Manufacturer
Blackstone Models
210 Rock Point Dr.
Durango, CO 81301
www.blackstonemodels.com
Comments: Blackstone Models is making narrow gauge modeling, once the province of hand-laid track, easier with its line of snap-together HOn3 ProTraxx. The code 70 track features attached plastic roadbed molded to look like ballast. The ties, also molded into the roadbed, are painted and textured to resemble wood, though they do have a bit of a plastic sheen.
Blackstone designed ProTraxx to use the Kato UniJoiner. The joiners are easy to line up and snap into place without misalignment. They also stay in place on their original pieces after repeated snapping and unsnapping.
Our starter set came with a Power Joiner, which is a set of Kato UniJoiners wired to 3 feet of electrical feeder. Replacing a set of joiners with the Power Joiner is an easy way to wire a simple track arrangement, like a circle for under the Christmas tree.
If you plan to use ProTraxx in a more permanent setting, though, each section of roadbed has three plastic bosses for tacking it to your subroadbed. The holes don’t go all the way through the top of the roadbed, so if you want to attach yours with adhesive instead, no holes will show. Several manufacturers offer blended gray ballast that matches the roadbed.
The track gauge of our ProTraxx samples matched National Model Railroad Association standard S-3.2.
Only 9″ straight and 19″-radius curved sections are available now, but Blackstone promises turnouts and other sections. When that happens, ProTraxx will help further move HOn3 from what was once strictly a craftsman’s gauge to one more accessible to the novice hobbyist.
