Where can one find a book on hand laying track? I want to hand lay my new layout that I have planned, and can not find anything on it. We do not have a club or hobby shop in our town and the nearest one is 200 miles away.
HELP!!! The Model Railroad Magazine folks offer no help in this area![V]
Bob (BadBart)[:D]
Bob: I’ve very limited experience in handlaying (a peat tipple in HOn30) but what I’ve read has all been in MR. So, there are articles out there. The folks with libraries of back issues may respond to this topic and give you the issue numbers. In the mean time, the technique I used to lay the track was contact cement on the base of the rail. Once dry, the rail is laid in place on the ties and heated with a soldering iron. This activates the cement which bonds to the ties. Saves a great deal of fiddling with spikes, which I think still need to be used here and there. Good needle nose pliers I found a help, and better if slightly magnetized. The spikes stay closer to the pliers that way [:-)] I seem to remember some article about laying ties out on strips of masking tape and transfering the strip to the raodbed, but it still is a whole lot more work than I’m prepared to get into personally. Good hunting!
Bob,
Go to the shopping section of this Web site and look for the book, “Trackwork and Lineside Detail” from Kalmbach, the publisher of MODEL RAILROADER. This book reprints several article from past issues of MR, including Tony Koester’s “Building a turnout from scratch,” which tells how to do it in great detail. I’m pretty much using Tony’s methods on my own layout, so I can assure you that they work very well.
Good luck with your track,
Andy
Hi Andy,
Thanks for the info, I will get one and check it out. Why does not KALMBACH publih a good book on handlaying track. I’m sure there is plenty of Modelers around to give you imput for such a project.
There is still Real Modelers out their that would like one. There is a place for flex track, but up front close, hand layed can’t be beat.[:)]
Bob
Is Simplified Trackwork for Model Railroaders (Kalmbach, 1935) still in print? If not, perhaps an excerpt covering the basics would make good fodder for an MR article. I doubt that there’s enough market to warrant an update of the whole book.
The limited amount of handlaid track I’ve seen doesn’t have the spike and tie plate detail that newer flextrack has. I’m going to handlay some track on my new modules, but it isn’t for better detail, aside from crooked and pulverized ties [:)]. It’s more for the sake of the doing, to know that I can, and as a warmup for handlaying some turnouts.
“B-Dubya” wrote:
“Is ‘Simplified Trackwork for Model Railroaders’ (Kalmbach, 1935) still in print?”
You’re kidding, right?
Andy
Anyone got any oats? I seem to have acquired Andy’s goat. [:)][}:)]
I did a search in the index, and that was the Kalmbach book that popped up. While the materials have changed drastically over the last 68(!) years, the principles of good tracklaying probably haven’t changed much. Perhaps this work or another could be drawn upon for coverage of the basics, using modern materials? I know I’d love to see it, since I’m about to embark on my first adventure in tracklaying. I have the Koester article on turnouts, but I’m winging it for tracklaying based on what I’ve picked up from MR over the years.
Nobody’s upset about anything, “B-Dubya,”
But no, we don’t have any 68-year-old hobby books still in print. There is one pretty old book still in our line, “101 Track Plans” from 1956, but none of the pre-WWII stuff.
so long,
Andy
Well, rats. Here I thought I’d gotten yer goat. [;)]
Does the Trackwork book cover handlaying in general, or just turnouts?
The trackwork book covers both, but concentrates on turnouts (not surprisingly, considering that’s the most difficult part).
Depending on big the layout is if it’s asmall layout I would try handlaying track but for a large layout seem it would be asking a lot personally I would not do it.
Everyone should build track from scratch. Nothing matches the graceful flowing custom lines and curves which can be done with handlaid track. I built a turnout for mainline use which is about 20" from points to frog. Build a tight switching yard full of unconventional switch types and behold a man with an object filled with pride which nobody understands, except others who have done similar things in track.
Handlaying is therapy, really. 
The guys I model with (a “club” in the most loose sense of the word) got me into handlaying track. I have to agree with previous post: Do it for therepy (and to freak out non-modelers) and most of all it really looks great - he is right on with the comment about the flowing lines. I would have not bought in on this comment untill I saw my own work - and as a beginner, it is really not the best.
Our bible is Paul Mallory’s Trackwork Handbook which is now back in print (was out of print for a while). Ol’ Paul is pretty anal about his tracklaying, but he is very thourough. We use a home-made jig to hold the ties, place tape on them, then set into glue. Then the rails are spiked in about every 5-8 ties.
Sadly, we have found that there is no financial reward to all the labor in hand laying your own track. Cheap flex blows away the cost of hand laid, good low profile flex is about equal in cost per foot, and hand laying supplies are hard to find in hobby stores around here. The hobby seems to be moving in the direction of the American “I want it now” mentality. HAVE FUN!
I handlay N scale track, where spikes interfere w/ flanges. Rather than use contact cement, which I found didn’t work very well, I use PC board ties from cloverhouse (http://cloverhouse.com/) every fourth tie or so. Works like a charm.
and your track power feeders go somewhere between those PC board ties, right frank?
Track feeders can go between ties, soldered to ties, or soldered to the rail joiners and fed thru the underside of the rail where it is invisible. Make sure to gap the PC board ties to prevent short circuits. I do this with a motor tool/cut-off disk combo.
Hey I’m so glad that I started this subject. I was beginning to think I was the only crazy person around. You know this hobby is called Model Railroading. Modeling is a big part of the hobby. I am looking forward to the exchange of more info on this subject.
Right on! On an HO RR i sadly had to leave behind b4 realizing the moving benefits of modular, i spiked rails to creosote-soaked wooden matchsticks (even SMELLED like a prototype RR - the ex never forgave me for the stink in the recroom). The freedom to make any size turnout required was wonderful! The staggered, crooked ties lent a very realistic apearance to the trackwork.
Unfortunately, it took a LOT more time than i had anticipated (don’t it always? 20 minute rule…). Now i take the easy road and buy prefab track and turnouts.
Where can one find a book on hand laying track? I want to hand lay my new layout that I have planned, and can not find anything on it. We do not have a club or hobby shop in our town and the nearest one is 200 miles away.
HELP!!! The Model Railroad Magazine folks offer no help in this area![V]
Bob (BadBart)[:D]
Bob: I’ve very limited experience in handlaying (a peat tipple in HOn30) but what I’ve read has all been in MR. So, there are articles out there. The folks with libraries of back issues may respond to this topic and give you the issue numbers. In the mean time, the technique I used to lay the track was contact cement on the base of the rail. Once dry, the rail is laid in place on the ties and heated with a soldering iron. This activates the cement which bonds to the ties. Saves a great deal of fiddling with spikes, which I think still need to be used here and there. Good needle nose pliers I found a help, and better if slightly magnetized. The spikes stay closer to the pliers that way [:-)] I seem to remember some article about laying ties out on strips of masking tape and transfering the strip to the raodbed, but it still is a whole lot more work than I’m prepared to get into personally. Good hunting!