This project started several months ago after reading an Article about a fellow in the UK that had made some three rail flex track to run his older course wheeled Trix models on.

The new track will accommodate both two and three rail rolling stock and locos, AC and DC, course scale and fine scale wheels. I am not concerned about rolling stock designed for rail any finer than code 100 as I do not own any. My cutoff is usually in the mid 60s, with a few exceptions.

The picture shows the difference in height between Peco Code 100 track and the same track with code 100 rails replaced with Peco code 124 rail. The (third) center rail is a length of code 100. It has not been fixed in place yet.

I may use lengths of piano wire instead to make it less obtrusive or simply blacken the rail. One negative issue with using piano wire is the increase in wear on the pickup sliders due to the narrow contact point of the wire on the pickup surface. This can and will cause premature wear of the slider pickups. One way around this would be to use a larger gauge piano wire to increase the surface area at the contact point. But if I am going to do that, I might as well use the now redundant code 100 rail, blackened of course.

I thought of using PECo SL-17 stud strips but I may not bother with this anyway as my Trix, Hornby Dublo and some of my Marklin locos do not have slider pickups; they do not perform well on stud track. I have some stud strips around here somewhere, but they are hiding on me.

The sleepers are from a length of Peco code 100 track. The hardest part was removing the original rail.

Peter B.

Edited by user 29 November 2013 00:32:16(UTC)  | Reason: Typographical error in title and text.

Hi, I believe Fast Track has code 125 rail, but the minimum order according to their website is 66 pieces; a bit odd me thinketh. Also I do not know the width across the flat bottom part of the rail, it may be too wide to fit in the PECo plastic flexible sleepers. Fast Track also supply sleepers and pins etc. for hand laying track, but I do not want to go to all that work.

Using modified PECo Flex Track is a much simpler process for my needs. Marklin C Track is great track and easy to lay down but won't work for me as most of my locos use spoon type pickups, not sliders, so I need a continuous center rail.

Peter B.

No prob. I contacted Fast Track with two questions. Q1) Minimum order. It is in fact 66 pieces for their Code 125 rail. It is not code 124. Q2) the width of the flat bottom of the rail. Turns out it is 0.111. I need 0.070 which is what PECo Code 100 and 124 are.

I ordered 12 lengths of PECo Code 124 rail from a fellow in Canada, and he had it for me from the UK in two weeks. The shipping was very reasonable too. I tried getting it from Walthers (USA) but I waited for about 5 months and nothing showed up. Their website shows is as UNKNOWN in the Expected Delivery Column on their website. That is not unusual for them, so I just gave up on it. The track conversion is a simple process, take Code 100 PECo track, pull out the rail, replace it with PECo Code 124, add the center rail if you need one and you are done. That is all it takes, amen.

The bulk of the track will be Trix Express Nickel Silver track with modified points to handle fine scale wheels. I need the three foot sections of flex track for the long straight runs.

If I was building a full scenic layout, then I would go the hand laid route, but I am not doing any scenery to speak of. I will have stations and so on but that is about it. I am mostly interested in just running my early (1935 to 1960s) AC and DC trains, both two and three rail types. Marklin, Trix, Hornby-Dublo, Fleischmann etc.

Peter B.

Here is the finished product, at least the MkI prototype. It is fully flexible just like the PECo SL100 track section it was made from. I plan on changing the design and assembly somewhat on the MkII version to simplify assembly.

I can now run all of my Marklin, Trix Express, Trix Twin, Fleischmann and Hornby Dublo all on the same track. AC or DC, two and three rail types but not all at the same time of course. Some types can be mixed and run together but not all. But with a big enough layout with several main continuous circuits, sidings and passing loops things should be exciting, LOL. .

I am writing an illustrated article on the project and will post it here when it is finished, or at least provide a link to it. I have included a few pictures in this post.

Cheers,

Peter B.