I was in the Atlas booth at Indianapolis and got to pick up sample and handle it. it is as flexible as Peco flex and rail is code 55 and tie spacing is north American, talking with staff at booth they plan 3 sizes of turnout but no concrete size numbers have been specified as of the show. talked about rail joiners and I showed them the the type Rokuhan uses that I find so easy to put on code 55 N scale track that do not have that tongue that gets bent down if you are not careful in installing them. They expect over time the Z scale line will look like their N scale line as far as variety of pieces available. In looks to me it was as good a MTL and better than Peco and Marklin. Did not get to try any cars on it to check for spike contact, but by eye it seemed to not be an issue. They would not talk about anything else in Z but the track.
Hello Paul, So glad to hear this. When you all do decide to produce your first turnouts can you avoid producing No.6 turn-out in the initial run? We are swamped with No.6's. We really really could use No. 8, 10, 12's and even 20's for te large locomotives and cars that AZL and others re provide us.. Just food for thought. PS Welcome aboard!
Are you sure about your price comparison between Atlas and MTL is accurate. You are quoting the list price for MTL track, but at the price some dealers, including me sell MTL flex track for, it comes out to about 33 cents per foot. Still higher than Atlas though I admit.
He's also quoting the list price for Atlas. And, the Atlas discount from dealers is usually greater than the discount on MTL, in my experience. (20-30% off Atlas vs 10-20% off MTL is typical) I would expect the street price for Atlas to be about 18-20 cents per inch. And that's not even considering the fact that for long stretches of mainline you're doing half the work, and half the number of track joints. (which translates to half the number of feeder wires soldered for most of us)
Where is this swamp of readily available, pre-built, code 55 turnouts, without simulated plastic roadbed, and have simulated brown/wood ties in 1:220?
I was at MTL the other day and mentioned to the front office about the new Atlas track that is coming. I mentioned the 2 foot length and the only comment was. "oh that will be so hard to package and send in the mail" Really? How come others can do it but MTL can't? Another missed opportunity for MTL. Sad!
Yes, I thought it would be fair to compare list price as the amount of discount can very from dealer to dealer. Also I would have to assume what the street price was for the Atlas track based on their other products, like N flex. But I think I demonstrated that the price would be about half, and that someone thinking of building a US layout, will probably choose the more affordable product that has matching turnouts, and no nail holes.
To send a message to Mr. Atlas, we should all go out and buy a box. Then he'll know there is serious interest
My point exactly Paul.........when the racers stumble or hesitate in the race, others take the lead and go on to win. Lack of forward vision eventually ends up costing potential profit lost.. That's why I said 'sad'
Agreed. If you intend to build a layout, now is the time to grab a bundle or two, a box is even better. And I concur....starting with some number 10's wouldn't be a horrible idea. The thought of seeing those beautiful ACe's gliding through a 10 or 12 is pretty appealing. If the plan is to emulate the n-scale geometries, then the number 7's would be next in my book, to build yard tracks with.
Paul, What percent chance would you say the Z scale community "might" see Atlas produce a Z scale flex track with concrete ties? Hobo Tim
Tim, that's easy: Peco or Märklin's flex, painted white. That's the concrete spacing track. Think about it, what company is going to make $$$$$ tooling for everything, all at once. Well, except for Rokuhan which is a MACHINE. I just don't know how they do it. I'm just so happy that we get longer flexible flex with proper tie spacing. If we get 'drop-in' roadbed-less turnouts, that's an 80% market (most layouts are 2x3, 4x5 or 2x10 types). Nearly any photo or video you see has the 70's Z common 195-220 radii, the equivalent of other scales. The low percent of the market could use the equivalent of a #8 for mainlines or passenger. We need acceptable looking turnouts, like Atlas makes over the cast chunky frog or one piece plate points.
Paul, my LHS says distribution is in 100 pc box. Will they be able to order lesser quanties? Will there be loose bundles of 5-10, like the N scale, no matter what?
Yessssss!!!! Yessssssss!!! Yesssssss!!! The best news I've had ever heard at least since AZL's inception!! We'll wait for the time you're needing, as long as we know they're on the pipe-line! Thank you and welcome to Z scale world, Atlas company and folks! Dom
