Hi
I'm still building my new HO double deck PRR / NYC layout and I still have a lot of benchwork to go. But I have laid Peco code 83 track around the climbing part that will take trains from the lower deck to the upper deck. So, connecting with rail joiners, soldering and laying with caulk and all that stuff is no problem.
Of course, under each rail joiner I thin the ties to fit under the joiners. Over the years I have done this using sand paper, I've done this with a grinding wheel with my Dremmel, I done it with a stanley knife, I've done it with a scalpel.
Now very soon I am going to be laying a lot of track which means a lot of joiners and therefore, a lot of thinned ties. Has anyone out there come up with a real quick and easy method of thinning ties? You know, like some great way that takes no time at all, isn't boring and means you can create thinned ties in bulk while sitting down and watching tv?
No, honestly has anyone come across a quick and easy way of thinning ties?
Thanks in advance!
Barry
This time around, I'm using WS foam roadbed. First I glue down the track, without the extra ties. Once the glue is set, all I need to do is trim the plates off the ties and slide them under the rails. The foam will compress to take up the small amount of height difference from the rail joiner.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
I use the grindstone attachment in my Dremel tool. I pull the rails out of a section of flex track, leaving the ties intact. I then notch the ties where the rail was, making sure to remove the spikes as well. What I end up with is a strip of ties that I can cut off however many I need. There is a |_| shaped notch in the ties. I space them to match the ties in the laid track and ballast them when I ballast the track.
Marlon
See pictures of the Clinton-Golden Valley RR
Andy Sperandeo MODEL RAILROADER Magazine
I just use a needle file. They come in sets of 6 or more at the dollar stores. Several will have flat sides, or a flat bottom if it is rounded on one side. I lay it transversely across the tie, at the spike head, and scrub four times back and forth. Move it to the other spike head and scrub back and forth. By the time you have done both spike heads, taking some pains to overlap the scrubbed area previously done, you will have done what is necessary to slide the rail back into place and at the same time to accommodate the thickness of a joiner. Takes less time than it took you to read this.
-Crandell
I'm with Misterbeasley. One swipe with a #11 blade and they slide right under.
Simple 2-step: rail nippers to clip the plastic 'spike' clips off, then a couple swipes with a small file that happens to be about the same width as the track/joiner. Not jigs to hold it, nothing complicated.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
Hello! I find the Delrin material very tough. I tried jeweler's files and found them too fine. I used a dremel to cut a soldering iron tip the width of the rail joiner. I'm using that to melt the Delrin. I clean up the depression with a Xuron cutter and xacto blade. It still takes time. The melting is quick work but the refinement process is about 3-4 minutes per tie. I may get better at it, which would be nice. Accuracy is the problem with melting. If I had a special tip for the solder iron that had TWO of these modified tips spaced apart from each other the correct width, I'd be cruising along. -Rog
I just cut new ties from evergreen strip styrene that is already thin enough to fit under the rail joiner. I paint a strip flat black and cut it to length. Then I just touch up the ends.
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Once the ties are all painted, no one seems to notice.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
I use a dremel, the 8050 micro, which is great, and a high speed cutting tool. It looks like a cylinder with multiple cutting blades. Handling the ties takes longer that carving out two grooves. A diamond needle file would be more precise but it meets the good enough criteria for me.
Dremel's website is ponderous at best.
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
rrinker Simple 2-step: rail nippers to clip the plastic 'spike' clips off, then a couple swipes with a small file that happens to be about the same width as the track/joiner. No jigs to hold it, nothing complicated. --Randy
Simple 2-step: rail nippers to clip the plastic 'spike' clips off, then a couple swipes with a small file that happens to be about the same width as the track/joiner. No jigs to hold it, nothing complicated.
Same here. Takes less than a minute.
Another topic raised from the dead from eight years ago.
rrinker Simple 2-step: rail nippers to clip the plastic 'spike' clips off, then a couple swipes with a small file that happens to be about the same width as the track/joiner. Not jigs to hold it, nothing complicated. --Randy
Looks like some recent answers are making this more complicated than need be.
I'll just back up Randy here - what he recommends above is exactly what I do - snip and a couple quick passes with a file and snicker snack! Common sense really so no mystery that we do the same thing.
Rio Grande. The Action Road - Focus 1977-1983
Just make sure the side of the file is at least as wide as the base of the rail joiners - too small a file and you have a bit of work. All that time ago - and I still did it the same way on my last layout, and will do it the same way again on the new layout.
I don't have any rail nippers, but a couple of passes with a needle file of the proper width will relieve the thickness of the tieplate enough to accommodate the joiner. In most cases, I leave the spike heads on the side that will be visible once the tie is in place.
Wayne