Cheap 00/HO Flexi?

[BoD]

11 hours ago, Madreddog said:

I need this track for a fiddle yard project which could 'swallow' up to 300 lengths if my brain can make it work that is.

Wow. 300m that’s a rather big fiddle yard.  You may be able to cutdown on the price of the plain track but what about the point work?  The mind boggles.

[ikcdab]

13 minutes ago, BoD said:

Wow. 300m that’s a rather big fiddle yard.  You may be able to cutdown on the price of the plain track but what about the point work?  The mind boggles.

Maybe he's building a oo Heaton Lodge Jct

[DCB]

I also had some GT track, the base is brittle a bit like some set track, but its been down for 25 years now, it's more or less OK for straight track though the ends need filing before you can slide fishplates on, but the way the track is secured to the base is so badly designed that many older wheels which run fine on Peco code 100 bump along GT Code 100 as the flanges hit the sleepers.  It's a good choice for straight track in a FY if your stock will run on code 75 Peco, if not avoid it.     I also have some Farish Formoway, its old and it's narrower to gauge than Peco Code 100 and some locos run really badly on it. It also has large ugly sleepers like a flat bottom version of the Peco Bullhead....   I bought a complete layout earlier in the year and stripped it of rails...   Sold the baseboards for almost as much as the layout cost after using them as a large music sorting table for a while...

[kevinlms]

Seems to me the whole point of this thread, is that the OP has determined he wants cheap, crappy track and he just needs a source to buy it from.

Nothing more, nothing less.

[Enterprisingwestern]

 

If it's only for a fiddle yard then aluminium strip is the cheapest method, as championed by @Kier Hardy.

Seems to have done him well enough over the years.

 

Mike.

[yelrow]

I live in France, where peco is like gold dust. Roco make flexi, as do Piko. Look at Modelbahn site.

[H2O]

No knowledge of availability or suitability but found this which may suite the op's need if cheap track is the priority:

 

https://www.dccconcepts.com/product-tag/stainless-steel-track/

 

£160 for 120x 960mm lengths. End of line sale?

[Madreddog]

11 hours ago, BoD said:

Wow. 300m that’s a rather big fiddle yard.  You may be able to cutdown on the price of the plain track but what about the point work?  The mind boggles.

Not that large. 3m x 750mm vertical traverser. Bit like a nelevator on steroids.

 

I'll work out how to create it one day. Most of the metalwork is done though a lottery win is needed to stand any chance of actually getting this project to the stage of operating.

[Michael Hodgson]

12 hours ago, BoD said:

Wow. 300m that’s a rather big fiddle yard.  You may be able to cutdown on the price of the plain track but what about the point work?  The mind boggles.

Cheapest way to do that would be a traverser 3m long with 100 tracks.

It would need a strong support table - use an old full size coach bogie and get a couple of lengths of 112lb/ft flat-bottom rail.

[Il Grifone]

18 hours ago, Dungrange said:

omisis

Even the cheap stuff from China isn't that cheap any more.  https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/HP27HO-Model-Train-Railway-HO-Scale_1600226119010.html?spm=a2700.pc_countrysearch.main07.22.621f3b6aTqb1N5.  At that price, you are as well buying from Peco.

 

At $3.22 for half a metre (100+ price), you are better off with Peco. On top of this, there is carriage and customs duty/VAT!

 

Second hand at toy fairs is my solution, but check carefully before purchase and make sure the rail is nickel silver. (Brass is OK (just), but prone to tarnish and steel rusts as well so a no-no.)

 

I don't understand the "large ugly" comment about Formoway track. The sleepers are 00* unlike Peco etc. which are H0 and US spacing, decidedly puny for 4mm scale.

* They are the same size and spacing on plain track and pointwork, but one can't expect too much, especially for a 1960s product.

 

Edited November 26, 2022 by Il Grifone

[Paul H Vigor]

On 25/11/2022 at 09:27, Madreddog said:

Ebay is out because the only stuff on there is priced higher than I can buy it new RRP for.

 

I need this track for a fiddle yard project which could 'swallow' up to 300 lengths if my brain can make it work that is.

Big plans often require deep pockets. 

[Madreddog]

3 minutes ago, Paul H Vigor said:

Big plans often require deep pockets. 

It doesn't help that I've been diagnosed with skinflintitis.

[Paul H Vigor]

17 hours ago, Madreddog said:

I find it really hard to believe that Peco is the only option. There has to be something cheaper out there surely??????

'Cost of living' crisis vs 'cost of track' crisis? If that is the size of your fiddleyard, how much bigger is the layout? Barn sized??

