hi all;been building the walthers ho car /diesil shop,it has groves formed in the floor for rails but nothing in the instuctions on installing rail or what rail to use . any one delt with this ? assuming you remove your ties from the rail your useing ,what do you use to attach the rail to the plastic base ? thanks J.W.
ing
I had wrestled with those questions also when I first got the building. I used commercial rail, no ties attached, you can buy rail in 3ft lengths at LHS, and I used superglue to hold them down in the groves. I did not use the fast drying type, but a slower one, putting weight down on top of the rails while drying. I cut the rails off at each end of the floor and then attach flex track to complete the the trackwork. Be sure to weather/dirty up the floor before building the structure over it. also clean the railheads so you will not have dead spots. The 3ft rail ensures you don’t have joints inside the structure.
Bob
I beleive most Walthers kits are designed for code 83 rail. The bottom web is the critical point.
I pre-weathered/rusted mine code 83 and just used Walthers Goo. Only reason I did was because thats how they tell you to secure Micro Engineering bridge track. I used three sections of flex track and just cut the ties off for the length of the shop using and exacto blade. Reason for doing this was I built another structure that had rails inside in and ended the track at the door. This proved ot be some what of a problem when trying to attach the approach track. So this time I left the excess hanging out and made the connections farther away so they were noticeable and I had good electrical connection.
I just stripped the rail out of some flex track and slid it into the floor grooves – it didn’t need to be glued or fastened in any way because once the building is put into place there will be no pressure exerted onto it.
thanks to all,it all makes since. like the point on useing flex and keeping the joints away from the building,I would of cut em to the size of the floor and never thought of the problems after the fact. thanks to all J.W.
Look in the October 2007 issue of MR, the ABC’s of Engine Shops. It has an article about building the Walther’s diesel shop, including how to install the track.
You have received a lot of good advice so far. Here is one more piece of advice. Do not glue the roof in place until after you have secured the rail in place. I know this for a fact, but don’t ask me how I know.