Track Laying

[Anonymous]

How do you make sure that your tangents are straight? Do you take any special steps to make sure that your rail heads are straight (i.e, no dips or high spots at the joints)? When you lay a turnout, what steps do you take to make sure that the track work isn't going to cause you derailments?

I've discovered that a lot of my derailments are now caused by the button on the bottom of the magnetic coupler on the cars hitting the large center rail on my turnouts. Obviously, there's something wrong with the laying of my track. I had no idea that laying track was so problematic!

I mean, when you're just putting down some track on a flat board, floor or carpet temporarily without any turnouts, there aren't that many derailments and it doesn't seem like you need to take so much care putting it down!

Any hints for a beginner?

Tony

[Anonymous]

How do you make sure that your tangents are straight? Do you take any special steps to make sure that your rail heads are straight (i.e, no dips or high spots at the joints)? When you lay a turnout, what steps do you take to make sure that the track work isn't going to cause you derailments?

I've discovered that a lot of my derailments are now caused by the button on the bottom of the magnetic coupler on the cars hitting the large center rail on my turnouts. Obviously, there's something wrong with the laying of my track. I had no idea that laying track was so problematic!

I mean, when you're just putting down some track on a flat board, floor or carpet temporarily without any turnouts, there aren't that many derailments and it doesn't seem like you need to take so much care putting it down!

Any hints for a beginner?

Tony

[Roger Bielen]

Tony, the only derailing problem I've run into with turnouts was due to torquing when I screwed them down. When I go from a main line to a siding I drop elevation by about a 1/4", I leave out the cork roadbed. If not careful I would deform the switch when fastening it down, I use Ross switches. Once the track is ballasted, and dry, I remove the screws and haven't had any problems.

As to tangents I laid out radii on the board and drew center lines to follow. I found a yardstick, or similar, with holes drilled for a pencil and pivot to come in handy for this.

[Roger Bielen]

Tony, the only derailing problem I've run into with turnouts was due to torquing when I screwed them down. When I go from a main line to a siding I drop elevation by about a 1/4", I leave out the cork roadbed. If not careful I would deform the switch when fastening it down, I use Ross switches. Once the track is ballasted, and dry, I remove the screws and haven't had any problems.

As to tangents I laid out radii on the board and drew center lines to follow. I found a yardstick, or similar, with holes drilled for a pencil and pivot to come in handy for this.

[lionelsoni]

I use almost exclusively K-Line 36-inch sections for tangents. This reduces the number of joints by a factor of 4. I locate my track by measuring from the table edges. I have a complete map of the layout in a Q-Basic program that tells me exactly where everything should be. I actually deliberately make a few very slight turns by laying the straight sections a few degrees from straight. I have never had any problem from these.

If your coupler thumbtacks touch the rail at the switch, I would say that the switch is bent. The fat center-rail piece is held down by one rivet in the middle. It is weakest at that point; and, if it ever gets pulled up at the ends, almost impossible to straighten again. You can tell whether it is bent by pushing down on the free end, which should not move.

The thumbtacks on plastic drawbars should not cause any problem if they do contact the middle rail, since they are not grounded. I have never done it; but some folks advise putting a piece of tape on a grounded coupler armature to cure a mild case of shorting.

[lionelsoni]

I use almost exclusively K-Line 36-inch sections for tangents. This reduces the number of joints by a factor of 4. I locate my track by measuring from the table edges. I have a complete map of the layout in a Q-Basic program that tells me exactly where everything should be. I actually deliberately make a few very slight turns by laying the straight sections a few degrees from straight. I have never had any problem from these.

If your coupler thumbtacks touch the rail at the switch, I would say that the switch is bent. The fat center-rail piece is held down by one rivet in the middle. It is weakest at that point; and, if it ever gets pulled up at the ends, almost impossible to straighten again. You can tell whether it is bent by pushing down on the free end, which should not move.

The thumbtacks on plastic drawbars should not cause any problem if they do contact the middle rail, since they are not grounded. I have never done it; but some folks advise putting a piece of tape on a grounded coupler armature to cure a mild case of shorting.

