems with the rivets being loose on a couple which was causing derailments. Using a hammer and punch, I was able to fix those. And some filing needed to be done to smooth off the points. There are still problems with a couple where the points don't completely meet the rails on every throw and can cause derailments. Still working on that one, but I think I minimized it with steps above.
They have remote switches but I am using them manually right now. I was able to duct tape the wiring under the track so its not visible without cutting it off. It would have been better if they has used plugs instead permanent pieces of wire.
Included wires:
I cut off the wires to one plug and soldered on longer/heavier wires for track power. One thing I noticed was that 1 wire was already corroded inside the shielding to the point it wouldn't take solder, and it was new out of the box. I had another to use, but this could be a problem for others if they experience power problems.
Track choices:
So far the main complaint is that the layout I created was 1" short inside a passing section and Bachmann doesn't make a 1" section yet, supposed to come out this month. There was no other way to fill this with Bachmann track so I just used some cut rails to fill it for now.
Look:
It wouldn't have taken much more work to make it look more realistic, but they didn't. Its just flat gray with some bumps. Atlas and Kato put more work into theirs, but I still don't care for their execution either. I've considered adding my own ballast but since its being moved around so much right now, it probably would all get knocked off.
With scenery:
If you have any old structures that span the track, you will need to raise them up by 1/2". Example is the engine shed in attached pic. The road bed is exactly 1/2" tall.
Conclusion:
For my specific purpose, the Bachmann track works pretty well. The turnouts are the one negative standout, hopefully I can get them worked out. I will continue to use it in my next phase where I add lightweight modular tables to the table with scenery. I don't think I would recommend it for a permanent layout. I will go with Atlas for that once I get to that point.
-Chris
