Model Forum / General / Railroads / June 2006

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This should help:

http://www.railwayeng.com/handlay6/hndly-h3.htm

Bill
Bill's Railroad Empire
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Advantages? Well, like beauty, they appear in the eye of the beholder.
Here's my take:

-- There used to be a cost advantage, but it's diminished of late - too
small to justify the extra work IMO.

-- There also used to be an appearance advantage, but the quality of
flextrack has improved a lot. Take a look at Micro Engineering's track,
for example. In any case, the realism of track depends more on
ballasting and colour than anything else. Paint rail and ballast to
match the prototype, and even Atlas's code 100 flex looks (reasonably) good.

-- There is still a major advantage when it come to turnouts. Handlaid
turnouts, built in place, free you from the constraints of the geometry
of the commercial ones. There are some turnout kits out there, too, as
well as frog and point castings. I've not tried any of those, though.
The specs indicate that in most situations, they will save work, but not
cost.

How to do it? First, make sure the subroadbed is as smooth, level across
the track, and as sturdy as possible.

a) mark the centre lines of the tracks as accurately and precisely as
possible.
b) lay and glue your ballast former (cork roadbed, for example) if used,
otherwise, mark another line to show where the ends of the ties will be.
c) make a jig (about 12"-18" long) to lay your ties in, drop in the
ties, and tape a piece of masking tape on top.
d) lay a bead of glue along the centre line of the track, and spread it
with a spatula.
e) drop the tie strip (held together by the masking tape) onto the glue.
f) adjust the ties so they align closely but not perfectly with the tie
end line.
g) using a straightedge to hold down the ties, lift off the masking
tape. Tamp down the ties with the same straightedge.
h) repeat until you have enough ties down to suit your whim of the day.
i) when the the glue has set (allow at least half a day), stain the
ties, if they're not stained already.
j) lightly sand the ties until the original wood shows through on all of
them. This will ensure they are all the same height. Restain the ties.
k) mark the position of the rails so the track will be centred on the
ties. I use a short piece of track, and a pin to prick the every fourth
or fifth tie.
l) curving a piece of rail with light finger pressure as needed, and lay
it down so that it covers the pin holes marking its position.
m) spike it down: first every ten ties or so to fix its general
location. Don't drive home the spikes at first: sight along the rail,
and adjust the spikes by pushing them one way or the other to get any
wiggles out of the rail, then drive the spikes home.
n) fill in spikes about halfway between the ones you just installed,
and the halfway between again, sighting and adjusting as you go. Spikes
every 2 to 5 ties is enough to hold the track.
o) using two or more 3-point track gauges, lay the second rail to gauge,
and spike it down as above. On a curve, the two prongs of the gauge must
be on the outside of the curve.
p) solder the rail joints. Gaps left for electrical reasons should be
filled with epoxy (which you file to shape after it sets.)
q) you probably don't need expansion joints, but if it makes you feel
better, then every other rail joint should be left unsoldered, with a
1/32" gap (max) between the rail ends.
r) add track feeders as needed on the outside of the rails.
s) paint the rail. Add ballast.
t) Weather the track - a whole 'nother topic.

Building turnouts: another time, or else e-mail me for photocopies of a
couple of excellent articles on how to do this.

HTH&HF

I have always wondered how difficult it was to lay your own switch.
-JoC