Hi Folks, i have a really simple question, but one that has me confused. I know i am doing something silly - just can't work out what. I am still building my layout. I just placed an order for a Prodigy DCC system, so i am getting down to lying my track. When thinking things through and playing with some flex track - i suddenly realized i am not sure how to lay it. My biggest problem is how to simply join 2 sections of flex track together. My problem is that in order to get the joiners in I find i have to cut away some of the plastic 'sleepers'. Then i end up with a big gap of sleepers at each join. I know that can't be right. Here is a picture of what i have done so far to illustrate my mis-understanding of technique of joining this together. Any help much appreciated . Ta Barry
Hopefully someone here has a better method than the one I use, I make sure the sliding rail is to the outside of the curve, cut through the web holding the ties together, slide them off the end, make the joint, then cut/file/sand away the tie plate bump and slide the ties back underneath when I lay the track back down. I don't know of a better way.
I use Peco but it's the same problem. I find that with care and a sharp knife I can cut the 'tie plate bump' off the end ties with them in place. Basically hold the whole thing firmly on a flat surface, hold the knife pointing at the rail ends, and make two cuts under each rail, one from the outside and one from between the rails, so you make a shallow V cut under each rail. The offcut plate should then just slide out leaving space for the joiners. Takes a little practice, but now I get a quick result 99% of the time. For insulated joiners (plastic and fatter) I just make a wider and deeper V. BTW I use the smaller size 'snap-off to sharpen' type of craft knife - you can extend the blade an inch or so and then flex it a bit so it is level under the rails even though my fingers are fatter than an H0 tie
Another method that I sometimes use is after laying the track with the missing ties, I just sand down the removed ties and slip them in underneath the rails.
Laying Track When I was laying the track on my layout I cut just one or two ties from the end. The rail joiners were installed and the track fastened down. The ties that were removed had the spike bumps cut off with a flush cutter and glued under the rails. Do Not remove more than two ties as a gauge problem can result. The joint was soldered before the ties were replaced. After ballast was applied the joint is almost invisable.
In some needle file kits there is a triangular file with three sides about four-five millimeters wide. This file is great for what you need to do. First, I do remove the ties by cutting the webbing below the rails. I try to only remove one on each end. Use the file in question to file away all the tie plate detail and also leave a shallow trench in the tie surface. Your metal joiners should rest in the bottom of the trench when you have the correct depth and the two rails joined above them won't meet at a slight ridge or bump...very noticeable as the scale drops in size. Another trick, particularly useful on curves, is to slide one rail end into the other rail piece until it is about five to eight ties deep. This staggered join makes the joins on curves much stronger. You can still remove only the one tie under the joint, and still use a metal joiner, but the rest of the rail on either side will be held firmly in a nice curve by the intact spike heads. An even better method is to do the staggered meet between the sliding outer rails, but lay them perfectly straight, as per tangent track, and level...on a counter top or good bench top, and then solder them...both joins. When you go to bend the rails, if you have a nice neat solder (tidy it up with a needle file if you need to), the outer rails will slide as they must, but they'll want to keep their bend. Same for the fixed rails on the inner side of the curve...they'll want to retain the integrity of the soldered joint and will bend more smoothly. Finally, and still on the problem of curves and joining, the fact is that the last 1.5" of rail in flextrack will resist bending, including curving. You can help it to want to retain your radius smoothly throughout the arc, including at joins, by physically putting a permanent bend, a nice curve, into the ends. It requires a jig, or a deft hand not very sensitive to being bitten into, but you can force the ends into a fairly tight radius with a series of moves and see if it won't end up with a slight curve at the ends of the section of flextrack. If you can do this (after some practise), you will find your curves much smoother.
Welcome at TrainBoard, craorus! I use different brand of track. Usually I use rail joiners, cut the inner rail to the correct length and solder at the joiners the rails. With curved track I solder when the track is straight. Here you see the gaps between the track pieces. Later I insert wooden ties. When the track is painted and with ballast it's hard to see the joint. Wolfgang
Thanks Everybody, That gives me lots of ideas. I'll practice a few of your tips and hopefully be good to go by this weekend.
