After trying a little bit of practicing handlaying turnouts & track, I’m starting to think it’s nearly impossible to hand spike code 70 rail without kinking it.
It’s possible to push in the spike and purposely not push it in too far so the rail isn’t kinked vertically, but the nearly impossible part is keeping a rail straight, or even nicely curved without pushing it to one side or the other when driving the spike. When I put my nose to the rail after laying, say, a 2ft long section, I’m always disapointed with the straightness, no matter how careful I am along the way.
I’ve even noticed many of the beautifully handlaid layouts in MR have kinked rails.
So I’m considering:
Soldering
Glue (likely pliobond, or something similar)
Going up to heavier gauge rail, which I really don’t want to do, since most of my trackage will be sidings. Not to mention I just really like the look of smaller rail.
The thing I really liked about spiking was that I could ballast the ties before laying the rail, which makes for an excellent ballasting job, and very easy. The downside of course is that ballasting then went in before ground cover, which is not ideal.
However, hopefully ballasting after soldering or glueing won’t be as bad as with commercial track, since there will be no plastic spikes to get in the way of the soft paintbrush or whatever I’d use to spread the ballast.
Has anyone had experience with soldering or glueing vs. spiking? Particularly with finer rail?
I finally found the ideal roadbed too - lauan plywood. That stuff was great! Back to the drawing board…
Hi: I used to handlay code 70 and had no problems like you seem to be having. I was carefull to make sure that there was clearance for the spike and that I didn’t press it in too hard. Keep a metal straight edge handy and lined things up with it. Take it slow and easy untill you get the hang of it. Use the track gauge. I usually had at least two and most of the time three of them in use. I used the 3 point ones that were cast in brass from Kemtron. I don’t know if anyone is making them now. You might check the Walters catalogue. Hand laying track is fun and can really look good. Have fun.
Many years ago I used Walther’s Goo to glue code 100 brass track (early 70’s) to wood ties. It worked very well. In fact when I tore up the track, it pulled up most of the ties. I applied the Goo to the bottom of the rail and pressed it in place, when I had both rails down and in gauge I ran a 3 point track gauge over the track pushing down and then put some books on it for overnight.
Good luck
Paul
ARE YOU spiking RAIL (to what?), or code 70 FLEXTRACK?
Code 70 rail has less mass and therefor more susceptible to ‘kinks’.
To hand lay rail requires TECHNIQUE* - laying a straight rail - plus a 3 point gauge. WHY not use MICRO-ENGINEERING code 70 flextrack?- line it up - and spike down?
3 Cork roadbed allows *partial spike insertion (and final aligning) before shoving spikes all the way. I also use a 4’ metal straightedge to ‘de-kink’ all flex track straights.
I have one reason for handlaying the track. Well, I guess it’s the same reason I like model railroading - because I like it!
I’m spiking to ties - old school style.
Here’s a pic of a recent turnout.
As mentioned above, the code 70 rail is just so flexible that it kinks extremely easily. I’m spiking it through ties, into lauan plywood - which seems to have the perfect amount of bite in the spikes, without being too hard (tried pine - much harder).
As for buying flextrack, etc., yes, that’s possible, but I really want to go down the handlaid route, and want my track to be as smooth as possible, and free of kinks. (I’m a mechanical engineer, and notice when things are off by .020", etc., and I’m pretty convinced a straight section can’t be laid with spikes and code 70 rail in any reasonable manner. I’m about 80% convinced at this point.
Hi Again: From your pictures I see that some of the spike heads are twisted to one side. This suggests to me that you my need to move the spikes just alittle father from the base of the rail. Also drive the spike straight down. Driving it at an angle can push the base of the rail. I always used Homosote for my road bed when I was hand laying track. It holds the spikes very well and is easy to drive the spike. I’ll tell you the truth, your track laying looks very good to me. All my hand layed track is in 7 1/2 inch gauge now. I may do some more in HO for the iron mines though.
I hand laid about 100 feet of code 70 back many years ago. I used the Walthers Goo method. A small bead of Goo on the bottom of the rail then the rail carefully put in place and guaged immediately. As I was checking the guage with a NMRA gauge, I would go along the rail and heat the top of the rail with a small (25 watt) soldering iron. It stays put! I gave up MR for about 15 years after my wife died. Now that I am back in the hobby, I still have code 70 in a few places on the layout from over 20 years ago. It is still in guage and straight as an arrow.
Howmus, I’m sorry to hear about your loss. I can’t even begin to imagine.
Thanks for the track tips.
I’ll likely tryout some gluing techniques. There seem to be pros and cons with every method I’ve read about. (spiking, soldering, and glueing).
