A couple of nights ago I ran a YouTube video that someone had put up of a full trip around their (not a club's) very extensive layout. With two short stops along the way, the entire run took over twenty minutes. And that was on just one level, as it passed a helix of generous diameter at one point.
I noted that at a number of points along straights of hidden staging or stretches under scenery that there were combo rerailers/grade crossings installed, like the popular Atlas issue. It made me wonder if employing these rerailers is cheap insurance against at least some of the gremlins that occasionally victimize trucks or wheelsets in inaccessible locations. Is this a common practice - with demonstrably positive results? I've never heard of it before.
John
Hi John,
Would you mind if I asked a related question?
Our club purchased nine Atlas rerailer/road crossing track pieces for our new layout but we haven't decided where we should place them. Our staging will be open and there will be very little hidden track on the main layout. I'm thinking that we should have some of them on the staging tracks just before where the trains will be entering the main layout, but where should we put the rest? Should we put them in the main yard, or only install them where there will be an actual road crossing? There are a couple of spots where we have track that is not easily reachable, but it is all on curves so installing a straight section of track would be difficult.
Any suggestions besides firing the guy who designed the layout (that would be me)?
Cheers everyone!
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
I placed rerailers for each of the (hidden) staging tracks on my lower and upper return loops. I had read _somewhere_ that it was a good practice to do so. I consider it 'cheap insurance' and if nothing else the rerailers provide very good marks for fouling clearance of the yard ladder. If the loco/car is ON the rerailer then it will not foul the ladder.
Modeling an HO gauge freelance version of the Union Pacific Oregon Short Line and the Utah Railway around 1957 in a world where Pirates from the Great Salt Lake founded Ogden, UT.
- Photo album of layout construction -
It just seemed like common sense although I don't remember reading about it anywhere specific.
I put rerailers at the start and end of staging as well, the idea being that it is underneath where access isn't as good as on-top and it will hopefully put errant wheels back on the rail:
One end during construction:
Other end with track fully connected.
Rio Grande. The Action Road - Focus 1977-1983
I have some hidden track, and I wish I would have put one on each end. Of course you know the old sayings around "wishing", like "wish in one hand,.......in the other, and see which one fills up first" kind of stuff.
I've only had to remove scenery once so far (knocking on wood) to retrieve a train.
Mike.
My You Tube
hon30critter Hi John, Would you mind if I asked a related question? Dave
A salute to the nameless person who designed the Atlas snap track re-railer section. (Perhaps Ted Stepek who worked for Atlas including on some of the Atlas layout books?) For years and years they existed mostly to aid young beginners in getting their HO trains on the track and helping rerail the consequences of poor assembly of snap track.
But the advent of staging and staging yards, and more particularly active staging "fiddle" yards, gave this one part of the snap track catalog a new lease on life as can be seen from the comments and photos above. I have seen some modular layouts at train shows that have dozens and dozens of Atlas re-railer sections on their large staging yards were crews are busy putting away incoming trains and putting together new trains.
Dave Nelson
And back in my early days, I thought they WERE road crossings, and nothing else.
Onewolf and if nothing else the rerailers provide very good marks for fouling clearance of the yard ladder. If the loco/car is ON the rerailer then it will not foul the ladder.
For me to have done that on my last layout, I would have needed curved re-railers. I placed them as close to the curves as I could "after" the end of the easement. All my curves in staging had easements too.
mbinsewi And back in my early days, I thought they WERE road crossings, and nothing else. Mike.
Might that be because they were created with a wood plank appearance, no accident. If you are going to have a re-railer, might as well have it double as a road crossing - by design I'm sure.
Rerailers do work good in hidden areas. It’s not a bad idea to have them there just in case. I also like to have them at one end of my staging yard so that I can use them to put cars or locomotives on the tracks. When I was a kid I built a layout with a small tunnel. It was on a curve in a corner. It wasn't long before I figured out it would be a good idea to have a rerailer in there. It was a Tyco 18 inch radius terminal rerailer. Having the rerailer get the wheels back on the track was a lot easier than trying to stick your hand in there.
Not only did I put them in my staging yard, I added them to the top and bottom of the helix tracks. I've had a couple issues where a train derailed in the helix and rerailed as it hit the Atlas rerailer track. It's great insurance and a good piece of mind.
I put one at the start of a fairly long hidden section of track also. I figure it can't hurt.
My Build Thread: https://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/11/t/185298.aspx
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In all modesty my trackwork is practically bulletproof, but I still install the Atlas rerailers at all hidden track entrances, and periodically along hidden track length, if it's a good run:
I use Atlas code 100 flextrack for all hidden trackage, so they fit fine. If I didn't I probably wouldn't use the rerailers, as transitioning from 100 to 83 or 70 and back just for a rerailer introduces more potential for problems than it prevents.
Mark P.
Website: http://www.thecbandqinwyoming.comVideos: https://www.youtube.com/user/mabrunton
Wow Mark, looks like you've been moving right along! The track gang has been busy!
I use Kato HO Unitrack for all hidden trackage, and they make a rereailer for this line.
.
I use the rerailers, but I nearly never have derailments, so they are just insurance. I believe in buying insurance.
-Kevin
Living the dream.