MR Express - Biggest challenges in tracklaying

[Anonymous]

I model in N scale. My biggest challenge is saving track and turnouts, when I change my mind about the track alinement. I now glue my roadbed and my track down with "Aleene's orininal Tacky Glue". It holds well, some track has been in place seven years. Now the cool part. When I see a better alinement I place wet towels on the track and after a while the track can be shifted or removed with no damage.
Michael

[Anonymous]

I model in N scale. My biggest challenge is saving track and turnouts, when I change my mind about the track alinement. I now glue my roadbed and my track down with "Aleene's orininal Tacky Glue". It holds well, some track has been in place seven years. Now the cool part. When I see a better alinement I place wet towels on the track and after a while the track can be shifted or removed with no damage.
Michael

[FJ and G]

I secure my rails to my hand-cut ties not with spikes but with Marine Goop, a water-proof type of goop found at Home Depot. Several advantages. It holds security as spikes (ensure you weigh it down), you can use harder wood than basswood (like lauan), it is waterproof when you spray on ballast, and it makes laying rail very quick and easy.

Just wondering if anyone else has used this technique?

[FJ and G]

I secure my rails to my hand-cut ties not with spikes but with Marine Goop, a water-proof type of goop found at Home Depot. Several advantages. It holds security as spikes (ensure you weigh it down), you can use harder wood than basswood (like lauan), it is waterproof when you spray on ballast, and it makes laying rail very quick and easy.

Just wondering if anyone else has used this technique?

[Anonymous]

My biggest challenge is the cost of Turnouts - I'll grant you atlas T/O's are reasonably cheap - but you cant always use em - especially if you want to use curved T/O's
My second challenge is the cost of QUIET switch machines and I do have to use em in certain areas of my current layout.
My third challenge is Ian RIce - after having redrawn one of his track plans on two seperate track design programs I have come to the conclusion that the only way to recreate his flowing tracks is to handbuild all the turnouts - which effectively takes care of the first challenge - now as to the second............

[Anonymous]

My biggest challenge is the cost of Turnouts - I'll grant you atlas T/O's are reasonably cheap - but you cant always use em - especially if you want to use curved T/O's
My second challenge is the cost of QUIET switch machines and I do have to use em in certain areas of my current layout.
My third challenge is Ian RIce - after having redrawn one of his track plans on two seperate track design programs I have come to the conclusion that the only way to recreate his flowing tracks is to handbuild all the turnouts - which effectively takes care of the first challenge - now as to the second............

[Anonymous]

FJ and G,

How do you hold the tracks in alignment while the Marine Goop sets?

[Anonymous]

FJ and G,

How do you hold the tracks in alignment while the Marine Goop sets?

[johncolley]

to jbox 1015 You are right on with the big sweeping curves In HO I am using 48" as a mainline minimum radius and 1 section with 72" radius. Use generous easements, I use the batten method with 5/8" offset and L/2 of 10 1/2" for 48"r. and offset of 3/4" and L/2 of 12" for the 72"r. As for reverse curves, just use a minimum tangent length between easements slightly longer than your longest car. I run 85' passenger cars over 12" tangent into the easements described with no problems at all. The only exception is turnouts and crossovers which I use #10's on the main line and #8's on sidings and yards. For service tracks such as industrial tracks I use #6's unless it is for a single car handled by a switcher I might use a #4. Happy railroading, John

[johncolley]

to jbox 1015 You are right on with the big sweeping curves In HO I am using 48" as a mainline minimum radius and 1 section with 72" radius. Use generous easements, I use the batten method with 5/8" offset and L/2 of 10 1/2" for 48"r. and offset of 3/4" and L/2 of 12" for the 72"r. As for reverse curves, just use a minimum tangent length between easements slightly longer than your longest car. I run 85' passenger cars over 12" tangent into the easements described with no problems at all. The only exception is turnouts and crossovers which I use #10's on the main line and #8's on sidings and yards. For service tracks such as industrial tracks I use #6's unless it is for a single car handled by a switcher I might use a #4. Happy railroading, John

