Sometimes the truth hurts…
Odd isn’t the start of it!
OK Marvin, here’s how I arrived at the toy-geometry: as soon as PIKO published the dimension - showed up on a Dutch website - I made a library with all the components in CADrail. then I constructed a few sample layouts with what will eventually be available from PIKO. Result:
a) Toy like geometry
b) fewer components required than the LGB track
Would I recommend it for a model railroad? No, too toy-like! End of story, based strictly on what can be done with the stuff. So save yourself the rant, when it comes to track planning you’re in “Mushroom Land”. 
PS I really like model railroads in many different scales, the toy trains I outgrew at a very early age. 
You probably won’t get there, ever. :lol:
Please enlighten me and explain the term “toy like geometry”.
Piko’s method of track design is no different than any other sectional track manufacturer. In other words you can’t find anything wronge with it so you’re going to make something up.
As I said your opinions are clouded by your bias.
P.S. I hope I don’t grow up - as the old song says “I wouldn’t want to be like you”.
Hi H-J,
I like real trains,model railroads and toy trains. And I hope I never grow out of any of it!
Ralph
John Joseph Sauer said:Not me that it's hurting.
Sometimes the truth hurts......
Wonder how long they talked about the quality of buggy whips? I guess this is going to continue for a while. How about those Hudsons, now that was a sweet piece of equipment.
JJ Saurer,
I agree. Piko has a definate future in largescale. It will however, need to expand its range very quickly to get on top of the competition. With a railcar planned, a couple of locomotives and two planned pieces of rolling stock, consumers will get bored very quickly.
Excuse me but this does make things a little interesting…
Richard and Carol Hillman of Hillman’s RailClamps have announced the sale of their business to a new company, Silvergate Manufacturing. Silvergate will continue production of the original RailClamps product line.
The Hillmans have stated that they will be in a state of transition for several months, and more information on the transition will be posted as we receive it. For more information or to order product, contact Hillman’s RailClamps directly at
Isn’t Silevergate LGBOA??
Well that’s just great. Now we are going to have a perfectly good railclamp run into the ground and probably go bankrupt. I see sales going up for Split-Jaws.
Then Marklin will buy it and charge you twice as much for it!
Ric Golding said:Ric,
Well that's just great. Now we are going to have a perfectly good railclamp run into the ground and probably go bankrupt. I see sales going up for Split-Jaws.
You haven’t heard the half of it!
OTOH I’ve been buying Split-Jaw all along, won’t have to wait until the start-up pains subside and/or “The Boys” learn how to run the machinery and the rest of the stuff. Ah hmm, was there any inventory included in that transfer? 
Can’t be any tougher than making little artificial trees. :):):):):):):):):);););););););)
Gentlemen,
Do we really need some hands on examples of what toy-like track geometry looks like? or will it suffice to look at the samples and decide all by yourself. If you’re of the opinion that the LGB R1 and any of the look-alikes don’t have toy-geometry … you’re absolutely right! That was all just in my mind! That I’ve been doing track planning for model railroads (I prefer not to do toy-layouts because of my bias) since 1994 is strictly a myth, too.
BTW for those who are interested in something a bit more “reasonable” (in the geometry department) there is TrainLine45, their R3 turnout sports a 1200mm rad, the R2 has a 900mm rad, both turnouts have a 22.5º angle.
For those with short memories, I’m building a switching layout for shows based on R1. The toy factor won’t be a problem, people will be busy switching! Ah hmmm, they may also be muttering because of the tight curves and having to couple and uncouple with a bit of “hands-on” action. Oh yeah, somehow I managed to design the “challenge” without a single R1 reverse curve. How about that, eh!?!
Your so full of BS it’s scary!
John Joseph Sauer said:Well Marvin, why don't you assemble a layout with the PIKO components and then convince those of us on here who prefer [b] model railroads[/b] that the geometry isn't toy-like. As a indication that it isn't please locate one of the Amtrak cars or the LGB DB coaches on a R1 reverse curve. No, no, I don't ask that you use a USA Trains coach, the LGB stuff will do nicely for illustration!
