Model Forum / General / Railroads / September 2005

I've used Peco code 75 for several years now without any significant
problems.  I'm currently running USA outline HO scale stock, but modern
British OO-scale occupied much of the same trackwork before this.

The extra cost is minimal, probably no more than 10%, which unless your
layout is significantly large, is barely worth worrying about.

Appearance wise I think it looks significantly better than code 100 track,
but clearly not as good as track handbuilt to EM or PM standards.

John.

   There seems to be a myth that fine profile track is more prone to
derailing than coarse stuff. I dispute this. If nothing else, fine profiles
for wheels and track mean that the gaps at point frogs and checkrails are
appreciably smaller, so the flange has less wandering to do. It's loose and
uneven running that promotes jumping rather than how much  wheel is in
contact with how much track. (If thick wheels on brute rail were a good
thing, how come the 12"/foot people don't use it?) Thick wheelbarrow wheels
like the old Triang ones are just looking for things to clout, apart from
the poor coning profile at the rail radius. Thin neatly-turned wheels to a
good standard profile like RP25 are their own reward for smoothness. Much
derailing can also be traced to ancillary problems such as poor joints,
back-to-back measurements being out (all finescalers use b2b gauges the
whole time: much 00 is fit-and-forget at the factory and often significantly
in error) or insufficient adhesive weight. Compensation at the wheels on
locos and stock also helps a lot, though not always feasible with RTR items.
Running is a totality, not just one factor or one proprietary product. (This
from seeing a fair bit of unimpressive and jerky operation at Scaleforum
last week: the P4 boys make much of being the One True Faith in 4mm because
of their fine tolerances but don't always follow up their words with
matching deeds IMO).

   Code 75 looks appreciably better than code 100, as well as the
chair/sleeper mouldings being often of better appearance. I use C&L
Finescale sleeper bases for my EM track, and Peco looks just as good. Start
as you mean to go on, as being dissatisfied and ripping it all up later
means you get one result for two lots of money. Hence in my case embracing
EM before I started building anything... it was going to be cheap and
cheerful coarse 00 when I started.

   Tony Clarke