My train room has a large fluctuation in temp, summer to winter. Summertime its like a cermaic kilm and today I swear I could hang meat in there. I only heat or cool the room when I actually work in there.
Being that the wood expands and contracts so much would one have a problem with rail movement after the ballest is glued in. Seems I have to let the track float a tad to prevent kinking problems and wondering if anyone has had problems with expansion and contraction after ballesting track.
Thaks in advance for your info and have a great day…John
With that temperature range, you will need to leave gaps in the rails at the least. Wood doesn’t react to heat as much as to humidity but I suspect you also have high humidity when it is warm. On roofing plywood, they stencil instructions to leave 1/8" gaps betweem each 4’ x 8’ piece to allow for expansion. Is there any possibility of putting in a window AC unit to reduce the heat and humidity in the summer?
I had a layout in a garage in North Texas, tem ranges annually from upper 20’s to over 100, and I never had a problem with ballast. Modeled water was another issue, but never with ballast.
Ballasting will actually help set the(flex track I presume) and stop any track movement . Dramatic temperature swings will only affect the rail itself. As mentioned, make sure you leave gaps. I have seen expansion to the point of popping the rail from the molded spikes on curves where no gaps were left.
Bob K.
Use a business card to gap your rails. Anymore gap than that, you will most likely have problems of rails seperating in the cold months. My train shop is metal structure & has a big fluxation in temps. Doesn’t get as low as the northern states, but it was 24* this past winter & got up to 108* many times this summer w/3 fans running when I’m in there.
Since I only work on my layout in the winter I would leave small gaps for expansion. But I did discover in the summertime that the rails would contract as much as 1/2 inch in some places. Put in a dehumidifier and now it’s not so bad. I haven’t ballasted yet because I’m still running trains to find all the kinks and a good place to put in a turnout for my staging tracks below layout. There are times when it becomes a little too much. So much to look for and so little time to fix it. Even 15 minutes a day isn’t enough.