In a month or so, I will be partly dismantling my layout to move to a new house. The present layout is a system of 6 sheets of various sizes (a system put together as an original under-the-bed layout was expanded over time) so I have many margins from which track must be removed, and is some cases a switch over a margin.
I plan to take up whole sections of the flex track over these and just lay down new pieces using the present joints. This will mean discarding a fair bit of track as it is held down with caulk and nails, and in my experience, once I get at the nails to pull them out, I have broken up a bit of the ties anyway. And I think that any switch over a margin is toast once I pull it up,
I have not ballasted any of this, as I knew the move was coming. And I have held off on scenery and structure installation 'til now for the same reason. However, I have a rise and descent over two margins built on foam risers that will just have to be cut with a knife.
I suppose my real question is whether or not to try some rail nippers/cutters instead of pulling up long sections of flex track back to their joiners. How good do these nippers work? Don't they mash up the rail a bit? Having to work with a file on 3 or 4 dozen badly cut sections would be more trouble that laying in a new lot of flex track.
I have used a dremel with cutting wheel in the past, but you know that the wheel can't be held at a properl 90 degree cut when the track is down on the railbed.
The good news is that the new place has much more space and the layout is going to be at a proper height on framework and wit new sections on some good foam board on wood frames etc., with at least double the size coming off a yard on that 6th board with is out of sight.
Whooopie!
Here is the layout in earlier days showing the 6 boards. Don't ask why so many.....a combination of what was needed to get them to fit in the only little room I had available, and what I had started with under the bed layout.
The trackwork actually runs very well now and I would hate to trash it all and start over.
I wouldn't trust using rail nippers but rather a dremel with a cut off wheel and one of those track cutting jigs you can get from Micromark, assuring your cuts will be parallel to each other. Look on the bright side at least you don't have the layout fully sceniced and structures etc. Once you get it in the new house and in place you are going to have to do some track surgery no biggie. A lot better then ripping it all out and starting over.
Good luck
Would it be possible to leave some sections together? I'd take off #1, leave #2 & #3 together and leave #4 & #5 together if possible. That reduces the number of cuts through the track. Looking at you picture, it doesn't seem like any turnouts are located over the joints if you can cut it up as I suggested.
On re-assembly, you may want to consider cuttting the tracks back at the joints so that a regular piece of section track can be used. Similar to what the modular folks do. That way, you can cut the tracks at the joints during dis-assembly and then trim them back farther to allow for the sectional pieces when re-assembling.
Hope the move goes smoothly.
Darrell, quiet...for now
Thanks for the suggestions, gentlemen.
I can't locate the parallel cutting jig at Micromark.
I find with the dremel, I the body of the drill makes me hold the cutting wheel at an angle cutting down....so that the top of the rail is shorter that the bottom of the rail when the cut is done....if you know what I mean. Then I have to try to make them all square and flush afterwards.
Using a couple pieces of 1x2 or 1x4 and drywall screws, clamp the rails down to the benchwork leaving just enough space between the blocks for a saw blade. A fine tooth blade is best. The blocks provide a guide for the blade and should securly hold the rails. Cutting small grooves to fit the track guage adds a bit of insurance.
Modeling the Cleveland and Pittsburgh during the PennCentral era starting on the Cleveland lakefront and ending in Mingo junction
Cisco KidThanks for the suggestions, gentlemen. I can't locate the parallel cutting jig at Micromark. I find with the dremel, I the body of the drill makes me hold the cutting wheel at an angle cutting down....so that the top of the rail is shorter that the bottom of the rail when the cut is done....if you know what I mean. Then I have to try to make them all square and flush afterwards.
Try using the larger cut off wheels also found @ Micro-mark a standard dremel cut off wheel is 1.25" Micro-mark offers 1.5" and 2.0 inch wheels more then sufficient to make your cuts. You may have to dress the cuts a little with a flat file to get them to accept the rail-joiners but nothing major.
Here ya go
http://www.micromark.com/DELUXE-HO-GAUGE-TRACK-LAYING-SET,7770.html
Also consider the underside of the layout before your move. You will need to cut the wires bridging any separations between sections. If you've left a bit of slack, you may be able to add plugs/jacks or use barrier strips to re-connect them later.
Before you start moving, go to an appliance store and get a couple of empty boxes from refrigerators or other very large items. Cut them to the size of your sections, and staple them to the framework beneath the layout. This will protect all the wiring and keep it from snagging on doorknobs or whatever as you move it.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
Thanks again, gentlemen, for all the tips and the links to the correct tools.
The cardboard tip is a great one, Mr. B. I will do that for sure as I have an incredible network of wiring because of the weird layout development.
Luckily I have all wiring running to terminal blocks. I will be writing and tagging all these wires for sure, as there are hundreds of connections to remake for the 30+ snap switches and to the several bus lines.
I am looking forward to getting this up to a height where I can actually get underneath it. During construction I placed the wired the first board into the room and then to the controller terminal strips at the side. Then brought in each board successively, tilted it up against the wall wire it, and then lay it down into place. Each has 6 to 8 swivel wheels to support me when I have to walk across it. Frankly, I'm amazed the thing has remained as stable and level as it has.... across the margins, especially. I have to crawl onto and stand on it regularly. I over built the wheel support underneath correctly I guess.