Flex Track on a Garden Railway

[D&RGW K-36]

I know that normal indoor flex track must be screwed to somthing, on a Garden Railroad what would you screw it down to? Wouldnt wood rot?

[altterrain]

 Yes most wood does rot. Pressure treated lumber usually lasts a long time. I have pulled 40 year old fence posts out of the ground that were still intact.

There are other options like composite deck boards, vinyl and cellular PVC lumber that can be used and will last a very long time.

In most cases track is usually install as free floating set in ballast. This allows track to expand and contract due to temperature changes. Aluminum expands the most, followed by brass then stainless steel. I may occasionally nail down a section in a crucial spot but usually use landscape pins where needed which will allow movement.

 -Brian

[ttrigg]

How is it done in full size? Build a stable sub-roadbed, and ballast the ties and rails in place.

[Gundy]

I LIVE IN GREEN BAY WISCONSIN. I LAID MY TACK ON A FLOATING BED OF PAVER BASE.  THIS PRODUCT CAN BE FOUND AT HOME DEPOT AROUND ($3.00 A BAG)OR ANY LANDSCAPE SUPPLY.  THE BIGGEST ADVANTAGE IS UPFRONT COST AND UPKEEP.  ALSO IT IS MORE REALISTIC LOOKING.  I LAID DOWN A 3 INCH BED.  IN SOME AREAS, I DUG A SMALL TRENCH JUST ABOUT THE WIDTH OF THE TRACK, AND IN OTHER AREAS, I USED IT TO BUILD UP THE TRACK.  I USE CODE 332 TRACK, AND THE BASE SOLIDIFIES AND KEEPS THE TRACK STABLE.  THE TRACK CAN BE ROMOVED WITH OUT ANY PROBLEMS, AND AFTER SOME SETTLING YOU SIMPLY ADD MORE PAVER BASE TO THE LOW SPOTS.  BY THE WAY THERE WILL BE SOME RUN OFF AND SAGGING FOR THE FIRST FEW MONTHS SO YOU WILL HAVE TO ADD PAVER BASE TO YOU TRACK A COUPLE TIMES WITH THIS PRODUCT.  I ALSO INCORPORATE PEA GRAVEL TO ADD SOME COLOR AND TEXTURE TO IT.  BY THE WAY I USE AMS 332 TRACK. IF YOU WOULD LIKE SOME PICTURES I COULD PROVIDE THEM FOR YOU. GOOD LUCK!

[kstrong]

Floating your track works great, and is the easiest method. I've used that on a few railroads I've built with good results. You'll definitely want to pre-bend your track, so the stresses of the track wanting to straighten itself on the curve are mitigated. I absolutely, positively recommend one of the new dual-rail railbenders for this purpose. They're pricey, but worth every last penny.

The biggest problem with floating track is that it's easy to pull up should something snag on the rails (errant foot, paw, hose, electrical cord, any number of kids' toys). If your railroad is in any way subject to that kind of issue, you'll probably want to anchor the track down to something--just to keep things from pulling up. On my current railroad, I used PVC electrical conduit as a base, held in place by attaching it to rebar driven into the ground.

I used nylon zip ties to hold the PVC in place, but I'd probably recommend using rebar tie wire instead. Some of the nylon has been lifted off through freeze/thaw forces. The rebar tie wire can usually be found next to the rebar, and at around $4 for a gazillion feet of the stuff, you'll have plenty. It's also the perfect diameter for truss rods!

The trench is filled with crusher fines (also called rock dust, squeege, breeze, quarter-minus, road sand). I get mine at the local landscape rock yard, where they sell it by the ton. Depending on the rock yard and how they grade things, expect to pay between $15 - $40 per ton. All-one-color rock will likely be a bit more expensive than a blend of colors.

When I first built my railroad, I filled 300' of 4" deep trenches with 3 tons. Now, my annual reballasting takes around 600 pounds. I load a bunch of empty kitty-litter pails into the back of my SUV and fill them with a shovel at the rock yard. Cost me a whopping $12 this year (I splurged and went with the single-color breeze instead of the multi-color crusher fines).

The track is held in place every 3 feet or so with a 1 1/4" deck screw. I don't tighten the screw all the way down, so the track can rock back and forth for leveling purposes.

