I always installed Atlas Flex with the loose rail to the inside so the ties would squish together a little and be just a little closer to North American spacing. (did not make much noticeable difference) I found the gauge seemed to tighten up a bit. I looked into it and found that the loose rail is able to rock back and forth a tiny bit on top of the ties. If you take a piece of loose rail without any ties and bend it, the top of the rail wants to lean out, away from the inside. While secured in the flex track ties the top of the rail will move just enough to tighten the gauge some if it is on the inside and expand the gauge if it is on the outside. Most engines and rolling stock don't care. However my Kato PAs sure did on the dogbone loops I made. What I did was wear out an NMRA track gauge by using the "point" gauge by scraping it along the track. There were little spirals of track metal that were shaved off. After that, no problem with the PAs.
So I'm not !#%%&#! crazy about my Kato PAs after all! Now, if I could find the darned track gauge . . .
The long trucks seem to be sensitive to tight gauge on a curve. The tucks climb right out from between the tracks. I use mine to check for track problems. If they can make it, about anything can. I may paint one up for SPERRY RAIL SERVICES.
Oh.... please don't do that to one of the ATSF 'bonnets </font>[/QUOTE]Well, I do have a warbonnet that is pretty banged up. I was testing some new NTRAK modules out in the garage when my little 4 year old neighbor came over to "help" me. Always accomodating and looking for an oportunity to hook the next generation on model trains, I let her hold a 9 volt battery across the rails to make the train go. Well, poor kid did not know about flywheels and that Alco kept right on going after the battery was removed from the track. I almost caught it. I now have a "Test" engine that works great for finding problems. Not much to look at otherwise,
The long trucks seem to be sensitive to tight gauge on a curve. The tucks climb right out from between the tracks. I use mine to check for track problems. If they can make it, about anything can. I may paint one up for SPERRY RAIL SERVICES. </font>[/QUOTE]No kidding! It can be traveling at 2 MPH and just climb right over. Of course, it's one of the more difficult spots to reach--the only spot on the layout that requires a sort of Michelangelo-type suspension. Murphy's Law, of course--everywhere else is fairly easy to reach. Sigh--guess I'll be relaying some track myself.
Just as an aside- When I started, I purchased a Weller soldering gun that goes up to about 8000 degrees or so, not knowing any better. When I saw I was melting the extension cord and everything in the terminal box, a got a smaller one. It was still too big. I now have purchased a 25 watt Radio Shack special with really thin solder. (First roll of solder was about the thickness of a fair sized rope). Wife restated what she has been trying to convince me of since we first married, that size is not all that important in soldering and other things. It still does not make me feel any better, though. With ripping up yet another area, I have another place to elevate the outside of a turn (I now noticed a distinct tilt to the outside where a Spectrum 2-8-0 pony truck hops out.
My Kato PAs found the one spot in 800 feet of track where the gauge was narrowed. Of course, it was in the most inaccessible part of the layout. So I first tried some giant railspreaders: No good. So this leaves you with a good picture of my rear end. I'm 6'-3" (this picture has convinced me to get back down to 200 lbs). I really should have left the access hatch in the back corner. There is one on the first deck--but it's just barely big enough for me, so I figured I couldn't wiggle my way up through a hatch on the second deck. Other things I've noticed in this pic was the obligatory Grolsch tower, and the unevenness of the temporary backdrop on the top level. More work . . .
Um, guys? am I dreaming or with enough practice is it even _possible_ to lay perfect track work? I plan to practice quite a bit before starting my layout. Am I doomed to dissapoint ment?
GG, Perfect--no such thing. Nearly perfect--a good goal. While I'm not very active in my local N scale club, when I am there someone seems to be always fiddling around with track. I think that, if a manufacturer leaves enough tolerance in flextrack to make it easily bendable, then there's too much tolerance for perfect track. The portion of loop that I relaid last night was originally constructed on my kitchen table, then transported to the train room. I knew it would be a far reach to fix it if I laid it wrong, so I was extra careful. It still went bad. Here's why: a few months ago I was unhappy with the vertical transitions, so I shimmed a little here and whittled a little there. That messed up the gauge, I guess. I made just enough minor adjustments that the track essentially kinked. I've learned it takes only a few thousandths of an inch error to stress the track, and I will leave larger gaps if there ever is a next time.
