Laying flex track fir a curve

[challenger3802]

When I laid my flex track, I soldered one piece onto the previous then formed it to the shape i wanted it, then with a Rotary power tool (with cutting disc attachment) cut the tracks straight for the next piece of track to be soldered into place.

Thus avoiding the problem of having one section of rail moving with the other fixed, as in the examples above.

Ian

[Anonymous]

Wow, I never put that much thought into it. I really like easments with my tight radius curves as the train doen't snap into a corner and looks more realistic. I just use a radius curve line that will put the track about a half inch inside of my straight section of track. when laying the roadbed or track I just transition from one to the other with my eye.

I guess I'm just simple-minded.

[Anonymous]

I'm laying out my new layout right now, full-sized on paper on the benchwork. Here's how I'm doing the easements, which looks nice so far:

28" curve radius set 1" inside the centerline of the intersecting straight sections.
56" curve radius set tangent to the straight sections centerline and the curves.

This gives a nice flow to the curve, and I sacrifice 1" of curve radius to do it.

Mark in Utah

[mcouvillion]

Blind Bruce,

I laid the curves on our club's layout and broke all the "rules" listed above. I built templates of various radii which included transition spirals, so I had a track centerline to follow. Since the layout is modular, I anchored the jumper piece (the one that crosses the gap between the tables) and built from each end to the center of the curve. I did not especially pay any attention to which rail slid, I just laid the track. Once the first section was down, I began laying from the other end and overlapped the rail in the center. I then carefully cut the rail with a Xuran rail cutter directly over the end of the bottom layer of rail. I put rail joiners on the ends and aligned the rails to the curve. You can't see the joints in the middle of the curve as it flows smoothly from one end to the other. The eye is the best tool for making sure the curve is true. If you can see an imperfection with your eye at rail-head level, the trains will surely find it. Smooth it up, nail it down, and then pull up the anchored jumper tracks. Or leave them all down on a larger layout.

Mark C.

[selector]

Kerf sawing will undoubtedly work, but I could never imagine wanting to undertake that tedious job for even one piece of sectional track, let alone a second for the other side of the curve, and those for the other curves I have on the layout. Having someone else do it = more $.

[Don Gibson]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Blind Bruce

OK, so sectional track doesn't allow for easements.

WRONG!

BUY a piece of straight sectional track.
1. have someone 'KERF SAW' it.
2. tape some masking tape to the backside to preserve it's integrity.
3. cut off 6"of the curve to make TRANSITION'S from curved to straight.

QUOTE: I am a believer that the sliding rail should be on the inside of the curve. If it were the outside, the rail would shrink a couple of ties making it difficult to join to the next section. - BB

EITHER WAY the 'outside rail becomes shorter going around a curve, and the inside rail get's 'longer'. It's 'pivoting while the outside rail has to travel farther.

[Don Gibson]

'EASEMENT's take up space (and should be limited to large curves).

I have 27"r curve's which become 26" (or tighter) with easement's. An old (but simplified) way of adding easement's was to add 36 "r - 72"r transition's to each end of a curve. I was using Tru-Scale milled roadbed at the time. The effect was 'spiraling' into and out of the curve - and the improvement was largely visual.

My old 48"r curves became 44"r when adding easement's, but looked realistic. In my new digs, maintaining the widest radius possible is more important, for greater Engine 'accessibility. I have some 2-10-4's.

[IRONROOSTER]

What I do to lay flex track with an easement is draw the curve and tangent track center lines off set from each other for the easement. Then I use an easement template I made to draw the easement from the tangent to the curve. Then I lay the split roadbed to the line and then lay the track centered on the roadbed.

Enjoy
Paul

[cwclark]

here are 7 pictures with explanations on laying flex track..click the right arrow or 'next photo" button to view each one ...hope this helps...chuck
http://community.webshots.com/photo/137793353/200142080vaBTvT

[Blind Bruce]

Bob,
Yes, I do solder before laying. When the sliding rail is on the inside, the fixed rail will stay in the ties and the sliding rail extends beyond the ties to be snipped off. No problem re threading rails into vacant ties.
BB Winnipeg

[Anonymous]

Whatever you do, one of the rails will be shorter than the other, and ties may be too long as well. I assume you know that you should solder flextrack together before you bend it into a curve? Much easier that trying to solder rail that wants to spread out when curved.

Bob Boudreau

[Blind Bruce]

OK, so sectional track doesn't allow for easements. How do we lay the flex track so that there IS an easement AND have a constant radius/gauge in the following curve?
I am a believer that the sliding rail should be on the inside of the curve. If it were the outside, the rail would shrink a couple of ties making it difficult to join to the next section.
BB