Maintenance on this system is fairly simple. For the most part, the PVC stays where its supposed to. On some curves, I had some expansion issues, so I drove additional rebar spikes into the ground, and that seems to have helped significantly. Every spring, I take a level to the track to make sure things are even side-to-side, and relevel where necessary. In most cases, the ballast is loosened under the track with a screwdriver or small garden claw, and the track just reset then reballasted. I've pulled up a few sections of track on more problematic areas, but that's just a matter of pulling the screws, lifting the track, releveling the ballast, then putting the track back. Usually, it takes me a day or two at the most to get the track evened out after the winter. This year I was extra diligent with the convention just around the corner, so it's taken me about twice that.

Later,

K

[jmiller3v]

 Kevin,

 I dug out your 2006 series and went out and bought PVC....hopefully construction starts soon.

[Greg Elmassian]

I wouldn't use the steel wire. I'd either use black zip ties (white ones self destruct due to UV) or some aluminum wire that won't rust into nothing.

Regards, Greg

[ttrigg]

Greg Elmassian

I wouldn't use the steel wire. I'd either use black zip ties (white ones self destruct due to UV) or some aluminum wire that won't rust into nothing. Regards, Greg 

I second that motion. putting something under the gravel that will rust away is asking for future problems. The dark blue zips (almost navy blue) are used by phone and cable tv for extrior use, and can be found at Home Depot/Lowes/Ace etc

[jmiller3v]

 I am going to stick with Zip ties for now.  I need to punch a whole in the wall of my shop to start exterior construction, and just the thought of drilling that first hole.................

[kstrong]

The aluminum wire would be a good alternative, though I've not noticed any rusting with the tie wire over 5 years. Ask me in another 5, and I might be switching. If you're doing the Zip ties, invest in one of those cincher tools. (I haven't a clue what they're really called.) That'll pull them much tighter than you can get with just pliers or brute force, giving them a much greater chance of staying put where you've got a lot of movement due to Ma Nature.

Later,

K

[ttrigg]

Kevin: What kind of tie wire are you using? Where did you get it? I got some tie wire over in the re-bar section of Home Depot. I used it to hold tomato cages together. (Somewhere around end of April.) Then in the fall (November) while cleaning up the veggie beds the tomato cages fell apart where the wire had rusted through. The spool, which had been sitting in the tool shed, was pretty well done in as well. In the shed it had not really been exposed to the elements. I have changed over to tying everything with aluminum wire because of this. It is about three times the cost, but it lasts for more than one growing season.

[Greg Elmassian]

This may be one of those cases like people who use brass track outdoors and it "never oxidizes", so they recommend it to everyone.

Some people living in a very dry climate can have very minimal rusting.

But typically I find giving advice that works for 99% of the group is best, therefore plain bare steel wire will rust in MOST locations. I don't disbelieve that Kevin's wire has not rusted.

But, aluminum wire is a better overall suggestion, it will NEVER rust, no matter where you are.

 

Regards, Greg

 

[jmiller3v]

 

I guess I might run by Home Depot and buy some wire,  I am still hesitating to cut that hole from the train room to the outside world, sorta like jumping into the swimming pool.

[wernerjp]

 I used the PVC/whatever conduit per the GR series project too.  Worked great except that I am building a logging railway in a fairly constrained area of our back yard and because of that have 24 inch radius curves.  With curves that tight I had to solder the rail joiners together (used a propane torch) on the 6 foot sections of the flex track to ensure structural integrity around the right of way.  I tried to avoid having two flex track sections joined together on curves but I could not completely avoid it.  With these joined sections on curves I have had trouble keeping the track level and in gauge.  Without a sub road bed of pressure treated lumber there is nothing to tack into or drill into to make gauge adjustments (using stainless nails or screws for example).  The PVC conduit is not sufficient for this purpose.  

 I have resorted to using plastic bar stock to adjust the gauge wider where required - I position it between the rails and notch the ends to insure a tight fit over the rail flanges on both sides.  To adjust the gauge tighter I drill through the rail web and insert nylon zip ties through the holes and then pull on them with a flat nose pair of pliers to tighten them up.  I then cut off the excess nylon zip tie and paint them to match the ties so you can hardly see them.

If I were to do it all over again, I would use a pressure treated sub road bed to be able to screw the track down and to permit gauge adjustments and to maintain the track level.  Of course the other option is to use non-flex track on the curves.  This advice pertains to the use of flex track of course.  I recently built an expansion to a logging camp and I used non flex track for that section installed on left over composite exterior rated wood material for the sub-roadbed.  Model Railroading is indeed fun!