Sunday, November 8, 2015

Slow and Steady

Is the watch word when laying track.
We've been very busy this week with the tour of "Dirty Dancing" at the Budweiser Gardens. But we have had most mornings off, so I've been able to get some yard tracks laid.
This is the 3rd layout I've built with handlaid track and finally I've gotten my act together and I'm adding drop feeders to the underside of the rails as I go, rather than soldering to the sides of the rail. A much neater appearance. And it just requires a little bit of focus to make sure that nothing is missed.
The other new thing is these;
3 point track gauges from Fast Tracks. They are now available in most scales and gauges. They are not obvious on the website, but the Fast Tracks website is undergoing a massive rebuild and they will be more visible soon enough.
In the meantime you can find them here;
http://www.handlaidtrack.com/Trifecta-3-Point-Track-Gauge-HO-Code-83-p/tri-ho-s-me83.htm
Now for those of you who are paying attention, you'll note that the gauge is for code 83 rail. I'm using code 70 through out. What's up you ask?
Code 70 and code 83 have the same head width. Simple.



5 comments:

Trevor said...

Hey Pierre:
For some reason, it reminds me of the old Palmerston layout. Nice to see a yard again.
And great to see so much progress so quickly, too.
- Trevor (Port Rowan in 1:64)

Anonymous said...

Hello Pierre;

Im about to spike down numerous feet of code 55 rail and am pondering the pros-cons of ballasting the roadbed before doing so. Do you find it harder to push spikes into ties that have been treated with the glue that holds the ballast in place?

Amazing progress on your layout BTW.

Cheers;

Steven

Pierre Oliver said...

Steven,
There is no effect upon the ties by pre-ballasting.
Spiking code 55? Little tiny for that isn't it?
Why not just use Pliobond and glue it all down?

Anonymous said...

You've got me thinking Pierre;

I've spiked a whole staging yard plus built-in-place turnouts to good effect. Like you say "ZEN", but I might give the pliobond adhesive a try. Perhaps the technique would be the same as adhering the Fast Tracks turnout to its laser cut tie assembly using heat.

Can the rail be adjusted by re-applying heat or is it a one-shot deal?

I'm also going to try ballasting before laying rail.

cheers;

Steven

Pierre Oliver said...

That is in fact part of the beauty of the PLiobond process. It can be reheated and moved around as required.
And the technique is exactly the same as bonding the turnouts to the tie strip