A lift out section with curved flex is causing me some grief - need advice!

[Phoebe Vet]

I use a swing gate instead of a lift out.

A curve in the track at the gate edge is asking for trouble because of the side loads on the trucks as they cross the small gap.  I use a short straight snap track on both sides of the seam, soldered to the flex track.  It doesn't have to be very long and it doesn't have to be perpendicular to the seam.

[rfross]

Yep. Wood and spike the rails themselves to keep them from straightening back out. I personally would make the whole lift out wood. Use some locating dowel rods to hold it in place.

Great minds think alike, Loathar, because the lift out is made of wood and I used dowel rods to locate it and help hold it in place. I also added a couple of outdoor gate sliding bolts to lock it in place when operating because it will become a duck-under during ops sessions. I've hit my head on it a couple of times doing the duck-under thing and I was worried I'd drop the lift out and whatever rolling stock/locos are on it if it wasn't latched down.

[bogp40]

Yep. Wood and spike the rails themselves to keep them from straightening back out. I personally would make the whole lift out wood. Use some locating dowel rods to hold it in place.

I agree with altering the construction just at those ends for a good attachment for the track. Even if you just cut out a section of the foam and mount plywood to match the foam surface.

This will also allow better attachment for the liftout section which should be ply on a reinforcing frame. If the plan allows you could also consider a swing down or gate.

Tapering the dowel locating pins will allow ease of fitting the section even if you experience some movement of the benchwork.

[loathar]

Yep. Wood and spike the rails themselves to keep them from straightening back out. I personally would make the whole lift out wood. Use some locating dowel rods to hold it in place.

[aav]

            Or maybe in just that little area change your construction method so you could spike the track.

[concretelackey]

You could use your suggestion of a thin plywood sub base with spikes. Should work....

I think if you were able to flex the track enough that it maintains its shape without spikes/glue then after it is attached there should be little or no stresses on the rail to straighten out.

[rfross]

I'm building a two-rail O-scale shelf switching layout along three walls of a spare bedroom. The O-scale flex track seems to be much stiffer than HO flex, probably because the ties and rail are much thicker than HO.

I have 4' long x 12" wide lift out section that is across the bedroom door opeing that is used to connect two of the shelves together. I need the lift out so that the room can be used for purposes other than just trains.

The problem that I think I'm going to have is that the track leading to and partially on the liftout is curved. Part of the curve falls right over the gap between the lift out and the shelf. Since I'm laying the track on 2" foam and am planning on using latex caulk to attach it, I'm worried that the stiffness of the track will overcome the bonding strength of the caulk and cause the tracks at the gap to be misaligned.

If the liftout was made permanent I wouldn't have a problem but that is not an option for this room. Does anyone have a suggestion on how to best deal with this problem? Perhaps bond a 1/4" thick piece of plywood roadbed to the foam in this area and use track nails through the wood?

Bob