Does anyone have experience with both methods? Any preference?
Although I like the simplicity of spiking, I like the idea of soldering, because it would allow me to easily use woodland scenics roadbed or cork, instead of homasote or wood.
I have some experience with spiking rail, none with soldering. (will the solder joints hold up on code 83 & 70 rail?)
With the cost of commercial turnouts, I’m determined to handlay all of my track & turnouts. (just getting back into the hobby after a 10-15 year hiatus (college, work, etc…). I never imagine I’ll have a large layout, so the time consuming part of it doesn’t matter much to me.
It seems there’s more “permancence” to the roadbed with spiking, whereas with soldering, the roadbed doesn’t have to be such a substantial material.
I like the idea of changing my mind about a track plan, peeling up the handlaid track (which is very cheap), easily peeling up & relocating the roadbed, and then relaying it, etc.
When you say PCB are you talking Poly Chlorinated Biphenyls? If so I would do some reading on the health hazards when heated. Though I am no expert in this area, and I have never heard of PCB ties when I hear PCB’s and heat in the same sentence the alarm bells go off. This may be paranoia but then again as a former safety officer, ignorance isn’t neccesarily bliss. Again I could be wrong but heat has the potential to release the chlorines (mustard gas was made from this stuff).
Fergie,
Unless I’m mistaken, Kevlar is referring to Printed Circuit Board ties, such as those available from Clover House: http://www.cloverhouse.com
While I believe you’re correct in cautioning against polychlorinated biphenols, it illustrates one problem with acronyms,
Bob
NMRA Life 0543
(*Corrected misspelled word - one day after cataract surgery.)
If you’re talking about soldering printed circuit board crossties as every one on the layout, that’s a mighty big chore. Using a PCB crosstie for every fifth or sixth one might not be too hard, but you’re still talking about hundreds of crossties that will need to be cut and soldered.
A friend of mine just completed his layout using hand-laid track with spikes in every fifth crosstie, except near turnouts where he used more, and they are holding the rail in place sufficiently. He had to use a Dremel and small drill bit to make a pilot hole for every spike, or the crossties would split. You would have to use more PCB crossties near turnouts, too.
Cutting copper-clad PCB into crossties is not going to be easy, and you’re going to need hundreds, if not thousands, of them. You must also cut a notch in the copper between the rails so there is no electrical continuity through the crossties, and then there’s the problem of darkening the copper cladding and solder after the track is in place so the whole layout doesn’t have a bright copper shine to it. Soldering PCB crossties to rail could be done using an off-layout jig for straight track sections, but curves would have to be done on the layout and would be difficult.
PCB crossties are OK for off-site construction of hand-made turnouts, but I don’t think I would want to undertake the task of using them for an entire layout.
I know nothing about PCB ties. Ive worked on the good ole esspee for 42 years and every tie that was laied was of the wooden nature. I’m restarting a model HO soon after a whole bunch of years off, like you work etc. My point is, like you, pleanty of time. SOOO- I’m hand laying wooden ties. Anyone have a jig?
I handlaid a small section of track and a curved turnout. Like Cacole stated there is no need to spike every tie. I too spiked every five tie except for the turnout, then every third until I came to the points, then every tie.
John Lee: I made a jig on the table saw. My saw blade is 1/8" which equates to 10 7/8" in HO scale which is a little large but when you compare it to commercial flex track it is quite close.
To create the jig, I used a piece of 1/2" plywood (birch veneer) 24"x6". I started by making one pass thru the saw ( I use a crosscut sled). I then marked the gap between the ties that I wanted onto the sled. Continue to make your passes with the line up and you have a jig 24" long and wide enough that you can make your turnouts.
I am making a five turnout section in my staging area and I am using all ties 16’ scale length. Once all the ties are laid out, I will trim the ties to length before sanding.
As Cacole suggest don’t use PC board for every tie.
Pre cut ties are available from Russ Clover (jrbarney’s link) as well as other sources. Both standard length ties and longer switch ties are available. It is easy to cut longer ties to length where necessary. Cutting through the copper to insulate the rails from each other is easy. A quick swipe with a saw or motor tool will it. If you use a motor tool be careful to not cut through the tie.
PC board ties are very useful where you want to use smaller (closer to scale ) rail and not have to worry about the wheel flanges hiting spikes, especially useful in smaller scales loke N. It makes very durable track.
There have been a number of articles in the model railroad press.
Slick set up but (IMHO) It’s too expensive if you only need a few turnouts or want a few in different sizes. I calculated a price of $122 for a standard #6 T.O. set up for Micro Engineering code 83 rail, including pre cut PCB ties and a frog grinding jig, but not including rail.
The frog rail grinding jig is handy, but I think it would wear out since it’s made out of cold rolled steel and not tool steel or some other hardend steel.
However, I suppose it would be good for a club that needs hand laid turnouts by the gross or you want to manufacture hand laid turnouts.
I use both spikes and solder for my handlaid track. I solder rails to PC Board ties on turnouts, diamonds, and anywhere that gauge is important. It seems to hold tighter and is much easier to adjust than spikes, but cutting the ties is not quite fun, and they’re harder to match to wood ties than, well, wood ties. They also allow the track construction to be removable from the subroadbed.
On the rest of my track, I use spikes as they look better and go down faster. The ties are glued to foam board subroadbed (the pink stuff) and spikes go directly in. No holes, no hard subroadbed, and I’ve found that the ties hold the spikes just fine. If it matters, I use Micro Engineering ties and spikes. I think the best handlaying method is to employ a combination of multiple methods where they work best. Don’t limit yourself to one technique.
And on the construction of turnouts, don’t use an NMRA gauge. The NMRA standards allow quite a bit of wiggle room in the gauge, and that can be problematic in turnouts. Instead, use a set or two of high quality trucks to gauge things out, as they are what will be travelling through the trackwork. It’s noted that certain prototype roads (If I recall correctly, the Santa Fe at least) actually tightened gauge in their turnouts a quarter inch to guide the wheels better.