is there a proper size tie for this scale I am going to lay my own track, small railroad should keep me busy though, I work slowly. also once I saw a tool for driving spikes does any one know of this Thanks Ron
Ron,
You didn't say what type of rail line you're building. Is it narrow gauge or standard gauge? The standard qauge ties are a little smaller. Aristo standard gauge ties are about 1/4" wide with a 13/16" oc spacing. LGB narrow gauge ties are about 7/16" wide with a spacing of about 17/16". I built some turnouts from the articles by Steve Monson in GR (Jun 09 and Aug 09). His plans called for ties 3/8" wide spaced about 10/16". Note that Steve recommended deeper ties - 7/16" - to use the longer 1/2" spikes. Exact depth doesn't matter much since they are ballasted anyway.
I pre-drilled my ties with a #60 bit and "drove" them with a pair of needle nose pliers by simply pushing them into place with the nose. No splits in the cedar fencing boards however I don't think I would want to try driving into narrower ties. Note that Steve's method uses Titebond III glue and 3/4" x #18 wire nails to attach the ties to stringers which are then stained with Thompson's Water seal before ever setting a rail on the tie bed. The recommendation for laying rail is to lay the base side and then use a track gauge to set the second rail.
The stringer method for building a stable tie bed gets a little more interesting if you plan to use a rail bender to flex your curves into position on your layout. Let us know how what you plan to do and of course progress pictures are appreciated.
Rex
this chart may help - http://www.kapplerusa.com/y2k/p-g-ties.htm
its call the spiker - http://www.switchcrafters.com/ez-catalog/X381875/16
-Brian
Sorry I didnot get back till today. I am building a narrow guage line and I will take picktures as I go, I just tore out the original track bed and rail because it was hastily and poorly built from left overs of another road..thank you for the info I built one of those turnout from the same artical, so I am going to built my own turnouts to and if that is the proper spacing and size thar what Ill use Thanks Old Eazy (Stone Valley RR)
Narrow gauge tie sizes varied, often even on the same railroad, but generally speaking, they were between 6' 6" long and 7', and around 8" wide by 6" deep. On most lines, they were placed on 22" centers give or take an inch or two.
Later,
K
Note that Steve Monson's spacing is closer to standard guage so you may want to space them out a little more to be closer to narrow guage. The true spacing Kevin provided would need to be scaled to 20.3 for your line if you're going to real narrow guage. The tie spacing within a turnout can be anything you want as long as you have a solid bed for the rails.
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