Rokuhan released in Japan this past week their 110mm long adjustable track which can adjust from 100 to 120mm in length. p/n R031 should reach North American dealers in New Year 2013 also available now is their R043 Iron bridge in green colour 220mm long. It does not come with track so you can add the track of your choice. your can use either roadbed track or their R045 straight track without roadbed. screws are used to hold either style of track on this bridge and it is wide enough and tall enough for Nn3 use as well. If you need bridge piers they are available also [p/n S018 is fixed height piers in a package of or you can adjust the height with p/n 017. This gradient set is adjustable in one cm increments and at 1 cm increments at 220mm length will yield a 2 % grade while. 1 cm over 110mm length will yield a 4% grade. The pier pieces are keyed so they fit together easily and can be glued together with plastic cement. The base pieces have a screw hole so they can be screwed down and then built up in location. All the bridge piers are designed to lock into the bridge pieces, whether it is the iron bridge or the plate girder sections. The plate girder bridge sections can be used as road bridge as the deck is flat. The plate girder sections are designed such that roadbed track can be secured to the deck with screws and you can even put a track feed in a plate girder bridge section. also released are the following additions to their Concrete tie roadbed track series. Curved track R270mm 30 degree in a 6 pack; Curved track R245 mm 30 degree increment in a 6 pack. curved track R490mm 23 degree increment in a 2 pack. Turnouts individual left and right hand L110mm turnouts R 490mm 13 degree. turnouts are both manual and remote in the same package and turnout motor is inside the roadbed base. these turnouts require a Rokuhan controller for remote operation. They will not operate with Atlas type control switches. regards Garth
The Adjustable track is just what we need for Z-Bend Track modules, since the Marklin adjustable track is scarce and obscenely overpriced!
I couldn't find a picture of the bridge on the Rokuhan site. Could you give a link or picture? Thanks Terl
Links to Rokuhan bridge Hi, You can see it here: http://www.rokuhan.com/english/news/2012/03/iron-bridge-for-double-track-under-development.html Also, Intermountain has it on their web site. Looks like it will be offered in 3 colors. Here is the green version: http://www.intermountain-railway.com/distrib/rokuhan/html/RKR043.htm Pat
Check your math on the gradients. 220mm is 22 cm, so a 1cm rise in 22cm is about 4.5% grade, and 1 cm rise over 110mm (11cm) is about 9% grade.
John the center piece may act as a re-railer in some instances but there is nothing there to lift a wheel set that is outside the rails. If you need a rerailer I suggest you use the NZT product designed for Micro Track. I know it is not designed for Rokuhan but that is all there is available. regards Garth
We now have in stock the Rokuhan expandable track, brown double track iron bridges, and concrete tie track. The expandable track is very interesting! http://www.zscaletrack.com/ Rob
Yes; Robert, the Rokuhan version is just as obscenely priced as the Marklin. And I'm not knocking the workmanship.....it looks very nice, but the price is even worse than the Marklin version.....when and if you can find it. BTW, the double bridge sure looks nice. Here's one similar in Northern California....I think. Is anything needed to be added to the bridge platform before laying track, such as moving the tie spacing closer together before securing the track to the bridge?
So what does the availablity of an expandable roadbed track mean to the Z-bend track interfaces? Mark
Mark, the Rokuhan site mentions it's adjustable from 110 to 120mm. Z-Bend has 2-1/8" setbacks, so a 4-1/4" total gap between track ends. 4-1/4" gap = 107.95mm. Hmmm, I think a small bit of filing may need to be done on the module's track ends, or a thin spacer gets placed between modules. Not a big deal. Now another bigger issue is in the setback area - as some folks use a thin (1/16") roadbed piece there. It might need to be pulled up to allow the roadbed on the Rokuhan track to fit flat to the module's top. -JamesTraction
James, Thanks for the input. I just about to start laying track on my first module, and while I currently have no plans hook it up to other peoples' modules, I don't want to preclude the option. My concern was the vertical dimensions: index pin to top of of roadbed...this piece offers a different proofile than the Marklin piece + cork roadbed. Is the 1/8" margin with the index holes enough? It would seem so. Mark
4.25 inches is 107.5 mm (107.4999) expansion track compresses to 100 mm and expands to 120mm so this expansion track should fit into the gap no problem. Just need to clear the road bed back so you are at table top from module edge to track end. The expanding track piece is allot stronger than the Marklin piece and will stand up to being suspended between two track ends over the module interface. should also be able to handle a slight mismatch in heights and alignment across this gap, and your rail joiners are carried on your expanding track so easier to install with no rail joiners on the track end on the module. A suggestion for an even tighter fit cut a section of 110 mm straight in half and install them as the termination of your track on your module so it is 4.125 from module edge, now you have an even more secure connection of road bed and rail joiners.
Garth, I stand by my measurement as 1 inch = 25.4mm, not that it matters in this scenario. I'm glad to hear it compresses less than 110mm, as it would be annoying to trim all the module track ends for our group. Have you tried this track to see the rerailer in use? That's a big win if it works well. JamesTraction
The proper way to make the interface track joint between modules is to put the expandable track as the last piece of track at the end of track on the module. Actually if you standardize with the expandable track at the near left end track(s) of every module all modules would fit together with each other. (This is just like Unitrack with Uni-joiner only on one rail on each end. The tracks always mate up). The near right end would have non expandable track(s) as the last piece. You stop every track about 60 mm from each end. The piece of track you put in to bridge from one module to another is a single piece of track (regular, not adjustable) that is 110mm long. You then adjust the expandable track to join with the fixed track to take up the 10mm difference. This distance might have to altered slightly to make sure you can get the solid track in place with whatever rail joiners are used already on the 110mm piece. This way you have a solid piece of track bridging from one module to the other.
Utrkusr, I'm sure your idea could work, but I'm not sure how proper it is. I wouldn't want the last piece of track (the expandable track) *and* the 'bridging' track to be floating. I prefer the module's track to be ballasted too, so I'll stick to the Z-Bend standard. Do you know if anyone uses your method? -JamesTraction
I think the big problem is the $50 price tag to connect each module. I was expecting half that price for a piece of track that is ugly like that. At least the Marlin piece is aesthetically pleasing for its price. Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2
James Traction, Yes except it is N scale BeNd Track using the Uni-Track expandable track. The expandable track is NOT the bridging track. A 5" piece of regular straight code 80 track is the bridging track. It works very well. There is no floating as you call it. A track nail is used to hold down the free end of the bridging track when it is installed. It is then removed to take the modules apart. No reason why the same procedure wouldn't work with Z scale and either Marklin or Rokuhan.
