OFF Topic
Peebs, I was looking on your blog, and saw you were a fellow Mac user. The Fast Track CD is designed for Windowz, but if you load in your Mac, open it in Finder. The templates are viewable and printable in Preview, and for the videos, they are nicely labled in their file names, and they will open with the VLC player, an open source, region free product I recommend for stuff like this.
ON Topic -
Please share your experiences if you decide to hand lay some of your track. I'm constantly surprised at how different folks identify with different aspects of the process.
I'm trying to model 1956, not live in it.
As the others have said, hand laying track is a wonderful experience that I think every model railroader should have. I've hand laid miles of it. For the miles, I also had access to a Kadee spiker gun (no longer available). Made the work go much quicker (10x maybe).
I love hand laying track but I don't have the time. I will hand build a turnout and connect it to a 100 foot run of flex track. Of course, I also don't seem to have the problems with flex track joints on curves that other people have.
I will say that in my experience bad hand laid track is much worse than bad sectional track.
I've got some longer observations on handlaying up on my blog www.peebs.org . But in short, I'd say the following points might help you make a decision:
I plan to have at least some handlaid track. The extra time it takes doesn't bother me. As for the cost factor I was mostly concerned with actual track costs, like rails, spikes, ties etc. not including tools. After all, I would only have to buy the tools once so the cost of tools, gauges, jigs etc would get spread out in a cost analysis. I will probably start off with the hand laying, if I like it enough I can always plan on more track being handlaid. I think I would buy pre cut ties though, I already do some pretty repetative mind-numbing tasks at my job, like spending 8 hours glueing flaps on boxes shut. Or back in the day spending 12 hours taking TP out of bad packaging and putting back onto the conveyor for the packaging machine. Holy crap talk about doing something you could train a monkey to do. Once the track and power is up and running I would relax a bit and start taking my time on everything else. It would be nice though to have something up and running tomorrow, don't get me wrong. But the one train I really really really really really really really really really want at the LTS is $280 DCC w/sound equiped. If I start saving now I might be able to buy it this winter, which I won't be able to because most likely it will be like this past winter and I will be laid off again. Just for the curious its Wisconsin Central GP30 #715, the very one at the National Railroad Museum, which I have fell in love with. I don't know why, I mean they have a GM Aero train there for pete's sake, but I just love them GP30's.
I think everyone should (I wince when I use that word...should...but bear with me..) try at least some handlaying. Not maybe now, maybe not tomorrow, but it really is a wonderful way to appreciate how turnouts can be made to work marvellously, for an example.
If we use the three-foot rule, I don't think, as Mark said, that all the detail matters one whit. If it matters that much to the user, then I guess it has to be there. Pay in time or pay in money, or both. For me, even in photography, much of the detail just isn't there. If it should be there, and it would be a personal requirement, or demanded if in competition, that would be another matter.
What I am saying is that, as Chuck has intimated, good old flextrack is not to be discounted. It has tie detail with spike heads, even if they are larger than they should be. It is fast and works well. But I would urge everyone to try their hand at making at least one custom turnout someplace to get some personal satisfaction. You won't regret it.
One last point and I'll shut up...experience has little to do with it. Assuming you have a decent plan for your track system, every one of us had to take up the first length of raw rail and prebend it a bit, and then lay it along a centreline drawn lightly on a length of hand-cut and hand-placed ties. We learned as we went along. We boobed, and then adjusted. Next crack at it, we were successful. Before we knew it we were actually having fun, the gauging was good, it looked good, and it ran well when we tried it.
So can any one of us. Start...
