How does one build a railroad crossing over a curved piece, and a strait piece of flex track?
Thanks
Justin
you could use plaster to build the road and crossing just make sure you keep the track clean and room for the weels to fit between the plaster and track
Do you mean a road crossing (for cars and trucks) or two tracks crossing each other – for a railroad crossing (two tracks crossing) there are no commercially available crossovers that have both curved and straight track. If you don’t want to undertake building your own, the only option is to use whatever degree of crossover is available that has straight track and adapt your curve to fit.
To make railroad crossings (curved or straight) I need just a few things. #1 are a couple of lengths of waxed dress shoestring cut a couple of inches longer than I need. #2 is a small amount of RoseArt modeling clay, the color isn’t important and #3 is some wall joint compound. I place the lengths of waxed shoestring against the inside edge of the rails and secure the ends in place with some modeling clay. This also closes off the ends of the mold. In any area where the shoestring tends to stand away from the side of the rail I put a small piece of the clay between the rail and the string and gently press the string against it. Once this is done I place some of the joint compound in the gap between the strings until the gap is filled. I allow the compound to dry then gently pull the strings out and remove the clay. Quick and easy.
There are a dozen ways to do it but all of them involve handlaying track.
I would use PC board ties. Get some rail that matches the flextrack you are using, you can strip the rail from a piece of flextrack if you want.
Get a large piece of paper, enough to cover the crossing area and about 6 to 8 inches in all directions. teporarily attach it to the layout so it is over the crossing area.
Position the curved route. Fold the paper over the curved flex and trace over the tops of the rail with a pencil, by rubbing the “lead” portion along the tops of the rails. Without moving the alignment of the paper, fold it out of the way, remove the curved flex and position the straight flex. Fold the paper back down over the location and trace the straight rails.
You now have a template of how the rails should cross.
Remove the templat, and rubber cement it to a flat surface. Position PC board ties with rubber cement and the solder the curved rails to the PC board ties. Install guardrails to the curved route.
Using a motor tool with a cutoff wheel, cut through the curved rails where the straight rails cross and solder the straight rails in place, then the straight guard rails.
Use a motor tool to cut flangeways through the straight rails. Solder the rails together at the crossings. Clean out the flangeways. Cut whatever rail gaps you need for the method of powering it you want. Attach feeder wires and the control method.
If you have never handlaid track before expect to practice some before you get it right.
Or you could simply use these, they also come in straight lengths as well. Depending on what your using for subroadbed you can either use the same material and sand, file shape it etc. to create the roads on either side or simply use some patching plaster or hydrocal etc. a crossing on a country road would be constructed differently then in a city. In the towns and cities I simply use .030 styrene sheets cut into the desired length and width of the road you’ll have to shim the road right where it metes the crossing a little with maybe a piece or two of the styrene to meet grade crossing level. Paint & weather to get the look you want.
We have used the Blair Line crossings on our club layout at Boothbay Railway Village. We do a couple of simple modifications. One is to bevel the ends so they will not catch a coupler trip pin that is a bit too low. The other is to darken them with a wash; crossings like this were made of creosote treated wood so the out of the box “new wood” color is not correct.
Good question, so check out Trolleyville Schoolhouse for a handful of the articles called “Paving Streets” and “Building a Curved Crossing…” where both scenarios are covered. It is easy to overlook how prototype traction are railroads that traveled both paved city streets, interchanges with Class I railroads, and countryside right-of-ways.
Yup out of the box it looks like a truck dropped a load of new lumber I just used India Ink & alcohol and washed em down with the exception of one scene where I have a road leading to now where and an section of track planned for future use where I have the track gang installing a new crossing. A la John Allen. I love seeing when he did stuff like that. The dinosaur wrangling had to be one of the best.
I use asphalt roofing shingles for all my roadways. It is just the right height to fit between the rails and can be cut very easily with tin shears. I have many grade crossings some spanning 5 tracks in between turnouts. You can flip the shingles for textured or the smoother side and paint/weather any color you like.A bundle of black shingles cost less than $20 and makes a lot of roadways and parking lots. They have been down on my layout for years with no problems. If you decide to change anything pull out the HO track nails and you can re-use the pieces again. They have enough flex in them to curve right up to HO track mounted on cork roadbed. I have a rather large HO on top and O-gauge on the bottom layout with many feet of roadway as I model more of a heavy industrial/urban setting representing the PRR. Add some grade crossing signs, weeds, etc. and it looks pretty good. Good Luck!!
I use Evergreen 1/16" square tile to build modern rubber crossings. Cut a 7/16" wide piece the width of the road to go between the rails. Cut a 1/4" wide piece, also the width of the road, to go outside of the rails. This may need to be shimmed with styrene strip. Paint everything flat black and glue the plastic to the ties with plastic cement.
Curved crossings are made with short straight pieces; the ends are beveled to fit the crossing.
Great reference tgindy thanks.
Alan
This may seem a little far out, but I use it all the time on my N scale layout. I cut the top off a styrofoam egg carton and cut off a piece a bit wider and longer than the crossing I want to make. Then I press it firmly down on the rails to make indentations in it from the rails. I cut it out, cutting inside the indentations by about a millimetre. Then I cut it to length and bevel the ends. I paint it to represent asphalt or wood or concrete and glue it in place between the rails.
There’s lots more uses for styrofoam egg cartons. I cut the tops into strips to make roads. The tops go into landforms like hills and gentle rises in the ground. The bottoms where the eggs go are good for mixing paint (solvent based paint will eat through the styrofoam but it takes a while), holding small amounts of glue, holding small parts, and more.
I make my roads with Durhams Water Putty. I add a bit of vinegar to the mix to slow hardening and give me more time to work with it. I bring it right up to the outside of each rail of the crossing, but I don’t use it between the rails. To get a good surface, use a foam brush and a cup of water, and constant smooth and shape the surface with the wet foam brush as it sets. (It’s only about 15 minutes, even with the vinegar.) This lets me get a nice road surface right up to the rails. I clean the rail head after it’s completely hard.
For the space between the rails, I cut a strip of styrene to shape. I put some scrap strips down first, between the tie plates, and then glue the full-sized piece to those. I paint the putty road with multiple washes of gray acrylic, and the styrene with straight acrylic of the same color. This matches the color, and makes it less obvious that the “pavement” isn’t the same all the way across.