[Paul H Vigor]

13 hours ago, ikcdab said:

Maybe he's building a oo Heaton Lodge Jct

... on a shoestring!

[Madreddog]

2 minutes ago, Paul H Vigor said:

'Cost of living' crisis vs 'cost of track' crisis? If that is the size of your fiddleyard, how much bigger is the layout? Barn sized??

It's about storage that avoids having to constantly handle locos and rolling stock. It will allow all locos to have their own 'road' while saving a massive space (which I don't have), complex wiring and vast numbers of points.

[Paul H Vigor]

1 minute ago, Madreddog said:

It's about storage that avoids having to constantly handle locos and rolling stock. It will allow all locos to have their own 'road' while saving a massive space (which I don't have), complex wiring and vast numbers of points.

I'm sure we would all be interested in seeing your proposed track plan? May help us to visualise what you have in mind?

[Madreddog]

Don't have a track plan outside of my head. Here's some of the metalwork that has been done.

.

This carries eight levels with one side of a deck frame in place to check the fit. The roller bearings are unbranded unknown that were bought for peanuts on ebay ages ago. The adaptor parts were all turned by me.

 

Deck frame parts that contain 700+ drilled and machine tapped holes. The red box contains the link bars because the decks have to be made in two halves.

 

All machining done by me.

[RexAshton]

If it's only for a fiddleyard try the secondhand traders at exhibitions.

[H2O]

18 minutes ago, RexAshton said:

If it's only for a fiddleyard try the secondhand traders at exhibitions.

I don't think you will find brand new track cheaper than £1.39 a metre in the link I posted above. Although SS is not as easy to solder as N/S the op seems to me a handy person when it comes to diy :-)

[Paul H Vigor]

37 minutes ago, Madreddog said:

Don't have a track plan outside of my head. Here's some of the metalwork that has been done.

.

This carries eight levels with one side of a deck frame in place to check the fit. The roller bearings are unbranded unknown that were bought for peanuts on ebay ages ago. The adaptor parts were all turned by me.

 

Deck frame parts that contain 700+ drilled and machine tapped holes. The red box contains the link bars because the decks have to be made in two halves.

 

All machining done by me.

Big engineering - are you building a model railway or a Space Shuttle!? Doesn't 'look' as though money is any object? After all that work, 'spoil the ship for a ha’p’orth of tar' springs to mind?

[John Isherwood]

2 minutes ago, Paul H Vigor said:

Big engineering - are you building a model railway or a Space Shuttle!? Doesn't 'look' as though money is any object? After all that work, 'spoil the ship for a ha’p’orth of tar' springs to mind?

 

... or the OP has access to workshop facilities and materials professionally?

 

CJI.

[Paul H Vigor]

1 minute ago, cctransuk said:

 

... or the OP has access to workshop facilities and materials professionally?

 

CJI.

Maybe. But after all that metal craftsmanship, why settle for rusting steel track?

[John Isherwood]

2 minutes ago, Paul H Vigor said:

Maybe. But after all that metal craftsmanship, why settle for rusting steel track?

 

Quite - couldn't agree more.

 

CJI.

[Madreddog]

24 minutes ago, Paul H Vigor said:

Big engineering - are you building a model railway or a Space Shuttle!? Doesn't 'look' as though money is any object? After all that work, 'spoil the ship for a ha’p’orth of tar' springs to mind?

I save up then buy a bit for the project. What you see in the pics was three years work/saving.

 

23 minutes ago, cctransuk said:

 

... or the OP has access to workshop facilities and materials professionally?

 

CJI.

Nope. Though I have a basic qualification I have never worked in engineering.

 

21 minutes ago, Paul H Vigor said:

Maybe. But after all that metal craftsmanship, why settle for rusting steel track?

I'm tight but not that tight. Steel track's only use is for derelict sidings where it adds a layer of realism!

 

46 minutes ago, H2O said:

I don't think you will find brand new track cheaper than £1.39 a metre in the link I posted above. Although SS is not as easy to solder as N/S the op seems to me a handy person when it comes to diy :-)

True but it doesn't come with sleepers. I know how to make a jig but making the track would take weeks. Time wouldn't be as issue but trying to solder stainless ain't easy.  Did you know DIY stands for Destroy It Yourself?

[Andy Hayter]

5 hours ago, yelrow said:

I live in France, where peco is like gold dust. Roco make flexi, as do Piko. Look at Modelbahn site.

Try FBsystems.

 

http://www.fbsystems.com/

 

satisfied customer.