Modern Hornby 00 set track

[News]

I'm a little out of touch with modern Hornby set track, for traditional
12v DC use. I'm familiar with the old stuff, through Series 3, Super 4
and System 6, but not beyond that. System 6 was steel track, made in
Austria.

The modern Hornby track seems to be NS, made in China, and doubtless a
great improvement on System 6. I'm buying odds and ends for my son, via
eBay, but am not always sure what I'm looking at. Is it fair to say
that any track marked Made in China is NS, or any NS track is Made in
China? Does this new system have a name? Sexy 7? Ecstatic 8?

Note I'm talking Hornby only. I'm familiar with traditional Peco track,
too.

TIA.
--
Graeme

[Wolf K]

As far as I know, apart from some track available under the LifeLike
brand, all modern track is nickel silver. You can mix and match any
brands of track as long as:
a) the rail is the same code (measured in 1/100ths of an inch, ie code
100 rail is 0.100" high);
and
b) it's plain track with no plastic ballast base.

You may have some issues with curves, since there is no standard for
"1st radius" etc; these vary from one manufacturer to another. Most
trainsets come with 18" radius curves, the rest (aimed especially at
younger modellers) come with 15" radius curves.

Google is your friend:

http://www.hornby.com/

and:

http://www.hornby.com/shop/track/

This site also has useful information (quite a bit, so allow some time
for reading it all):

http://www.newrailwaymodellers.co.uk/track%20layout.htm

The main problem with Hornby is that their wheel profiles have changed,
so that old stock with old wheels will not run run well on modern track,
especially through the points. The cure is to change the wheels.

Caveat: Older Hornby trains are collectors items, so if you want to
maintain their value, you should not modify them (such as changing wheels).

--
Best,
Wolf K
kirkwood40.blogspot.ca

[manat...@hotmail.com]

On Aug 27, 10:21 pm, Wolf K <weki...@sympatico.ca> wrote:

>
> Caveat: Older Hornby trains are collectors items, so if you want to
> maintain their value, you should not modify them (such as changing wheels).

Nah, do what James May did, ask the auctioneers to dispose of the box
and *play* with the trains :-)

MBQ

[Chris]

As far as I can see the only difference is China and nickel silver for
plain track. The points have changed to more Peco like set-track the
point motors they supply look very similar to Peco ones.

I also think Peco setrack geometry is the same as Hornby so there should
not be any problem using them interchangably.

I've used their semi-flexible track for a helix I built as it easier to
lay in curves.

--
Chris

[MartinS]

Peco Code 100 OO/HO SetTrack, Hornby and Bachmann curves and turnouts
have the same geometry and can be used interchangeably (but not the point
motors). See:

http://www.newrailwaymodellers.co.uk/track-conversion.htm

For flextrack, I prefer Atlas, as sold in US and Canada. One rail is
attached to the sleeper web, which makes uniform sleeper spacing on
curves easier to achieve. No mass-produced-in-China track has realistic
sleeper spacing for 1:76.

--
Martin S.

[manat...@hotmail.com]

That's OK, it doesn't have realistic gauge either :-)

MBQ