Having been through the same basic decision process 3 or 4 years ago - before Easitrac or Finetrax appeared, I can sympathize.
My ambitions were a bit larger - a dozen or more points with about 7 or 8 locos and stock to match (primarily passenger rated).
Peco track is fine if you are modelling modern European practice - but for anything purporting to be a British secondary line ... yeuk!!!
The die was cast then - hand laid track on copper-clad sleepers. 2mm Assoc code 40 rail and sleepers - but which gauge?
The deciding factor for me was time. With a maximum of one day per week available for modelling - after retirement (measured in minutes before then) the 2mm scale route just wasn't viable if I ever wanted to run a train. After two years of retirement I have all but completed tracklaying on the visible section (Peco will do in the fiddle yard) and have a lot of locos (who said about 7 or 8 - there's at least 20 in the cupboard!) and stock to sort out some half-decent couplings and add a bit of weathering, etc.
Were I a victim of diseaselisation, I might have gone the 2mm route as my trials suggested that these would be a lot easier to convert than steam locos with outside motion, some of which I can hardly see ...
The extra bonus of hand laid track (along with the flowing curves through pointwork, etc) is the fact that I have actually been able to tighten up the check gauges etc so that it looks even less like N gauge and much closer to 2mm FS (till you look at the wheels standing on it!). The best of both worlds!
Just illustrating different ways of looking at things and different solutions - everyone has to make their own.
Easitrack or Finetrax? A decision has to be made...
in Marsh Lane Sidings
A blog by RobboPetes in RMweb Blogs
Posted
Having been through the same basic decision process 3 or 4 years ago - before Easitrac or Finetrax appeared, I can sympathize.
My ambitions were a bit larger - a dozen or more points with about 7 or 8 locos and stock to match (primarily passenger rated).
Peco track is fine if you are modelling modern European practice - but for anything purporting to be a British secondary line ... yeuk!!!
The die was cast then - hand laid track on copper-clad sleepers. 2mm Assoc code 40 rail and sleepers - but which gauge?
The deciding factor for me was time. With a maximum of one day per week available for modelling - after retirement (measured in minutes before then) the 2mm scale route just wasn't viable if I ever wanted to run a train. After two years of retirement I have all but completed tracklaying on the visible section (Peco will do in the fiddle yard) and have a lot of locos (who said about 7 or 8 - there's at least 20 in the cupboard!) and stock to sort out some half-decent couplings and add a bit of weathering, etc.
Were I a victim of diseaselisation, I might have gone the 2mm route as my trials suggested that these would be a lot easier to convert than steam locos with outside motion, some of which I can hardly see ...
The extra bonus of hand laid track (along with the flowing curves through pointwork, etc) is the fact that I have actually been able to tighten up the check gauges etc so that it looks even less like N gauge and much closer to 2mm FS (till you look at the wheels standing on it!). The best of both worlds!
Just illustrating different ways of looking at things and different solutions - everyone has to make their own.
Brian