I ordered my ME code 55 flex track N scale and turnouts a few days ago, … only #6 of course, because ME can’t get their customer demand priorities straight and provide a variety of turnouts in their line for reasons unbeknownst to me.
For that reason, I’m going to order Atlas code 55 turnouts that are smaller and larger than #6 tomorrow and mix the two on my layout.
I am very excited. I am like a little kid waiting for a Christmas present to open. I am finally going to start laying my track so I can see my trains run.
Well in the meantime, I am thinking like a carpenter anticipating my track just because that’s who I am and what I do.
It seems to me my whole life when I cut a board too long it was okay, I just cut it again a little shorter and everything worked out okay. When I cut a board too short… (oops game over).
I’m getting a little anal here but I’m thinking the same way about my track opposed to a board. The track is not cheap.
I have seen guys in my Model Railroad Club when some of them had problems where the joints got two big, gaps between rail joints. They fixed it with two rail spans but I see that as a problem in my world.
I’m going to cut the new flex track shorter than it comes before I install it… do any of you concur?
I think you are asking if you should cut it a little longer than you need.
I make a mark with a Sharpie. A Sharpie is wider that what you need and it’s impossible avoid some judgement as to where to mark the track. I go for the far edge of the Sharpie mark. Rarely am I off far enough to use the rail nippers. A file or a dremel with a round stone takes care of it.
It is easy to take off another millimeter or two. You can’t ever add a couple of millimeters.
No…I don’t think you’re thinking on the right side of the totem pole here.
If you install your flex track shorter than it’s sold and in time gaps appear.
The new flex is longer then what you installed and you dont have a problem replacing and tightening up the gap with a new full piece of flex track…ya see?
The rails usually shrink somewhere. Somewhere on the layout overtime they shrink. (contract) leaving too wide of a gap between rails somewhere.
OK, I took a walk around to look out the windows at the freezing rain, and I THINK i figured out what you doing.
So, your thinking is, your going to shorten the sections of flex track, (usually do anyway, as it always takes some trimming on one rail or the other) and now that you have the shortened pieces of flex track installed, when you do get a shrinkage problem that opens up wide gaps, you can replace the whole piece with a new one, because that new one wasn’t shortened, so now it’s long enough to fill in what you just removed ?
This is a good discussion. There is some confusion here.
You had some expansion. You could easily remedy that by cutting the rail shorter and everything was fine.
If your layout rails contract and your rails become too short. Your new piece of Flex track replacing that section need to be longer that’s why I want to install new Flex track shorter than it comes
If track ever contracts overtime, you can always replace it with a new piece of flex that is longer because you cut your new Flex track shorter on the installation.
Shorter no problem. If you need longer than available, Big Problem.
If yer rails is shrinkin’, yer washin’ 'em in water that’s too hot!
An’ if that ain’t the case, then whatcher seein’ is yer end-corrosion. That’s when the endsa yer rails start doin’ that corrodin’ thingy where they jest get ate-up by the oxification of yer atmospherics.
Whatcha wanna get is summa yer GERN Fluxcote Rail Dressin’…
…makes ‘em roll better an’ ya don’t get nunna that there shrinkage, neither.
Well, as they say TF, “what ever swings your hammer”, and lay your track the way you want to.
I’ve not had any problems in over 9 years, and I solder everything, every joiner.
If I did have a massive shrinkage problem, I wouldn’t rip up the whole section of track, I’d do as the big boys do, I’d cut out a small section, and solder in a new piece.
Anyway, good to hear your track is on the way, and layout construction can resume. [Y]
Well, the rails aren’t going to shrink, unless you enjoy running your layout in uncomfortably low temperatures. To the point where your tongue would stick if you licked a rail that cold. And then some.
Now, if you have no humidyt control whatsoever, the wood might expand if you get high humidity in Summer and you’ve built the layout in Winter and it’s dry. But then, the opposite can happen if you build when it’s humid and then it gets dry.
What are your building materials? Do you really have that great a variation in the climate of your train room?
All I was saying the whole time is you can always cut a board shorter but you can never make a board longer I’m thinking this applies the same with rails.
When I had a small gap open up I fixed it with epoxy. I use the kind that comes as 2 sticks. I broke off a small piece of each and kneaded them together. Then I pushed a small bit into the gap and used a couple of small picks and screwdrivers to match the rail profile.
