mbinsewi So you were roughing in plumbing and electrical? No license or building code problem with that in MN. ? And here I thought you were a carpenter. Mike.
So you were roughing in plumbing and electrical? No license or building code problem with that in MN. ? And here I thought you were a carpenter.
Mike.
Yep.... just a carpenter was about 20 years ago. I had to adapt.
We'll Get-R-Done Mike. That's what I say too! I would hate to see myself as a Pirate. Oh well what the hey.
Arrr
Track Fiddler
Track should be coming any day now. Just think when I start to lay it, I really will be the track fiddler
TF
PS Seriously though, we are on the up-and-up. I have a builder's license.
I knew you would take in stride!
Now you need that track to get delivered, so you can "git-r-done".
My You Tube
mbinsewi TF, just joking here, but I think you should've cut the beers off last night, instead of your track. Mike.
TF, just joking here, but I think you should've cut the beers off last night, instead of your track.
I came home from work and saw your post Mike and I busted a gut. I see some of the other guys here had a little fun with it too. I plead the fifth Really though, I'm not one for denial. I've been known to work hard and I play hard. I always get up and go to work though. Plumbing and electric rough-in today on the remodel job. And I never cut any of the wire or pipe too long or too Short
I must admit what made perfect sense to me last night looked a little silly this morning. I had forgotten from previous threads, it's not the rails in the track that expand and contract, it's the materials underneath as stated here.
I'm way in the clear. My 8-foot length of foam on my layout has only shrunk 1/16 of an inch in two years.
I pulled in the driveway with anticipation this evening but no long box by the door. Bummer. When my track finally gets here I will only cut where necessary
Thanks guys TF
carl425 riogrande5761 Haven't we concluded over many discussions it the wood, not the rail, that expands and contracts with mainly swings in humidity. Exactly! And the key word in that statement is "swings". If you replace the "short" piece of track with a new longer one, when the humidity swings back the other way it's going to kink. Be sure to save that short piece so you can put it back.
riogrande5761 Haven't we concluded over many discussions it the wood, not the rail, that expands and contracts with mainly swings in humidity.
Exactly!
And the key word in that statement is "swings". If you replace the "short" piece of track with a new longer one, when the humidity swings back the other way it's going to kink. Be sure to save that short piece so you can put it back.
Sounds like insanity to me changing track back and forth.
I have some personal experience with kinking track. I built a layout in an uninsulated garage in southern Indiana (16 x19 feet hollow L) - laid track and soldered the joints. Next winter it was extremely cold and the rail pulled apart and broke some of the solder joints. The next summer the rail buldged out in places.
The summers could be extremely humid and hot(it felt like you could cut the air with a knife) and winters very cold and dry. Now in contrast, my last layout was in a basement with a dehumidifier running from May to Sept and temps fairly constant and I didn't see any kinking or pulling apart there.
Rio Grande. The Action Road - Focus 1977-1983
I have a fairly big gap in my rails just before my trestle, and when the trains go over it it makes the greatest clickety-clack railway sound. I'm leaving it :)
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Track Fiddler, I totally get your cutting a board too short analogy. I just don't think it applies to your initial installation, other than cutting short pieces to fit between fixed pieces (like when two turnout must sit in their particular spots). But then, wouldn't you want to cut long, just like in your board analogy? Maybe your track just needs to show up so you can get to working on it.
Mike
riogrande5761Haven't we concluded over many discussions it the wood, not the rail, that expands and contracts with mainly swings in humidity.
I have the right to remain silent. By posting here I have given up that right and accept that anything I say can and will be used as evidence to critique me.
Onewolf Barring major temperature variations, flex track rail does not shrink nor expand. This has to be one of the weirder discussions I have ever read on a model railroad forum.
Barring major temperature variations, flex track rail does not shrink nor expand. This has to be one of the weirder discussions I have ever read on a model railroad forum.
For sure, high on Richter scale of wierdness (which is logarithmic).
Haven't we concluded over many discussions it the wood, not the rail, that expands and contracts with mainly swings in humidity. Thus get a moisture sealer and apply to the benchwork and worry less about rail gaps.
Aye!
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 -
Track fiddlerI suppose I may just be one that worries too much.
Track fiddlerI just remember seeing model railroads where there was gaps in the rails a little wider than I would like to see. Maybe it was just poor track laying I observed.
I suppose I may just be one that worries too much. I just remember seeing model railroads where there was gaps in the rails a little wider than I would like to see. Maybe it was just poor track laying I observed.
From what I'm hearing here if you have your layout in a controlled temperature environment there should be no problems of excessive expansion or contraction?
PS I've been doing a lot of thinking planning ahead while waiting for my track. I may be overthinking things.
UNCLEBUTCHFlex track is 36in. He'll cut it down to ,say,35in. Then install/lay said piece. Some time in the next unknowen years the track will contract. He now has a a piece thats longer the the one he layed.so as to fill the gap
Seems straight forward to me.
doctorwayne Track fiddler ...The rails usually shrink somewhere. Somewhere on the layout overtime they shrink... If yer rails is shrinkin', yer washin' 'em in water that's too hot! ...makes 'em roll better an' ya don't get nunna that there shrinkage, neither. Wayne
Track fiddler ...The rails usually shrink somewhere. Somewhere on the layout overtime they shrink...
