10 tips for better O gauge track

Classic Toy Trains Forum
1

I was reading “10 tips for better O gauge track” under “layout contstruction and wiring” and I have a few more tips.

  1. When cutting a piece of track with a hack saw, use the finest tooth blade you can find. 32 teeth per inch blades are readily available, but 60 teeth per inch would work better.

  2. Put WD-40 on the blade.

  3. Bend the center rail slightly to one side to provide a tight connection between sections. This works better and faster than trying to make sure the pin holes are tight. The bent center rail provides a spring force for the contacts, and this spring force not only makes a tight connection in the holes of one track section, but also makes a tight connection between the pins and the section they are mounted in. Recently, I put together an addition to my layout (a carpet railroad), and used this technique. It has 124 sections of track, 5 crossovers, and 19 022 switches. It has only one feed from the transformer, and the train speed indicates minimal voltage drop around the track. I haven’t checked the voltage drop, but I will in the near future. Using this technique, the track can be disassembled easily, and then reassembled without reshaping the holes in the end of the track. Let me also mention that some of the track I used is very old and somewhat rusty. I have never put together a layout of this size and had such good continuity. BTW, you cannot bend the rail on the frog end of the 022 switches. You can bend the rail on the point end.

I have some interesting information re 022 switches, but that is for another day.

Bruce

2

Thanks. This is probably a given, but I mount the tubular track in my vise so that I am cutting almost flush with the top of the vise. This reduces bending & wiggling.

wyomingscout

3

The easiest way I know to cut tubular track and the way I do it is to cut the railhead and web from the top down with tinsnips, then flex the track to break the flanges. This pinches the railhead closed; so I spread the end of the rail with a screwdriver from below, flatten the little crease at the top of the railhead with the tip of small long-nosed pliers, put a punch (or a track pin) into the rail, and squeeze the web back together to tighten the metal around the punch, with the same long-nosed pliers.

I can cut a piece of track easily in less than a minute this way; and it leaves no rough edges nor steel filings for the magnetraction to pick up.

4

I’m kinda new to this here three rail game, but it shore seems easy and fast to cut tubular track with a reinforced cutting disc in a Dremel tool.

Pete

5

That’s the way I do it. Fast, accurate, doesn’t distort the rail and leaves only slight burrs.