In my never ending quest to get back to scenery, I have now relaid what I needed to and now I just have to superelevate two turns so my Bachmann 2-8-0 will not hop out. I noticed that the track was actually slanted to the outside and not the inside. I scared the hell out of my wife at 7 AM, though, with a whoop and a holler when I soldered my final flex track section AFTER soldering it to a straight length of track so I would have a transitional area per your thoughtful suggestions AND IT WORKED.
I was careful. I was neat. I still derailed at one NEW spot with my Bachmann 2-8-0. Coming out of a turn, my pony wheels were coming off to the outside of the turn and only when the train was going in one direction. I also had a spotty connection in that section of track. I now know the two sources of the problem. 1. Me. 2. Me and Atlas. I soldered each rail joiner in the offending block to the next to make a perfect connection, both electrically and rail wise. It still hopped off but no electrical break. My layout is the Atlas N-18. The grades are too big and many sections are 9 3/4" radii. I partially solved the problem of the grade being too much by releasing the screws quite a bit that were holding the playwood to the benchwork. It worked- BUT- unbeknownst to me until yesterday, my trains were leaning to the outside of the tracks coming around that turn. I elevated the outside track. I elevated it more. Believe it or not, it needed about .07 or .08 in some places. STILL- same problem. I stuck a screwdriver under the outside of the last section and lo and behold, no derailment. I will now shim the spot and remove the screwdriver. Lesson- there are a few major things that can go wrong. THINK before you do and examine the results before you make the correction more or less permanent. Do your trackwork carefully; pay attention to the joints; make sure the connections are good to each piece of track; AND WATCH YOUR TRAIN WHEN IT GOES INTO A TURN TO SEE WHICH WAY IT IS LEANING. YOU MIGHT GET AWAY WITH IT WITH DIESEL UNITS, BUT A STEAM ENGINE WILL TAKE THE PATH OF LEAST RESISTANCE AT THE OFFENDING PLACE.
/Note to self: Don't get discoursged but don't run steam Oooops, Powersteamguy1790 don't read this post.
Man, you're going to get the bright, shiny star for perseverance when this is all over. Congrats on having the patience to stick with it and the courage to rip things out and do them over. It's been very entertaining following the saga. Regards Ed
I have had similar problems with my liftout.... It took quite some time to get the straight liftout tracks to line up correctly to a Peco #8 curved switch--on a curve. Now it works great. My other problem is in hidden staging. One turnout just gives me a dickens of a time. I think it's due to the 1/8" drop that the track that connects it makes. Lessons learned! Amazing how a train can run unattended for hours when I'm working on a project, and derail in 8 places on the first lap when you have visitors.
Ed M- I am glad I provided you with a floor show. Cover charge was well worth it, I think. I will go one better- Now that I purchased a KATO PA-1 and PB-1 (since Nolan is my hero and he has one) they derailed at a turnout and at a RERAILER. Tonight a turnout and track leading up to it will be taken up and relaid. BTW- there are no ambient pieces of ballast in either the rerailer or the turnout.
Hmmm. . . Haven't tried grasshopper's PA & PB combination again over the replaced track. Instead I tried a 2nd Gen E8 combo, which grasshopper must now buy. Well, the E8s still hop off, though in a different spot, and then hop back on again at the far joint of the repair. The lead truck is off for about a foot, and doesn't cause a short. In the other, downhill direction, they are fine. "Should I stay or should I go now? How could a #$$**! 12-inch section, with plenty of clearance on each end, lose its gauge? I truly think I'll try a little screwdriver super-elevation tonight, if only to escape the chatter of my wife's book club. Hemi was here last summer, and ran his triple E8 powered long passenger train flawlessly up and down the layout. But I was unhappy with the vertical transitions at the now-broken spot, so I made "minor" adjustments to "smooth the flow." Arrgh! I guess I'm now a subscriber to the "Fix it until it's broken" club. I discovered a second problem this weekend. What happens to track when you don't run across it for a few months? Does it suddenly just get cranky? I'd been running the full layout for months without a problem, then shut down a corner for scenicking. Shouldn't be any big deal for the track, right? Wrong! This one blows me away. Maybe I'll spend some time tonight figuring it out. [ 08. November 2004, 21:31: Message edited by: Pete Nolan ]