Your so full of BS it's scary!
Oh, Marvin, slow down your typing, you’re making increasingly more mistakes.
Come on- be serious. Your attempting to make people think there is something wronge with Piko’s track when there is absolutely nothing wronge with it. If you don’t like Piko that’s fine but don’t mislead people into thinking it is “toy like”.
In my opinion: “THE GEOMETRY OF PIKO TRACK IS TOY LIKE!” There are plenty of alternatives that are not TOY LIKE! Got it?
How in the hell can geometry be toy like?! Honestly, what does that mean? HJ, I assume you have actually built a layout, and I assume that you know that there is no such thing as a perfect fit, unless you are just putting a circle around the Christmas tree. Just about every layout I have ever put together has required some cutting of track. But as you explain it, this may not even be necessary with the Piko track. So your justification for the “toylike” gemoetry is that it makes life easier and requires no track cutting? Are you serious? Do you actually think that the words that you type make any sense at all? Apparently I just cannot even begin to understand your highly elevated level of reasoning on this subject. hahaha
Let’s see, if Piko’s track geometry is toylike, then every manufacturer (aristo, usa, lgb, etc) who produces sectional track has toylike geometry. What a piss poor excuse to trash a relatively new and very exciting g gauge manufacturer. Shouldnt we be embracing and promoting them? Wont a greater number of available products increase the number of people in this hobby? Wont that lead to more quality products at lower prices for us the hobbiests? Maybe I should get off the crazy pills.
-Bruce
HJ,
I am afraid that I must ask the same question that both JJ and Bruce ask, although I’d like to think I am not quite as hot tempered as they What is your reasoning for calling Piko’s track system toylike?
I have found that each manufacturer does things just a wee bit different. For instance, usa states that you should set the tracks 6in apart from center of tie to center of tie, yet when you put 2 #6 switches together, they are 8.5 in on center. Is this toylike, or simply a pain and therefor more “model railroader -esque”? Like I said, I think each company has its querks, but in general, they can all fit together and can all work fine interchangably. Why did aristo make some wide radus circles out of 18 pieces? Why didnt lgb have a 15 degree crossing to go with R5 switches? WHy isnt every circle made of up of always 8 or 12 or 16 or 24 pieces? Why do they change for different radii? We may never know.
Perhaps I am a bit bias, but I think it is unfair to publicly discredit a bold new system that is trying to avoid some of the inherent problems with sectional track. Hey, give it a try.
-David
Gentlemen,
Are you familiar with prototype track geometry? On the railroads, not streetcar lines.
So what do I consider “Toy like”, tight turnouts i.e. R1, where the diverging route is a segment of a circle - the radius continues right through the frog, quite common on streetcar trackage. However for some reason the railroads decided that a tangent track through the frog makes for better practice. Add to that the diverging angle of 30º
Next item - a direct result of that tight curve and the diverging angle - is the necessity to have a like R1 curve of the same curvature (30º) go the opposite way. The infamous R1 reverse curve! All this to arrive at a reasonably close center to center distance of the parallel tracks (in PIKO’s case 160mm). And the kicker on all this? This is supposed to be a representation of Standard Gauge trackage. Not NG, but SG.
Frankly I don’t care who makes it, how recent their entry into the G market is or what it is compatible with, if in my eyes it has a toy-like appearance, that’s precisely what I call it. However … if you feel that it is the perfect track for your modeling … by all means buy lots of it. No skin off my nose!
Ever looked at the Lionel display layouts at train shows? Very toy like. Why? For the same reason that geometry based on the famous R1 looks toy-like.
Note for David: Track planning is part of the services we offer at Eastern Mountain Models, as part of that I make it a rule to produce a library when a mfg comes out with a new line of track and different geometry. Then I try it out with my CADrail program. I had a good chuckle when I designed the PIKO library, more so since I get ribbed quite regularly since I design everything in Millimeter units and CADrail will calculate to thousands of a Millimeter. So here was PIKO with the exact dimension for their R5 radius which is 1243.08 mm. Now that kind of stuff makes me smile!