If yer rails is shrinkin', yer washin' 'em in water that's too hot!
...makes 'em roll better an' ya don't get nunna that there shrinkage, neither.
Wayne
Gonna have to agree with Mr. Wayne here. Shinkage probably isn't going to be a problem except like on that episode of Seinfeld.
I still don't get the part on why anyone would rip up a whole section of flex track, just because of shrinkage.
Seems like a lot of extra work, along with a bigger mess than it needs to be. Taking the long way around the barn.
When I had a small gap open up I fixed it with epoxy. I use the kind that comes as 2 sticks. I broke off a small piece of each and kneaded them together. Then I pushed a small bit into the gap and used a couple of small picks and screwdrivers to match the rail profile.
Paul
BigDaddy I certainly got the wrong end of the stick on this one. My experience with shrinkage is the same as George Costanza.
I certainly got the wrong end of the stick on this one. My experience with shrinkage is the same as George Costanza.
He was in the pool
Finally someone that Understands. UNCLEBUTCH you get the Chunk of Gold.
No matter what happens you can cut a rail shorter but you can't make it longer.
UNCLEBUTCH Understands
I think i understand maybe
Flex track is 36in. He'll cut it down to ,say,35in. Then install/lay said piece.
Some time in the next unknowen years the track will contract.
He now has a a piece thats longer the the one he layed.so as to fill the gap
Okay now we have this thread going here.
All I was saying the whole time is you can always cut a board shorter but you can never make a board longer I'm thinking this applies the same with rails.
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
Well, the rails aren't going to shrink, unless you enjoy running your layout in uncomfortably low temperatures. To the point where your tongue would stick if you licked a rail that cold. And then some.
Now, if you have no humidyt control whatsoever, the wood might expand if you get high humidity in Summer and you've built the layout in Winter and it's dry. But then, the opposite can happen if you build when it's humid and then it gets dry.
What are your building materials? Do you really have that great a variation in the climate of your train room?
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
Oh yea, Gern is the best !
Well, as they say TF, "what ever swings your hammer", and lay your track the way you want to.
I've not had any problems in over 9 years, and I solder everything, every joiner.
If I did have a massive shrinkage problem, I wouldn't rip up the whole section of track, I'd do as the big boys do, I'd cut out a small section, and solder in a new piece.
Anyway, good to hear your track is on the way, and layout construction can resume.
Oh come on Wayne! I haven't even laid my track yet and you're hitting me with this stuff.
Well respected you are, but wowee by me
Track fiddler...The rails usually shrink somewhere. Somewhere on the layout overtime they shrink...
An' if that ain't the case, then whatcher seein' is yer end-corrosion. That's when the endsa yer rails start doin' that corrodin' thingy where they jest get ate-up by the oxification of yer atmospherics.
Whatcha wanna get is summa yer GERN Fluxcote Rail Dressin'....
mbinsewi OK, I took a walk around to look out the windows at the freezing rain, and I THINK i figured out what you doing. So, your thinking is, your going to shorten the sections of flex track, (usually do anyway, as it always takes some trimming on one rail or the other) and now that you have the shortened pieces of flex track installed, when you do get a shrinkage problem that opens up wide gaps, you can replace the whole piece with a new one, because that new one wasn't shortened, so now it's long enough to fill in what you just removed ? Is that it? Mike.
OK, I took a walk around to look out the windows at the freezing rain, and I THINK i figured out what you doing.
So, your thinking is, your going to shorten the sections of flex track, (usually do anyway, as it always takes some trimming on one rail or the other) and now that you have the shortened pieces of flex track installed, when you do get a shrinkage problem that opens up wide gaps, you can replace the whole piece with a new one, because that new one wasn't shortened, so now it's long enough to fill in what you just removed ?
Is that it?
Perfect..... You got it Mike.
Thanks .....I'm not the easiest guy to follow but I try I hard
My words have been known to be not so self-explanatory at times
This is a good discussion. There is some confusion here.
You had some expansion. You could easily remedy that by cutting the rail shorter and everything was fine.
If your layout rails contract and your rails become too short. Your new piece of Flex track replacing that section need to be longer that's why I want to install new Flex track shorter than it comes
If track ever contracts overtime, you can always replace it with a new piece of flex that is longer because you cut your new Flex track shorter on the installation.
Shorter no problem. If you need longer than available, Big Problem.
Carpenters Nightmare
PS. I was typing while you were posting.
Track fiddlerThe track usually shrinks somewhere. Somewhere on the layout overtime it shrinks.
Mine hasn't in over 9 years. I actually had a very slight expansion, which was easily fixed.
Track fiddlerIf you install your flex track shorter than it's sold and in time gaps appear.
How do you install it "shorter than it's sold" ?, and why?