track interchange and compatibility

Hello:  I just joined and want to add Z to my other trains which are S, HO and N.  I borrowed a microtrains "set" in a yellow box which had southern pacific freight cars and F7 engine I think.  The track it came with was an oval with no ballast.  It worked OK on a smooth table top.  I tried to mix some marklin cars with the MTL coupling system and that failed.  In a way I like the simplicity of a complete kit but do not want to be locked in by it.  I did find a marklin kit on auction site but it comes with no track.  If I buy microtrains prepackaged kits of track pieces, will the marklin starlight express kit run OK on it?  Thank you. 

Hello Thomas, Welcome to Z scale! Both Marklin and Micro Trains trains will run on your Micro Trains track. Please be sure to run the trains on a Z Scale approved power supply/controller. Some of the older locomotives don't like voltages above 8 volts. You can run Micro Trains and Marklin cars together if you buy or make a transition car like this www.zscalemonster.com/zscalemonster/ft-2038-trans.jpg .

rvn2001 thank you. I have taken first step and made offer on the track kit. I am not sure of its radius though and wondering if the long passenger cars will be OK on it? Many sellers offer those long ones and I have had a bit of trouble on N scale and HO with long passenger cars derailing on the turns sometimes. Is there a way to find out or does someone on here know what the radius figure is for microtrain 909 40 101 kit?

The radius for the 990 40 101 Micro Trains set is 195mm. This is the middle-size radius both Marklin and Micro Trains offer. Marklin passenger cars will make this curve without any trouble. They might look funny to you since they might overhang the inside of the curve more than you'd like. Micro Trains passenger cars will make these curves similar to the Marklin passenger cars. You should be able to run anything you want to on this radius curve. Thom

Hello and is your name Thom? This is great information which helps me a lot. I should have been able to figure out the radius from the 17" measurement printed on the micro train package for the 990 40 101. But your insight about the cars' capability I would have no way of determining without this forum which I just joined a couple days ago. The track will be here in a few days and now all I need are some trains. The assortments offered on ebay are bewildering. But onward I plunge. Thank you.