Rerailer track sections are a necessary evil. No matter how carefully laid the track, a car or two will inevitably jump the rails somewhere along the way. I was searching for a way to disguise rerailers. After all, a rerailer looks like a rerailer, no matter where you put it on the layout.
I cut out the center of a standard girder bridge. I inserted the rerailer and cross-braced it with some scale wood and studding. After some weathering, the piece blends in very nicely as part of the scenery....literally!
I disguised mine by - not having any. So far I have not had any derailments. The only place I would use rerailers in in any hidden trackage, especially in staging yards. In fact, at the entrance and exit to staging I'd probably put 2 or 3 rerailers in a row, just ot be sure it caught everything.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
Well, I disagree with your premise. I have never used rerailer track sections on a layout, be it N scale, Ho scale, or On30. And I've never seen a need for them, either.
I was at my LHS today and noticed a RIX "railer" that is just for putting cars on the track. It was only a few bucks, but then I thought, "How often do I put cars on the layout for the first time?" So, it stayed on the rack.
I'd rather spend time making my trackwork solid so I don't get derailments than figuring out ways to make re-railers look like part of the scenery.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
Tom Noff wrote:Rerailer track sections are a necessary evil. No matter how carefully laid the track, a car or two will inevitably jump the rails somewhere along the way. I was searching for a way to disguise rerailers. After all, a rerailer looks like a rerailer, no matter where you put it on the layout.I cut out the center of a standard girder bridge. I inserted the rerailer and cross-braced it with some scale wood and studding. After some weathering, the piece blends in very nicely as part of the scenery....literally!
Aren't rerailers designed to look like grade crossings?
Yes but they don't resemble any grade crossings I've ever seen.
The Rix Rail-It is a handy gadget and worth the $2 or so I paid for it.
Yes, the same as horn hooks are designed to look like couplers.
I only use rerailers in hidden staging yards.
Ray Breyer
Modeling the NKP's Peoria Division, circa 1943
I hide mine in tunnels...keep trains from derailing in tunnels too methinks... they aren't visible from either end. Seems to work for me....
Brian
rrinker wrote: Yes but they don't resemble any grade crossings I've ever seen. The Rix Rail-It is a handy gadget and worth the $2 or so I paid for it. --Randy
(for other N scalers; Micro-trains also has one)
Now; if only they'd make one for curves!
I put my rerailers out in plain view as crossings. Sure they dont look real but better there than not having them I think.
Jim
You can make them look OK. But, like other members have said, they don't really look like a grade crossing.
Here is one I used on a small HO scale diorama.
Dr. Frankendiesel aka Scott Running BearSpace Mouse for president!15 year veteran fire fighterCollector of Apple //e'sRunning Bear EnterprisesHistory Channel Club life member.beatus homo qui invenit sapientiam
You can lay the best track in the world and still have that one car that for whatever reason has a truck tighten up or a coupler that fails to allow horizontal movement and bamb, a derailment in a spot that is hard to get to. It will most likely happen when you are sharing the layout with guests to boot, embaressing. I may just put some in my hidden staging, but I have never in my life ever used one either. I do not like the looks.
For those of us who do not have the layout in a climate controlled room, there are new kinks every year to deal with. Solder or not. This is my second winter on the current layout and I am sure that eventually I will have all kinks worked out. So myself, I will put the pride asside and do what I think is best for my layout and operation enjoyment, that is derailment free.
John
I never have seen a prototype to match that big ol' plastic rerailer, and they have derailments, too.
I figure, if a car goes off the track, I can just put it back on. My tunnels have access holes, so that's no issue, although I imagine if i were going to use them, that'd be the place to put rerailer sections.
Yes, and don't forget the access portal even if you put a derailer in the tunnel(s). I do it this way and it works like a charm. It keeps me from having to crawl under the layout to get at the access portal... No derailments in tunnels for me in a year... PERIOD! Other derailments, sure hahah usually to my stupidity/newbiness in some tracklaying transition or joint. I highly recommend a rerailer at EVERY tunnel.... for me, that totals 4 rerailers in my whole layout. Not a big deal, but very useful.
Metro Red Line wrote: Aren't rerailers designed to look like grade crossings?
That's how I use mine.
ShadowNix wrote:Yes, and don't forget the access portal even if you put a derailer in the tunnel(s). I do it this way and it works like a charm. It keeps me from having to crawl under the layout to get at the access portal... No derailments in tunnels for me in a year... PERIOD!
Yes, and don't forget the access portal even if you put a derailer in the tunnel(s). I do it this way and it works like a charm. It keeps me from having to crawl under the layout to get at the access portal... No derailments in tunnels for me in a year... PERIOD!
Who'da thunked it? It's just as plain as the nose on your face.
This should also work well on each helix level where there really should be built-in short tangent sections to relieve coupler tension. Great technique!
Conemaugh Road & Traction circa 1956
If you have solid track work, and all your wheels are in gauge, and couplers the proper height, you shouldn't have derailments. If something DOES derail because a truck screw came out, or a coupler dropped, or a truck came apart, all the rerailers in the world aren't going to get it back on the track. In fact if your coupler height is a little off, they can catch on rerailers and be more trouble. But we all adjust according to the kadee height gauge, right?
I use them in staging areas only,
JIM
Jim, Modeling the Kansas City Southern Lines in HO scale.
Good point on the staging area...I am designing one now and almost forgot!!!! Doh, as said before... so simple you sometimes forget it!
For those who say that the plastic rerailers don't really look like grade crossings, I both agree and disagree. The black road-height surface DOES look like a grade crossing fitted with those rubber-strip pavers. It's the rest that looks ???
The sly trick is to build grade crossings of proper appearance that are shaped like, and can act as, rerailers. Likewise, a couple of strategically placed heaps of ballast at the ends of bridge guard rails...
Even though I consider a derailment an event sufficiently unusual as to require investigation, I have incorporated commercial rerailers in my hidden trackage - on the basis that it's better to have them and not need them than to need them and not have them.
Back when Brother Koestner was still running the Allegheny Midland, one of the photos published in MR showed some of his hidden track, laid with alternate sections of flex and rerailers. IMHO, having a rerailer every 45 inches MIGHT be overkill.
Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)