Everybody I know uses commercial ties (which are pine as far as I know) and nobody I know uses or has ever used tie plates.
Dave H.
Dave H. Painted side goes up. My website : wnbranch.com
Tom
I believe Andy's (Proto87 Stores) tie plates are etched from stainless steel. Soldering might be difficult. I also believe Andy is a big fan of glued track construction. Do the tie plates already have spike head details? If so, that would certainly push you to glued construction - no spiking needed.
You would have to experiment to see if you could push the spikes into your cherry ties with a reasonable amount of force. I've only used redwood and various pines for ties myself. I do know (learned the hard way) that firmer materials for roadbed like pine will have hard spots in the grain that curls the larger older spikes I used to use.
Since my modeled era is 1900, my prototype (free-lance) didn't have anything to do with those new-fangled tie plates or that terrible smelling creosote. 4 scale spikes per tie is an accurate model. My track ends up being Homasote roadbed over either foam or plywood. Commercial wood (some redwood) ties on top of the Homasote. Some grape vine twigs are used to simulate rough-hewn ties. Tops of the ties are sanded level, and then restained and detailed as necessary. Then already weathered rail with feeders soldered is spiked to the ties - 4 spikes per tie where visible, spiked every 4th or 5th tie where not visible.
I'm not sure how many narrow gauge lines ever used tie plates, and to what extent. I think they adopted upgrades like tie plates and creosote much later than their standard gauge cousins. I try to study track details in photographs for the period and region I'm modeling and go from there.
For standard gauge track in later eras, Central Valley tie strips or Micro-Engineering flex track already have excellent tie plate and spike head detail built-in, and save a lot of time.
track is a model, too
Fred W
Having hand-laid some plain-Jane track, some dual gauge and a LOT of specialwork, my opinions:
If someone (or a whole bunch of someones) thinks that hyperdetailed trackwork will enhance their chances for a prize when the diorama is entered in the modeling contest at the NMRA convention, by all means, attack it with great gusto. Then be prepared to detail everything else in the scene to the same level! To them as does...
If, on the other hand, you are trying to build an empire, or lack the skill, patience or manual dexterity to do a really good job, handlay if you wish, but don't overdo it.
As for me, my hobby time is finite, my layout is large and I don't want to reinvent the wheel. Hence, I handlay specialwork - and fall back on flex for all other applications.
Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
A good carbide blade ought to cut pine into very thin strips. I have no trouble cutting veneer strips 1/16" thick. It may be your table saw blade is dull, or the wrong type. You might try treating your saw to a new carbide blade with 60 or more teeth. Plain steel blades dull rapidly, I haven't used them at all since buying my first carbide blade a dozen years ago.
I wouldn't care to push HO gauge spikes into cherry ties with just a pair of long nose pliers.
David Starr www.newsnorthwoods.blogspot.com
Im a self employed carpenter by trade, so explaining to the wife why I need to buy toothpicks is not a challenge I want. Besides,I have all the tools req'd to do wood working, and have a metal mill and lathe also. The problem is that all these tools are meant for wood that doesn't skatter at a sneeze.( Kind of like driving an HO scale spike with a framing hammer). I have remedied the tablesaw problem ( too much clearance around blade) by attaching a piece of MDF and then running the blade up thru it. I've had to resort to hand cutting the length for now, as I'm positive the mitersaw would destroy ties (big dewalt compound sliding miter). Thousands of $$ worth of nail/staple guns and none will work outside of benchwork.
As for the tie-plates-..They do have bolt and spike details but also have a hole for spikes. My plan was to use them on the main line (I'm messing with that now) and I really didn't want to do all that for the HOn3. I have a bunch of code 100 flex that I planned on using in tunnels/hidden/helix, and would have to get some 83 flex for the other areas. I would really like some operable track in the next couple months and all hand layed wont allow it. On the narrow guage I was thinking of milling the ties before cutting them to already guage the track. It would be a case of fixing it in the grove and moving on.
My wife has gotten me a couple brass steamers and wants to see them run. I'm feeling I should make her happy or she won't get me no more.
tinman1 wrote:Im giving a go at hand-laying some track on my layout. I had originally decided to only use it on the narrow guage/dual guage sections. Depending on how well that goes, I might do this for all the standard guage (visible) areas too. I got my order of code 55 and 83 track with tie-plates for both and a sprue of spikes. (all from Proto). I made a jig on my tablesaw for cutting ties and cut up several hundred last night. I used pine for the ties, but the saw REALLY doesnt like making small cuts like that in pine. I have a bunch of cherry, which I have cut for scratch building buildings, and the saw does well with it. I have cut it thin enough to see thru. For those who make their own, do you spike it, or do you just glue it ( rails to tie-plates to ties) or do you solder the plates to the rail ?? I pulled one of the spikes of the sprue with some tweezers last nite and it took me 5 minutes to find it on the tweezers. Pine would take that little splinter ok, but cherry would be difficult. The cherry cuts alot better, and doesn't have any little splinters to deal with when they are cross-cut.
If I might suggest, for your first attempt at hand laying track, you're getting WAY too complicated. It's best to ease into new skills.
I'd suggest for your first attempt at hand laying to get a bag of commercial made ties, and some code 100 rail, with the proper size spikes. Code 100 is more rugged (and forgiving), and can be stripped from an old piece of flex track as long as it's not kinked. Forget the tie plates until you can lay an operable track with just the basic supplies. The spikes may look oversized, but I have no idea how you'd put in spikes that you can only pick up with tweezers. I use spikes to actually hold the rail, whick is why I favor homosote road bed. I'd also suggest the notch tipped pliers for the spiking. Lay and spike the first rail with a straight edge (or curve guide as applicable), then use at least two 3-point gauges for aligning the second rail.
If you really get serious, you may want to look into a second hand Kadee Spiker.
dude, do yourself a favor and join the AccuTrak mailinglist/newsletter thing on the proto87.com site. These exact questions were just discussed like last week.
Also, Andy is SUPER about answering questions. I can't tell you how many times I've bugged him over simple things.... lol. and he answered every question. He really is an awesome guy.
Anyway... since you are going with his Ultimate track system, the best thing to do is glue the tie-plates to the ties, and the rail to the tie-plates. You would do well, however, to purchase the tie-plate alignment jig so that you can get the guage correct. OR, you could glue the tie-plates to one rail at a time, so that you can lay the track on the ties and not worry about getting the spacing of the tie-plates correct, because they're already connected to the rail and you'll just need your NMRA and 3-point guages.... if this makes sense.
yeah, honestly, if you want the tie-plate detail, just buy the Central Valley tie-strips.
www.cvmw.com
www.proto87.com here, you can get package deals on tie-strips and enough rail to use.
The CV tie-strips look amazing. They're cheap as hell, too, AND you don't have to use masking tape to hold strips together, AND you can connect strips to make as long as a strip as you want to. Plus, they make ones for turnouts.