ME Models Custom Track - A Review

[SavaTheAggie]

I hope this isn't out of line for this forum. I've posted a review of the ME Models Custom track over on RAILBRICKS:

http://railbricks.com/

--Tony

[Ashi Valkoinen]

Thanks for nice and detailed review, I really want to place my first order with the metal rails, but I have to wait. But it deserves to wait for it.

[kieran]

Can't wait to get mine. I have metal on order, hope it's as good as the plastic seems to be

[Stefaneris]

Nice review, now I'm even more impatient to get my rails I only orderd R56 but I hope that even this is some improvement for my trains.

[Commander Wolf]

Heh, I doubt I'll ever get any of these myself, but I hope my club gets some someday

[Lazarus]

Cant wait for the metal to come out

[legonerd54321]

Nicely done review! I hope to get some of those rails for myself.

[zephyr1934]

Excellent review and I am looking forward to my set of rails with all the more excitement.

[southerntrainfan]

Yes, great review! All I have seen are nothing but rave reviews….and I can attest…love my larger radii!!!!!!

[codefox421]

Thanks for the great review! I'm getting increasingly excited to receive mine. Maybe I should have backed twice, once for plastic and separately for metal, instead of tacking metal track onto my order. Oh well. By the way, wouldn't it be better to link directly to your article? http://railbricks.com/blog/me-models-custom-track-a-review/

Heh, I doubt I'll ever get any of these myself, but I hope my club gets some someday

I backed the project, so I'll be getting some plastic and some metal rails eventually. They haven't shipped yet, but I'll have to bring them to a meeting once they arrive.

Edited January 14, 2015 by codefox421

[cei]

I'm looking forward to getting mine, whenever that is - I ordered ABS in dark grey, mix of straights and R56 curves, so I'm a tad disappointed they're selling it on eBay before filling my order (not with the actual fact of selling extra track, but not filling backer orders first). The R104 curves look like they may have to make it over the sea to the UK at some point as well. Hoping they'll look at an EU distributor rather than massive customs charges on each order.

[SavaTheAggie]

I thought these two photos were quite illustrative as to why one might want to use the ME Models track. These photos are of the same train on Standard LEGO curves (270 degrees) and on the ME Models R104s (90 degrees):

--Tony

[Crazywater]

Thanks for the photo Tony. The ME rail looks great. I think I shall have to find out when one of my buddies will be coming back from the states!

[SteveB]

Hi Tony,

I was wondering if you got to do any testing with powered trains running on the track? Does the clutch power between the rails and ties withstand repeated running (torque forces) around the curves? For instance what happens when you run a heavy steamer + tender with a 3 or 4 car consistent around a dog-bone loop at a medium to fast speed for a while. Do the rails come loose? I ask this because when LEGO transitioned from 4.5v to 12v they added the clips on the ties to hold the rails on. I always assumed that they did this because the clutch power between the rails and ties didn't hold up to the faster and heavier 12 v trains. Can't wait to get mine order! :-)

Thanks

SteveB

[SavaTheAggie]

Sadly my room is too small to set up any sort of loop of ME Models rails. The ballasted corner I've built, along with a section of double straight track, will be installed in a display this weekend. We plan to put the rails through their paces there.

A heavy train pulled by my big Allegheny, a high speed passenger train pulled by my T1, the whole 9 yards.

I plan to take plenty of pictures and videos.

EDIT: From my experience so far I'm going to make a few predictions:

-The straight track is going to perform flawlessly. The clutch power is quite impressive.

-The curve track is going to perform well - the ballasted track will be sitting on well maintained, flat, level club tables with a full tile foundation. There will probably be one or two instances where the track itself breaks free in one spot or two, but won't cause any major disruption.

-Anyone running the curved track unballasted and on unlevel or lumpy tables will experience issues with the track coming apart.

--Tony

Edited January 20, 2015 by SavaTheAggie

[Daedalus304]

I`ve set up loops of r56, r72, and r88 on my carpet unballasted to run them around. High speeds and low speeds, differing lengths of train.

The track all runs really well, and at r72 higher the trains can go full speed without derailing, even running one with four pf train motors. The track stays together ok, though the big weakpoint is the rails to the end connection sleepers. I had a very difficult time getting the r56 sections together as the rails would pop off pretty easily. That said, once I got it all down and hooked up it didnt come apart at all from running the trains.

I think that problem would be a non issue with ballast, and it would also probably have been easier to put together on a flat surface. The rest of the sleepers stay on the bottom just fine on their own, and I didnt have any connection problems at all on the r88. If the r56 gives me too much trouble I might cragle the end parts on there.

Those really feel like minor complaints, though, because the engines run so nicely on them and it all looks very good. This is definitely the custom track option I`ve been waiting for.

[mike44]

Hi guys,

We will also be releasing one piece units as well. Once we get all of the shipping under control and the metal to market. The one piece units will be fused together. This will allow plug and play if you are not interested in ballasting and modeling in scale. The rails were designed to allow for the MOST flexibility in ballasting, in order to achieve that, we eliminated the pins. Thus, when you are on carpet you may get a "pop" and have to make adjustments. We tested the rails for 6 weeks. We even went tighter and found that after a minute or two the rails and ballast would "pop" out on their own. We can add pins with no issue to secure everything but ballasting then becomes more challenging. Again, if ballasting is not part of your hobby then the one piece units would be the way to go, especially for kids and carpet set-up.

Mike

ME Models

[zephyr1934]

We will also be releasing one piece units as well. Once we get all of the shipping under control and the metal to market. The one piece units will be fused together. This will allow plug and play if you are not interested in ballasting and modeling in scale.

Will the one piece units simply be glued together by hand? Or ??? Any idea how much more they will cost?

Looking at the track segments, if I were ballasting the track I'd probably do away with the sleepers altogether and put the track directly down on Nx6 or Nx8 plates.

So far I have not cared much for ballast given the unrealistic tight curves. I fear these curves might make me change my mind. In the mean time, IF there were problems with heavy trains in an unballasted layout, I could see adding additional 2x2 plates to the outside rail between sleepers for added strength.

The one fundamental problem with these curves is the fact that they enable longer, larger, and heavier trains. Man is that going to be expensive (grin). I am already contemplating an articulated steam engine.

[Daedalus304]

Oh, well once it was all on the carpet it stayed together really well, it was snapping the segments together that they would come apart. But again, it was only really the r56 that did that. But I really do want to stress that it's not a big deal - i couldnt be happier with my rails and the options that they provide, especially looking forward to my upcoming model railway project. And I know I will be buying more!

[ScotNick]

[...]

The one fundamental problem with these curves is the fact that they enable longer, larger, and heavier trains. Man is that going to be expensive (grin). I am already contemplating an articulated steam engine.

The problem I see with such larger engines is that they still have to pass Lego's tight switches.

[peterab]

The problem I see with such larger engines is that they still have to pass Lego's tight switches.

I hope that leads to the problem of having to choose between multiple switch geometries in the future.

[SavaTheAggie]

"Problem" with switches? What problem? :)

--Tony

[SavaTheAggie]

Dark Brown ME Models Track by SavaTheAggie, on Flickr

--Tony

[zephyr1934]

Oh wow, those look fantastic!

[Aaron]

I received a pack of double wide straights today. I thought I may as well just order something while I'm waiting for my main Kickstarter order. I must say I am impressed by the quality.