[johncolley]

to jbox 1015 You are right on with the big sweeping curves In HO I am using 48" as a mainline minimum radius and 1 section with 72" radius. Use generous easements, I use the batten method with 5/8" offset and L/2 of 10 1/2" for 48"r. and offset of 3/4" and L/2 of 12" for the 72"r. As for reverse curves, just use a minimum tangent length between easements slightly longer than your longest car. I run 85' passenger cars over 12" tangent into the easements described with no problems at all. The only exception is turnouts and crossovers which I use #10's on the main line and #8's on sidings and yards. For service tracks such as industrial tracks I use #6's unless it is for a single car handled by a switcher I might use a #4. Happy railroading, John

[johncolley]

to jbox 1015 You are right on with the big sweeping curves In HO I am using 48" as a mainline minimum radius and 1 section with 72" radius. Use generous easements, I use the batten method with 5/8" offset and L/2 of 10 1/2" for 48"r. and offset of 3/4" and L/2 of 12" for the 72"r. As for reverse curves, just use a minimum tangent length between easements slightly longer than your longest car. I run 85' passenger cars over 12" tangent into the easements described with no problems at all. The only exception is turnouts and crossovers which I use #10's on the main line and #8's on sidings and yards. For service tracks such as industrial tracks I use #6's unless it is for a single car handled by a switcher I might use a #4. Happy railroading, John

[Anonymous]

My Biggest challenge in laying track is going from plan (revised many times) to fitting it into the layout area. No matter how carefully you measure the layout area for obstacles such as support columns, laundry appliances, utility meters and heating equipment, the track will often require more space than you think. Usually at the cost of isle space. I look at the track plan as a reference only. This time (my second attempt at building a layout) I'm building modular style. That way, if I have to, I can move the modules to fit the room or other modules.

[Anonymous]

My Biggest challenge in laying track is going from plan (revised many times) to fitting it into the layout area. No matter how carefully you measure the layout area for obstacles such as support columns, laundry appliances, utility meters and heating equipment, the track will often require more space than you think. Usually at the cost of isle space. I look at the track plan as a reference only. This time (my second attempt at building a layout) I'm building modular style. That way, if I have to, I can move the modules to fit the room or other modules.

[Anonymous]

Just gettting the solder technique at the joints is a problem. Heat the work - you bet. So far I found a 75 watt iron to work sometimes and other times the rail seems to be great big heat sink and solder refuses to take. Next step - I'll try a propane solder iron. Any tips to improve my technique won't be wasted. I've got about 75 joints that I'm ignoring for now.

[Anonymous]

Just gettting the solder technique at the joints is a problem. Heat the work - you bet. So far I found a 75 watt iron to work sometimes and other times the rail seems to be great big heat sink and solder refuses to take. Next step - I'll try a propane solder iron. Any tips to improve my technique won't be wasted. I've got about 75 joints that I'm ignoring for now.

[Anonymous]

Jerry,

I get good soldering with a 30 watt pencil iron. A few tips. Make sure the tip of the iron is clean and well tinned. I wipe it on a damp sponge. The rails also need to be clean. I have a tube of rosin flux from Radio Shack and use it liberally on the area to be soldered. This seems to help heat conduction.

[Anonymous]

Jerry,

I get good soldering with a 30 watt pencil iron. A few tips. Make sure the tip of the iron is clean and well tinned. I wipe it on a damp sponge. The rails also need to be clean. I have a tube of rosin flux from Radio Shack and use it liberally on the area to be soldered. This seems to help heat conduction.

[jfugate]

Flex track has gotten so good in recent years that I only handlay these days to solve a special turnout situation, although I have to admit the Central Valley tie strips and now turnout kits all look interesting.

The most work in tracklaying comes at the turnouts. DCC friendly turnouts that look realistic are only now coming on the market. And the most layout maintenance work is the turnouts.

It's a love-hate relationship ... the more turnouts you have the more interesting trackwork you can have. But the more turnouts you have, the greater the installation and maintenance burden!

[jfugate]

Flex track has gotten so good in recent years that I only handlay these days to solve a special turnout situation, although I have to admit the Central Valley tie strips and now turnout kits all look interesting.

The most work in tracklaying comes at the turnouts. DCC friendly turnouts that look realistic are only now coming on the market. And the most layout maintenance work is the turnouts.

It's a love-hate relationship ... the more turnouts you have the more interesting trackwork you can have. But the more turnouts you have, the greater the installation and maintenance burden!