-Crandell
tomikawaTT Having hand-laid a few hundred yards of 'plain Jane' track and a LOT of specialwork, I would humbly suggest that, unless you are into Proto 87 complete with tie plates and anticreepers, you will get better looking results faster and with less heartburn by laying flex track. Second choice is to use pre-molded detailed tie strip. Unless you are modeling pre-WWI or a backwoods logger, handlaid rail on wood ties doesn't look as realistic as the machine-made product. Also, if, like mine, your prototype is using concrete ties, your only reasonable route is flex. Handlaid specialwork, OTOH, is one place where the time/cost tradeoff is reasonable - especially if you want a puzzle palace of double slips and three way switches on curves. If you lay your own, YOU set the track geometry. Also, your hand-laid product is subject to immediate quality verification and can be tweaked or completely rebuilt at very little cost. These days I use flex for all my 'plain Jane' track, reserving my handlaying efforts for specialwork. Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
Having hand-laid a few hundred yards of 'plain Jane' track and a LOT of specialwork, I would humbly suggest that, unless you are into Proto 87 complete with tie plates and anticreepers, you will get better looking results faster and with less heartburn by laying flex track. Second choice is to use pre-molded detailed tie strip. Unless you are modeling pre-WWI or a backwoods logger, handlaid rail on wood ties doesn't look as realistic as the machine-made product. Also, if, like mine, your prototype is using concrete ties, your only reasonable route is flex.
Handlaid specialwork, OTOH, is one place where the time/cost tradeoff is reasonable - especially if you want a puzzle palace of double slips and three way switches on curves. If you lay your own, YOU set the track geometry. Also, your hand-laid product is subject to immediate quality verification and can be tweaked or completely rebuilt at very little cost.
These days I use flex for all my 'plain Jane' track, reserving my handlaying efforts for specialwork.
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
I agree with Chuck on all points. My only excursion into handlaid track was several years ago when good looking flex track in several sizes of rail was not yet readily available.
The real value of handlaid track, for me at least, is the ability to make it conform to any special needs you may have, especially turnouts and crossings.
Of course, there is also a certain amount of personal satisfaction in being able to say "I did it and it works."
John Timm
I am currently on my second "test" layout, and I'm handlaying the rail with Fast Tracks turnouts. Here is a shot of where I'm at currently
So my following comments are based on my experience, a lot of folks I'm sure have more when it comes to this than me.
Is it that much less expensive? No. Not really, not once you buy the things you need, such as tools, nails, rail, ties, guages, etc.
Does it look better? I think yes. Not as much as scale perfect, CVP code 87 does, but I think it looks better than others, such Atlas flex track. Part of the visual appeal is the great flexibility you have when it comes to actually laying the track.
Does it take tons of time? Yes. There are a lot of hours in the above picture. If you don't have a lot of patience, or you just want to get some trains running, than this may not be the way for you.
Would I do it again when I'm done with this test section? Absolutely.
For the first time in the hobby I have felt really in control as I lay the track down. I have found the experience has enabled me to be more knowledgeable (by leaps and bounds) about track work, what goes wrong, and how to fix it and better yet, avoid it from the onset. It has removed any "fear" factor I have had about problems, instead of worrying about "ruining" a piece of flex, its nothing to rip out a section and replace if needed.
I've also found it easier to work on curves with hand laid track over flex, as I could never (and I know other people are wildly successful with this) get flex track perfectly joined on curves, the majority of the reason being that the flex track retains its shape memory, and wants to straighten. That seems to be amplified with both pieces of rail on the flex track.
With hand laid track, on the other hand, you can bend each rail to match (roughly) the curve radius before you spike it, and you're not fighting against the shape memory. I find for myself this to be very much preferable.
It may not be for everyone, and I'm sure there will be numerous arguments from knowledgeable people against it, but I have found the process very satisfying, and the results well worth the time and effort.
Feel free to take a look at my site, you can find more pictures of this, under the Test Layout (Active) menu option.
tomikawaTT Having hand-laid a few hundred yards of 'plain Jane' track and a LOT of specialwork, I would humbly suggest that, unless you are into Proto 87 complete with tie plates and anticreepers, you will get better looking results faster and with less heartburn by laying flex track. Second choice is to use pre-molded detailed tie strip. Unless you are modeling pre-WWI or a backwoods logger, handlaid rail on wood ties doesn't look as realistic as the machine-made product. Also, if, like mine, your prototype is using concrete ties, your only reasonable route is flex.
When I operate, I don't notice the existence or lack of spike and tie-plate detail. In fact, if I choose to look for it, some manufacturers' cast detail is so gross it would look more realistic without it.
Mark
In another post there was talk, or I should say a suggestion made, to go with hand laid track. It was stated as not as difficult as it seemed, and in some factors less costly. As a beginer in all this I'm looking at every option available. Would it be a viable option for me to look into, cost and experience wise? Should I just stick with flex track?