Trackwork

Preparing Flex Track for Painting/Weathering

Cascade Bob — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 15:25:16 +0000

Is it necessary to wash flex track in a detergent solution before laying it to prepare it for painting/weathering with acrylic latex paint, e.g. Polly Scale? I had read someplace that someone had reported adhesion problems in painting the plastic ties on flex track with these types of paints and thought the problem might be due to some residue on the plastic ties, e.g. mold release chemicals.

Thanks for your help,

Bob

Track location vs Scenery vs Buildings - a Layout Design Question

Highlandsoft — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 16:45:26 +0000

This question is about a design aspect I haven’t seen discussed much.

Question: to how much detail did you plan the location of scenic features (ie, rivers, canyons, etc) and structure placement before starting to cut roadbed for a mainline?

PECO curved Code 83 turnout spring

johndrgw — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 00:24:24 +0000

I have several PECO code 83 turnouts, mostly the curved ones that are DCC friendly. These turnouts have a spring in the throwbar which keeps the points in place whichever way the turnout was last thrown. I plan to use Tortoise turnout motors. Should I remove the throwbar spring or is the Tortoise motor strong enough at 12 V to override the spring?

John

Soldering Problem

stevestab — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 20:02:21 +0000

Has anyone experienced this problem when soldering: The solder is not flowing onto the rail. It just seems to "ball up" as soon as it heats up. I'm using a dab of flux on the side of the rail, but the solder will not flow. In fact, the solder will not stick to the tip of the soldering iron either. The solder is rosin core and I used it successfully the other day with no problems at all. Help please!!

Turnouts on Gradients

Old Goat — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 15:52:00 +0000

Hi,

Can someone please explain why turnouts should not be install at an angle with the gradient? Do they always have to be level?

My proposed layout has a 1.8% gradient on the left hand side from the sweep around the back of the Engine House up past the platform and on to the cross-over bridge at top. There are five turnouts in this section. If it were feasible to include the turnouts in-line with the gradient I could reduce that climb to about 1%.

Gauntlet Track Help

CN6401 — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 15:21:22 +0000

I am curious about the use of and the application of a Gauntlet Track in my layout.

Has anyone installed on of these Gauntlet systems on there layout?

I'm looking for helpful hints on how to make a Gauntlet Track on my layout.

This would be a good How To for the magazine.

Ralph

Digital switch control without DCC

Charipio — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 12:42:21 +0000

Colleagues,

For my layout (swiss style), I'm looking for a system allowing to control all swiches, signals, etc, by PC. I know that it's possible by using any digital system (DCC or similar), but I don't want to install DCC on my layout, as:

- The central units are very expensive

- I have a very extensive engine collection, and I would not like to have to install a decoder in about 450 engines

Making Curved Crossovers

proto87stores — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 21:49:16 +0000

Following on from the "22 stories up" topic, I thought I'd break out the curved crossover issue, using curvable turnout bases, so we could expand on it a bit. It's definitely a complex piece of trackwork that needs a certain amount of planning ahead and really detailed "drawing out" on the roadbed, to make flow right. But I'm believe I can develop a simple method here that anyone can use to get good results first time.

Up the Creek - Peninsula pt 2, Finishing the Helix

MRH — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 19:27:01 +0000

Rail Colour (color)

mikeruby — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 19:58:51 +0000

I've watched many videos and it looks like modern mainline rail is a grey colour, is this because of the type of steel? Other rail is brown, rust colour.

My question is are mainlines grey and older track brown?

Mike Ruby

Reversing section help

stevestab — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 21:53:12 +0000

Can someone please clear up the confusion I have regarding length of a reversing section? Some have said it should be at least as long as the longest train. Others have said it only has to be as long as the length of locos/cars with power pickup. Does it have to be the full length of the train if metal wheels are used on all the cars? Getting ready to design and lay the track in this section. Thanks.

Pick-ups/drop-offs inside structures

MikeRose — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 04:22:18 +0000

I got to thinking about spots inside industries and how to tell when we've suitably coupled onto a car - without damaging the car or coupler or knocking the back wall of the industry into the side wall of the adjacent industry. Thinking about something is good. Not coming up with a solution is not so good.....

trackwork

gravity72 — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 15:31:53 +0000

Hello

i am new to rr modeling i see most people use flex track i have a load of bachman fast track

can i use this or should i go a different type of track

Thank You

How do you connect DCC controllers other than Bachmann to E-Z track?

gh4chiefs — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 12:41:12 +0000

Hello, I'm new to the forum and this is my first post, so take it easy on me guys. LOL In the coming month, I'm going to be setting up a 4X8 layout running only one locomotive. Probably a simple oval with a couple of turnouts and smaller ovals. For various reasons I'm sold on E-Z track and I'm pretty firm on that. I will be using DCC but really only reason I'm going to use DCC is because I'm REALLY interested in having the sound equipped locomotive. So my locomotive is in the process of having DCC and sounded added.

Ballasting turnouts - best practices

rtw3rd — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 19:46:46 +0000

Please give me your opinion on best practices to ballast a turnout without "gumming up the works". I use the usual technique for ballasting the track using a 25/75% mixture of white glue/water (with a few drops of alcohol) and of course I would be careful around turnouts. I've heard of people putting the ballast in the turnout and not using any glue to avoid the possible problem of gumming up the movable parts. I've also heard of people using 100% white glue within the turnout in a very thin layer to avoid the seepage of the 25/75% mixture.