[Anonymous]

Joe,

Aside from wanting to try it, I decided to handlay the track because I am working on a very tight budget. Handlaid track is really no cheaper than flextrack, but the savings in turnouts is significant. Since money is the limiting factor, handlaying slows down progress to meet available funding. [:)]

[Anonymous]

Joe,

Aside from wanting to try it, I decided to handlay the track because I am working on a very tight budget. Handlaid track is really no cheaper than flextrack, but the savings in turnouts is significant. Since money is the limiting factor, handlaying slows down progress to meet available funding. [:)]

[mikebonellisr]

The biggest problem is laying out smooth 24" curves on a shelf layout I've not had much luck with a tripod and tramel bar.

[mikebonellisr]

The biggest problem is laying out smooth 24" curves on a shelf layout I've not had much luck with a tripod and tramel bar.

[jfugate]

QUOTE: Originally posted by PeterZ

Joe,

Aside from wanting to try it, I decided to handlay the track because I am working on a very tight budget. Handlaid track is really no cheaper than flextrack, but the savings in turnouts is significant. Since money is the limiting factor, handlaying slows down progress to meet available funding. [:)]

It's hard to disagree with the cost savings of handlaid turnouts. But they do take time! On the Siskiyou Line, I just could not bring myself to handlay over 120 turnouts, so I decided to buy them.

I actually did pretty well buying a 2-4 turnouts every payday. Then once in a while at a swap meet or in an out-of-the-way hobby shop I got some pretty good deals.

I found a whole stack of code 70 #6 shinoharas for about $6 each in the train section of a craft shop one time (they didn't know what they had and were glad to get rid of them). Another time I had a friend who tore out his layout sold me all his old shinoharas for a song ... several of them had ballast stuck to them, but a good soak in some warm soapy water fixed that.

[jfugate]

QUOTE: Originally posted by PeterZ

Joe,

Aside from wanting to try it, I decided to handlay the track because I am working on a very tight budget. Handlaid track is really no cheaper than flextrack, but the savings in turnouts is significant. Since money is the limiting factor, handlaying slows down progress to meet available funding. [:)]

It's hard to disagree with the cost savings of handlaid turnouts. But they do take time! On the Siskiyou Line, I just could not bring myself to handlay over 120 turnouts, so I decided to buy them.

I actually did pretty well buying a 2-4 turnouts every payday. Then once in a while at a swap meet or in an out-of-the-way hobby shop I got some pretty good deals.

I found a whole stack of code 70 #6 shinoharas for about $6 each in the train section of a craft shop one time (they didn't know what they had and were glad to get rid of them). Another time I had a friend who tore out his layout sold me all his old shinoharas for a song ... several of them had ballast stuck to them, but a good soak in some warm soapy water fixed that.

[Anonymous]

Joe,

The biggest advantage I have found in handlaying turnouts became aparent only after I started doing it. Each turnout can be custom fitted to the location where it is laid. After I did the first two on the layout I found myself putting the frog and stock rails where they needed to be and building the turnout to fit, rather than adjusting the track plan to fit the turnout. That one thing has me committed to handlaid turnouts..

Admittedly, I only have 15 turnouts on my current track plan, but I think I am hooked. Once you have built a few it is not hard, and really not that tedious. To top it off, the look of the stock rails running continuously through the turnouts is fantastic.

[Anonymous]

Joe,

The biggest advantage I have found in handlaying turnouts became aparent only after I started doing it. Each turnout can be custom fitted to the location where it is laid. After I did the first two on the layout I found myself putting the frog and stock rails where they needed to be and building the turnout to fit, rather than adjusting the track plan to fit the turnout. That one thing has me committed to handlaid turnouts..

Admittedly, I only have 15 turnouts on my current track plan, but I think I am hooked. Once you have built a few it is not hard, and really not that tedious. To top it off, the look of the stock rails running continuously through the turnouts is fantastic.

[Anonymous]

Mike,

The biggest problem is laying out smooth 24" curves on a shelf layout I've not had much luck with a tripod and tramel bar.

Why not make a 24" template out of posterboard? You could lay that on the shelf and trace it. If you wanted to get really fancy you could put easements at both ends, marked on the template, and mark those right onto the subroadbed where appropriate.

[Anonymous]

Mike,

The biggest problem is laying out smooth 24" curves on a shelf layout I've not had much luck with a tripod and tramel bar.

Why not make a 24" template out of posterboard? You could lay that on the shelf and trace it. If you wanted to get really fancy you could put easements at both ends, marked on the template, and mark those right onto the subroadbed where appropriate.