Handlayed track (some new ideas I suppose)

[FJ and G]

It has been 1 year since I forayed into the garden from the basement to dabble in garden railroading. Therefore, I’m a newbee. Having said that, here’s my take on handlayed track, some of which is not, I hope, a rehash of stuff normally found on forums (esp. the part about when NOT to handlay):

When to handlay track:

-To save $$$ on switches

-to custom build switches at your preferred radius; same with crossings etc

-to give a realistic appearance; well, sort of, since most handlayed track doesn’t seem to have tieplates

When not to handlay track:

-to save time and effort

-less maintenance (oiling, respiking etc)

-to encourage plant growth (low sedums or moss between the tracks, for instance, as the periodic oiling of the ties could harm them)

-where track won’t be seen, eg. Covered with ballast or roads or dirt as for lightly used shortlines and industrial operations (hey, if you can't see it, why model it; as you can tell, I'm not an advocate of decorating the insides of buildings and stuff unless it can be seen)

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I’ve opted for both handlayed and non-handlayed track. My entire 7/8n18 is handlayed (first photo) and more than half of my 7/8n2 (under construction, second photo), is being handlayed and the other is not. About 80% of switches handlayed.

Why I’m not handlaying half of the 7/8n2 is b/c I’m putting dirt and ballast over the ties and encouraging moss and small sedums and thymes.

Here’s handlayed (+ handbuilt car)



Here’s non-handlayed {+ handbuilt vat flat} waiting for the moss to take hold

[Anonymous]

I have always avoided hand laying track as to me it is a lot of work for not enough return ( my opinion for my circumstances).

I also have the idea that to use wood sleepers (ties) Is a bad idea as the moisure in them would provide a path for electricity between the rails and this would increase as the moisture and impurities moisture in the wood increased.

Peole might well say we have had wood sleepers for years and never had the problem, but they may not know they have it as tyhye have not tried to measure the fault current.

In real life you would not be supplying power to the loco through the two rails,

rgds Ian

[Snoq. Pass RR]

That is why you use Battery powered locomotives.  No track power, whaooooo.  Great for very large layouts.  I still use track power for Christmas though.

[Anonymous]

I have now seen quite a few radio controlled battery locos and i just can't see the future for them. Not using track power may seem an advantage, but the disadvantages are many and in my opinion for my circumstances they are just not worth it. 

Rgds Ian

[tangerine-jack]

Sigh   looks like I'll have to mostly agree with Ian, to a point.   Battery power has significant disadvantages based on how you operate.  I do have one RC batt loco that I use all the time and I like it a lot, but I love to let the trains run through the garden for hours on end.  Batteries don't last for hours on end, track power does.  I've left a train running once for two days, that's something you can't do with batteries.  You could also have problems with RC interference depending on where you live, as well as the mysterious glitch out of nowhere that shuts you down.  Track accessories still need a power source to operate and using track power makes that job a hundred times easier.

I'm not saying batt/ RC is bad by a long shot, just that it is not the cure-all for garden railway ills.  It does have a use, but I don't see how it can replace track power totally.

Dave, your stuff is looking good!  I'm still hoping for a chance to get up your way to see it first hand.  I've wanted to photo your layout for some time now.

[Anonymous]

As i see it and i am sure i will be corrected whether i am right or not but Radio Controlled battery operated locos do have advantages in that they are relatively cheap and easy to get into, you have no track power, so dirty track indeed even track material becomes superfelous and reversing loops are very easy. I do think in many ways it has a big advantage over DC in that you can run several trains doing different things on the same set of tracks.

However there are many disadvantages too many for me.

1) limited autonomy (running time) due to batteries only having a limited capacity.

2) the minute you have anything else running on the loco that uses power, such as lights, sound etc  you degrade your autonomy. 

3) As the loco does not recieve its commands through the rails; black spots such as tunnels do occur.

4) Ive not seen any system that you can control your points (switches) remotely; or any other track side stuff for that matter.