I’m anxious to try out the gluing next. One nice thing is the roadbed could be cork, which makes for much easier changing/reconfiguring the track plan, as I wouldn’t have to re-cutout the roadbed cookie-cutter style from the lauan plywood. The roadbed would also be quieter, which is nice.
When hand laying my first code 70 rail, I had some of the same problems. I’ve never tried anything but spiking, so I can’t comment on gluing or soldering.
What I learned spiking rail:
gauges hold rail in place until rail is spiked down.
When I insert the spike, it is not physically touching the rail base. Very close, but not quite touching. If it touches, you will drive the rail sideways (sometimes you actually want to do that).
On straight track, drive a pair of opposing spikes at one end of the rail piece, then go to the far end of the rail. Drive a pair of spikes there. Now go the middle of the rail piece. Using a straight edge and eye sight spike the middle of the piece of rail. Sometimes I had to pull spikes and redo at this point. Other times, I deliberately drove the rail a hair by starting the spike against the rail base. Keep spiking at half distances between spike pairs until sufficient spikes are in place (your choice).
On curved track, I pre-curve the rail, then proceed as with straight rail. Trying to bend the rail as I spiked led directly to wavy track. I spaced the inside rail on the ties by eye, and then spiked it first.
Snug the spike head to the rail base, but no further (no pushing down). If you have sanded your tie tops level after laying the ties, but before spiking the rail, the ties should provide enough support to prevent vertical kinking if you just snug the spikes (my experience). To me, sanding the tie tops after laying ties and ballast is a critical step.
When I used redwood for roadbed, or used undiluted white glue to glue the ties, I found resulting hard spots “guided” the spikes in directions I did not want them to go. I found thinned white or yellow glue (or a softer glue) and Homasote roadbed was not susceptible to this problem.
Having never done any code 70 track, I’m reading this with interest. However, I am unable to tell if the track is kinking vertically or horizontally? If vertically is it possible the roadbed is giving slightly under the pressure of inserting the spike, and then relaxes after the spike is in but the rail doesn’t recover?
Fred, so you’re saying your spike heads never touch the rail base? Very interesting. So essentially, your track is “floating”. Now, of course, in reality, since material bends, etc., and with friction, etc., your track will stay in place even though the railheads aren’t touching the base of the rail.
That is extremely interesting, and warrants some more spike experimentation on my part!
I must have misquoted myself again. The spike heads touch the rail base, the spike shank does not (but very close).
I do not drive my spikes completely vertically; they are at a slight angle towards each other on either side of the rail base.
In driving a spike, if the shank is touching the rail base as it is pushed down, it will move the rail sideways slightly away from the spike. That is why the shank is started a few thousandths away from the rail base. The spike head is pushed home against the upper surface of the rail base, and holds the rail in place with slight downward pressure. I find that because of the angle and the side pressure exerted by the spike head that I need to spike in pairs on either side of the rail. A given tie will have 0, 2, or 4 spikes.
The smaller the rail, the greater the danger of vertical kinking by pushing the spike head downward with too much force. That is why I was saying to just snug the spike head against the rail base, and no more. Code 70 rail is pretty reasonable to work with unless you are using the Kadee spiker. Unless carefully adjusted the Kadee spiker spring would drive the staple with too much force and consistently deform the Code 70 rail. Code 55 requires more care; the rail just doesn’t have the inherent strength to resist vertical deformation when spikes are pushed down with force. Code 40 is just plain touchy stuff - it can kink just by bein
A decade or so ago, on a previous layout done in Code 70, I handlaid (just for kicks and to see if I could) a siding on wood ties. After fastening down the ties with glue, and sanding the tops and re-staining, I used the method recommended by Walthers for their Goo:
Spread the Goo in a thin layer all along the bottom of the rail.
Allow the Goo to dry at least a half hour or so. More is better.
Lay one rail in place, by heating the rail with a soldering iron, running the hot iron along the rail as you lay it. It will lay down solidly.
Using a couple of 3-point gauges, position the second rail (similarly treated with Goo), and heat it with the iron. Move the gauges along as you heat the rail.
When the track is laid, add spikes to your taste, being careful to avoid touching the rail base with the shank of the spike. Tighten the head only enough to barely touch the rail. Be sure to use the thin-shank spikes intended for code 70 or code 55 rail. Spikes are cosmetic only here. Ballast as needed.
The above method will give solid track that won’t move, and is relatively quick. The key here is to let the Goo dry completely. Then when heated, it becomes a really strong instant contact cement, that tightens up again as soon as it cools, which is practically immediately.
The spike heads touch the rail base, the spike shank does not (but very close).