Ballast Putting in Ballast will help hide the joints. that seems important. The last time I used flex track, probably model power or something my parents found for me cheaply back in the day, I actually wiggled the rails back away from the ties, cut the ties neatly, and slid the rail back in place fairly neatly but time consumately.
Sounds like we use the same method mostly. I also take the removed ties, cut off the fake spikes with a hobby knife, and slide them under the rails after they are soldered. A drop of glue holds them in place nicely until it's time to ballast. It makes a huge difference in how the layout looks.
Track Laying Thoughts Here is a brief but excellent selection from Kalmbach's Trackwork and Lineside Details book. It offers a nice "how to" on track splicing. http://books.google.com/books?id=s9...=X&oi=book_result&resnum=12&ct=result#PPP1,M1 The key to quality trackwork is to splice properly, an example is the splice on a curve. Leave the track to run a few inches in a straight direction, make the connection, solder the joint, let it cool, then continue on the curve. This will eliminate the kinks. No need to form the rail, or use any other means to follow your intented radius. Also, Helitac stated he used the "flex" rail to the outside of the curve, this is backward (no offense). The point of the flex rail is to allow for the fact that the inside rail is the shortest distance. When formed to the curve, the flex rail will stick beyond the end of the fixed rail every time. All you need do then is let the unjoined end run straight for a few inches, cut off the flex rail, solder your new joint and move on. You should never have to remove more than a max of two ties to make a clean joint and the real number is more like one tie at each end of track. Be sure to take the time to file your rail joints. Excess solder must be removed. Keep the heat to the inside rail and draw the solder through the joint to the inside, that will minimize the buildup of solder where wheels contact the rail. File the excess down to a manageable amount on the outside of the rail and once you paint the rail and ballast, you'll never see the joint. A tip, use flux before you add the heat to assist the solder in flowing through the joint. Another quick tip, take the best wheelset you have, preferably one right out of the package, I prefer Kato, and run the wheelset under light finger pressure over your joints. The light finger pressure will give you feedback on how smooth the joint really is. Heavy finger pressure will mask the quality of the joint. But let me assure you, if there's solder impeding on the joint, or if your rail connection is faulty (uneven), or you have a hump in your track, you'll find it by this method before you run a nice engine over it and send it to the ground! As for the ties, yes, its free to use the existing cast off ties. But what is your time worth to file off all the rail nubs? What's it worth not to have to risk injuring yourself with the blade? Is the combination of these two worth $.01 per tie? I thnk so. Hence why I use Micro Engineering wooden weathered ties. Walthers uses part number 255-36101. Put this number into google and you'll find dealers selling the package of 1000 ties for under $12. They come in variable lengths (handy for the areas under turnouts), are brown and frankly, with 1000 to use, I'm on my second layout and am still working from the original package I bought in 1999. Hope this helps, Michael
When laying Atlas flex track, I use my large soldering iron which has a large flat tip. I slide a Atlas crosstie under the rail joint, place the tip of the soldering iron on the top of the rail and heat it up. When the rail heats up, I push the rail joiner into the crosstie. This should be done before the area around the rail joiner is spiked down.
I wanted to add that in my search for a smooth rail joint, I've found that some shim stock or a couple layers of paper placed under one side of the track at the joint can be used to slightly adjust each side until the rail has a perfectly smooth joint, then solder it. What was said about splicing the track on a curve is very important. Stop a few inches before the end of the installed section, trim the track and solder the next section to it. Once it cools, bend it around the curve and continue on. If you don't the heat will allow the rails to move slightly in the ties and kink the joint slightly. Typically it doesn't cause any trouble unless you bbq the joint way too long with the iron, but it's very visible and doesn't look good. The biggest problem I am having is that I'm planning on using a automated signal system that requires a block system with a break wherever a block signal is placed. When they end up on a curve the track likes to kink at the insulated joiner. I may end up incorporating an occasional piece of sectional track in these places and gap one rail with the hobby saw, and that's if I can get sectional in 32" and 36" radius's.