[Anonymous]

Roger:

Thanks for the reply. This is a very small layout, built using Lionel O31 tinplate track. I think that the turnouts may indeed be twisted. It looks like the train actually goes up hill when it comes to the switch. Should I remove the foam roadbed from underneath the turnouts & just tighten it down to the 1/2" plywood underlayment?

Bob:

There's no shorting problem, just that the thumtack, as you called it, hits the center rail & the wheels on the truck come off the rails. I'll check to see if the rail's bent; hopefully it isn't & the turnout's just torqued.

Tony

[Anonymous]

Roger:

Thanks for the reply. This is a very small layout, built using Lionel O31 tinplate track. I think that the turnouts may indeed be twisted. It looks like the train actually goes up hill when it comes to the switch. Should I remove the foam roadbed from underneath the turnouts & just tighten it down to the 1/2" plywood underlayment?

Bob:

There's no shorting problem, just that the thumtack, as you called it, hits the center rail & the wheels on the truck come off the rails. I'll check to see if the rail's bent; hopefully it isn't & the turnout's just torqued.

Tony

[lionelsoni]

Tony, they actually are thumbtacks in some cases! Lionel designed a plated steel disk with a pointed wire to attach it to a plastic coupler. When they realized that it was identical to an ordinary thumbtack, they threw away their design and bought thumbtacks. Or so I have read.

[lionelsoni]

Tony, they actually are thumbtacks in some cases! Lionel designed a plated steel disk with a pointed wire to attach it to a plastic coupler. When they realized that it was identical to an ordinary thumbtack, they threw away their design and bought thumbtacks. Or so I have read.

[Anonymous]

Bob:

Sheesh! I guess they said, "If it looks like a thumb tack, it must be a thumb tack!"

Tony

[Anonymous]

Bob:

Sheesh! I guess they said, "If it looks like a thumb tack, it must be a thumb tack!"

Tony

[Roger Bielen]

Tony, the way I solved my torquing problem was to loosen the screws till the problem went away and then shimmed the turnout with scrap cork road bed. Esentially I mad the grade change more gradual. You might want to place the switch on a level surface to make sure it isn't warped/bent to make sure its only a fastening problem.

Good luck.

[Roger Bielen]

Tony, the way I solved my torquing problem was to loosen the screws till the problem went away and then shimmed the turnout with scrap cork road bed. Esentially I mad the grade change more gradual. You might want to place the switch on a level surface to make sure it isn't warped/bent to make sure its only a fastening problem.

Good luck.

[Anonymous]

While I had all of the track off of the layout last night, I loosened the screws on the switches and made sure that I stoppe tightening just as the screw heads touched the switch surface.

It was pretty late when I finished putting everything back together, so I didn't get to really run any trains & test for derailments. I will do that this evening.

I think I may need to get a little more of the foam roadbed under the switches to help keep them level. The store I bought this stuff at didn't have any of the big, flat pieces that you're supposed to use under switches & I just laid down what I had one track width wide, with some under the diverging route. I think I'd better make sure that the entire switch is supported.

Maybe I can substitute a thinner material? Or maybe I can get some cork & sand it thinner?

Tony

[Anonymous]

While I had all of the track off of the layout last night, I loosened the screws on the switches and made sure that I stoppe tightening just as the screw heads touched the switch surface.

It was pretty late when I finished putting everything back together, so I didn't get to really run any trains & test for derailments. I will do that this evening.

I think I may need to get a little more of the foam roadbed under the switches to help keep them level. The store I bought this stuff at didn't have any of the big, flat pieces that you're supposed to use under switches & I just laid down what I had one track width wide, with some under the diverging route. I think I'd better make sure that the entire switch is supported.

Maybe I can substitute a thinner material? Or maybe I can get some cork & sand it thinner?

Tony

[Anonymous]

What is the best way to deaden sound when laying track?

[Anonymous]

What is the best way to deaden sound when laying track?