5) Only a limited number of locomotive are availble with batteries and radio recievers, many are modified or even kit bashed.

6) Batteries do die over a period of time and need to be replaced and this could be costly.

7) limited on board functions are available and if they are they degrade the locos autonomy.

8) Batteries by their very nature are a problem and their life varies greatly with temperature and so does their capacity.

9) most of the battery operated units i have seen are very slow and they get slower as the battery discharges.

10) Although you probably will ignore it, but stringent laws apply in most developed countries as to the disposal of old batteries, particularly those containing nasties such as cadmium etc.

Rgds Ian   

[Snoq. Pass RR]

Folks, this is why you use RCS.  Works great.  And I never plan on switching.

This true/false list is for RCS equiped locomotives. 

1) limited autonomy (running time) due to batteries only having a limited capacity.

True.  Solution, add longer life batteries.  Will give you 3-5 hours of run.

2) the minute you have anything else running on the loco that uses power, such as lights, sound etc  you degrade your autonomy. 

True.  Solution, add 9Volt batteries to the cars.  Works every time.

3) As the loco does not recieve its commands through the rails; black spots such as tunnels do occur.

True with WRONG instillation.  False with CORRECT instillation.  I have had no problem stoping or starting my loco in a tunnel that was 25 feet away from me.

4) Ive not seen any system that you can control your points (switches) remotely; or any other track side stuff for that matter.

False.  Switches can be controlled by an air system.

5) Only a limited number of locomotive are availble with batteries and radio recievers, many are modified or even kit bashed.

True.  Then again, I would never trust ready to run RC Locos.  Buy a loco and install RCS, then any loco can become RC.  Remember, Think outside the **** box people.

6) Batteries do die over a period of time and need to be replaced and this could be costly.

Maybe.  But mine havn't died yet.  Iandor, when are my batteries suppose to die????

7) limited on board functions are available and if they are they degrade the locos autonomy.

True/False.  Try MTS/RCS combination.

8) Batteries by their very nature are a problem and their life varies greatly with temperature and so does their capacity.

Maybe.  Mine aren't a problem and I live in the Pacific Northwest.  I run everyother Friday in rain, snow, or shine.  Iandor,  when are my batteries suppose to degrade in capacity and life????

9) most of the battery operated units i have seen are very slow and they get slower as the battery discharges.

FALSE.  That just means you do not know how to operate a railroad.  Everyother Friday I get to operate my loco with others at a friend's layout.  We operate just like the REAL railroads.  And batteries do NOT slow us done.

10) Although you probably will ignore it, but stringent laws apply in most developed countries as to the disposal of old batteries, particularly those containing nasties such as cadmium etc.

Maybe.  But then again, who reads those laws.  I have never had to throw away my batteries.  They are perfectly good.

[tangerine-jack]

But to return to the topic, handlayed track..   I dabbled a little with that idea a few years ago and did some experimenting and found out that it just wasn't for me.  It took too long and was too fragile, requiring frequent adjustments to keep everything runing well.  With prefab I can lay it down and have a train running in a matter of minutes.  I found the cost to be about equal, but my time was not.

I envy nice handlayed track.  I've seen a number of layouts with perfect home made trackage that looked awesome.  I'm sure it took the builder some hours to put it all down and get it right.  Handlay gives you unlimited flexibility in design- a severe limitation for prefab.

But as I said, for my style of building and operating, prefab was the only way to go.

[FJ and G]

T-J,

 you're invited any time. 

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I think time is a valuable commodity. I would love to fabricate a steam locomotive but would need to borrow an extra lifetime and some money for a lathe, milling machine and other stuff. I can't say I don't blame anyone for not handlaying tracks, as I've listed the pros and cons.

 There are ups and downs for R/C vs electric thru rails and to argue that one has enormous benefits over the other is like arguing about # of angles on head of pin. (actually, there are 7,253, on last count)