Ztrains: Z Scale Basics: Mixing Track

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Mixing MTL Micro-Track® And Marklin Sectional Track

At the heart of it there are two basic details to be sorted out when joining MTL's Micro-Track® to Marklin sectional track, the height of the overall track sections and the height of the rail itself. Micro-Track® comes with a pre-ballasted roadbed that has the ties and rail set into this roadbed, the Marklin sectional track is made up of just the ties and the rail. As a result the overall height of the Micro-Track® is greater than that of the Marklin track.

Then we have the actual rail. The Micro-Track® rail measures .058" high and the Marklin rail measures .063" high. Ok, we've got a few interesting dimensions to work with but as you'll see these differences can be fairly easily resolved to make for smooth running over different track. This article will show you our technique for combining MTL Micro-Track® and Marklin sectional track.

Shim and file. We'll need to raise the Marklin track so that the base of the Marklin rail mates up with the base of the Micro-Track® rail. We'll make a roadbed "shim" to support the Marklin track and then we'll file the top of the Marklin rail down just a bit to give a nice smooth transition between our Micro-Track® and Marklin track.

The part of this technique that is... interesting, is the taking of a file to the top of the Marklin rail. As a general rule you don't want to use harsh abrasives on your rail as you don't want to scratch your rail tops. A file certainly qualifies as abrasive but we'll remove our file marks with fine grit (600 - 800) sandpaper.

Have a look at the steps below to familiarize yourself with this technique.

		1. Measuring. I mentioned the use of a digital caliper to measure the rail in this article. I use a 6" knock-off of a Mitutoyo digital caliper. My unit costs me about $15 on eBay, the Mitutoyo goes for about $100. I borrowed a friend's Mitutoyo to double check (several times) for accuracy for this article and found my knock-off caliper gave me the exact same measurements as his Mitutoyo. 2. The File. I used the Nicholson 8" Hand File for filing the Marklin track. This is a common file and available at stores like Home Depot, Lowes, etc. One side of this file has a single-cut pattern for sharpening and smoothing metal surfaces. The other side of this file has a double-cut pattern which is a much more aggressive design. Always use the single-cut side for rails. When using the file I find it best to let the weight of the file do most of the work. Keep the file level on both rails and use a very light touch... you don't have to take off a lot of the Marklin rail top, just a few thousandths of an inch. You can also apply a bit of blue painter's tape to the Micro-Track® rails for protection. 3. Sandpaper. Most good hardware stores should carry wet / dry sandpaper up to about 600 grit. This is very fine paper and it's what was used for sanding the Marklin rail tops in this article. I'd also suggest that you visit your local hobby shop and pick up a few sheets of 800 to 1000 grit paper as well. It will give you an even finer finish and it's very handy stuff to have around for Z scale work in general. As a rule for normal cleaning I'd steer away from sandpaper but in this specific case where we're removing file marks from our rail, I'm comfortable using it. Even the NMRA is not totally opposed to a 400 - 600 grit paper for occasional cleaning, though for pure cleaning they favor the Bright Boy track cleaner. 4. Rail Joiners. Though there are differences in the Micro-Track® and Marklin rail dimensions, for this article we used the rail joiners that came on both the Micro-Track® and Marklin track sections. Marklin joiners work on the Micro-Track® and vice versa.

1. Epoxy And Marklin Track.
I used a very thin coat of 2-part epoxy to attach the Marklin track to the styrene roadbed. I wanted a very strong bond that would hold up well when I began filing and sanding the rails.

2. Ballast.
Once you get your Marklin and Micro-Track® up and running, I'd suggest using the ballast technique featured in a previous Z Scale Basics article. You can easily create a similar ballast profile to match the Micro-Track®. The tie size and spacing on the Marklin track is very different from the Micro-Track® but with a bit of extra weathering this can be disguised.

3. Tolerances.
The measurements I presented here are all accurate... to the pieces I measured. Remember there are always manufacturing tolerances that come into play. For this reason I'd strongly suggest you buy yourself a digital caliper and before beginning any project... take your own measurements. Measure twice... cut once!