Getting Started with Trackmats and Midimats

[Stephen in Kerry]

At the ripe old age of 65, I find myself retired and finally ready to build a railway. I also have a large attic room, where it will live.

I've watched all 8 videos about getting started with a TrakMat or midimat, but when I click 'view the range' (of TrakMats) on the Hornby website, I get thrown off into a dead page, because [Redacted] can't find my username and password. I'm logged into the main website, so I have no idea what this means.

I can't see a list of TrakMats, or anywhere that shows me where and how to gather the necessary equipment to build it. Having spent an hour looking for them, I feel like I'm going round in circles. Maybe Scalextric (my youthful obsession) might be a better bet?

Any advice on where to find the TrakMats and the best medium to large size track to build with it, would be very welcome.

Stephen

Moderator Edit: @ Stephen - you seem to have stumbled upon the temporary link used by the developers when building and testing the new website. Your link text removed as it is of no use to, and should not be used by, members.

[JJ73]

Hello Stephen & Welcome to the Hornby Forum 🙂

You don't really need a TrakMat - With Hornby Train Set they always come with a TrakMat any way. If you really want 1 then the "R" number is R8217 & is £19.99

Virgin Trains, Mk2F First Open, 3340 - Era 9 (hornby.com) - that is the right link but the wording is wrong!!! If you want ideas / to be inspired - take a look at this video & it will show you layout ideas from the Hornby Track Plans Edition 14

Moderator Edit: The link JJ has provided is correct. The wording issue will be reported. 

[JJ73]

& oh by the way Stephen Try this link for Hornby... Hornby Model Railways, Train Sets, Locomotives & Accessories (in your browser it should say http://uk.hornby.com ) I tried your link what you said above - ignore that - it won't work like you said, may your username & password will work now!!!

& With Scalextric - that's a different ball game these days as I discovered about 6 yrs ago - I've got Scalextric as well but they changed the design of the track - you can't mix old track with new track - b/c they have changed the type of connectors - they used to be round & now they are square & it has now all gone digital!!! Not sure it you will be able to to use the old hand held controllers or cars on the new Track either???

hope that all this helps... 🙂🚂🚂🚂

[Bulleidboy]

Hi Stephen - if you are going down the Trackmat route, Hornby, to my knowledge only produce one, which every now and again is changed. JJ says R8217 is the Hornby reference, so I an assuming that is the latest. If you look on ebay there are a number for sale, and personally I would go for R8011, this will fit on a 6x4 board.

You say you have an attic room available? Have you any idea what size layout you want to build or are you sticking to Trackmat size?

Here is a selection of trackplans - https://freetrackplans.com/index.html

Before you start spending money Stephen, have a rough idea in your mind as to what you want to achieve. Read, and watch Youtube. Do you want your layout to be analogue or DCC? Are you going to build a board on which to build your layout?

When I started I had a 10x7 room available - I knew what track plan I wanted to build (it's end-to-end around three sides of the room), I knew what boards were required, and that the layout would be DCC - this was before I bought any track. So do give careful thought to what you want to do - it's a great hobby. BB

PS: There are a number of members on the forum in your age group.grinning

[The Doc]

I agree with Bulleidboy that the R8011 is a good track plan (and fits on a 6x6 board) but the inner oval uses 1st radius curves, I believe. This means that larger locos won't run on it well. There are plenty of smaller diesels and steam locos that will be fine, but you should be aware of the limitations of this layout. It also features a curved point that some people find problematic.

[Going Spare]

Another word of caution: if you do use Trakmat R8011, do not buy the current track packs because they contain track sections relevant only to the later R8217. Most confusingly, track pack identifiers A, B, C, etc. were used for both Trakmats but the contents differ. The packs for the R8011 mat are R8010 (A), R8016 (B), R8017 ©, R8018 (D) and R8019 (E) as add-ons to the basic 2nd-radius oval which formed part of train sets at that time rather than the 3rd-radius curves in most current sets.

[BJT91]

There is currently only one track mat available from Hornby but their have been other past designs of track mat that were provided with older trainsets. The current track mat Hornby supply will have the relevant track mat extension packs available to buy. One good idea would be to also buy the Hornby Track Plans book as this has interesting idea's to extend the fully constructed track mat further or if you feel adventurous you could create one of the other layout plans in the book. The track plans book is pretty helpful as it gives you the Hornby track section codes and shows you where items like track risers to create a sloping section of track need to be placed, it also gives hints and tips on laying the track.

[Leeberry50]

We use the TrakMat, with a few extras, my son loves it. If we had the space though I would ‘do it proper’ and build the full layout.