Probably a really dumb question, but I was wondering if I am going to block off a section of track or set it up as a control rail, do I need to use an insulated pin or can I just cut through the rail and leave a narrow gap? Seems to me this would be easier and you could ad blocked sections to your layout without pulling up the track to replace the pins. The track will be screwed down so it should not move a lot or is this just not a good thing to do?
Thanks for your help
Cut the rail, that great big O gauge metal wheel is going to bridge the gap leaving you rather short of real solutions.
If you are three rail, you should not need gaps unless you want to shut off an engine inside it’s stall at the engine house.
If you are using the traditional O gage tinplate track, it is only held in place with three ties. Cutting the rail will reduce its structural integrity. If you were using Ross, then a cut would not be a significant problem due to the tie spacing. I’m not sure what would happen with the traditional S gage track.
BTW, insulated track pins can be made from fat round toothpicks.
What???
David, on the first I think he is reffering to 2 Rail Track. When the metal wheel crosses over the gap, it quickily carries track power to the other block, so, when the wheel crosses the cut, its just like having track with no blocks. Same way insluated track sections work, the axles carrry the current.
On the second, I think he is meaning to create a insualted block that goes into the enginehouse. So, if you are contolling conventional, and you have a 1 track mainline and a siding (The siding is 4 track sections long, and at the end is a engine house) you put a cut or fibre pin in after the switch, and cut of track power to there with a switch. Now you can run a train aroundt the loop with out the one in the engine house going. [:)]
That is what I was thinking. Sorry for any confusion.
I grew up with three rail and probably will return to O gauge at somepoint in the future.
I don’t use any insulating pins, or even metal pins, except at the joints between the separable sections of my layout. I solder most joints and just leave air gaps where I want insulation. Virtually all such gaps are between track sections and give no trouble between ties only 1 inch apart. If the rails are not perfectly aligned, I tweak them as needed.
the main reason for using the pins is for rail alignment and as mentioned before round toothpics work great.
I happen to have some bamboo skewers that fit. I used pieces of those once when I needed some and the hobby shops were all closed. It worked, so I never bothered to buy commercial pins.