Need a little advice. Long story short (no pun intended) we have 1 locomotive who’s snow plow is contacting the rails at the start of a 3% incline. Of course the snow plow is made of metal coated with plastic, which has since been scraped off. It’s only an issue at slow speed.
So if it were you, how would you proceed? The simplest solution I can think of is to coat or paint the area with a clear or same color insulating material. The most complex is to rip up that section of track and see if I can rework the transition. There is also replacing the metal snow plow with a pure plastic one (This is a ES44AC by tower 55).
Having gone through the same problems at a transition I decided to do it right and fix the transition. What I thought was a well made transition wasn’t. Moving the transition a few inches and some thin shims made everything much better.
Somewhere or sometime down the road it will getcha again if you don’t fix it.
Mel
Modeling the early to mid 1950s SP in HO scale since 1951
As much as I dread it, I’m inclined to agree with you. So with that being said, how would you go about that process? The transition is basically just 2 9" straight tracks. To the Mk1 mod 0 eyeball it looks like it needs to only come up a few mm.
I’ve had the same problem before. One solution is to raise the snowplow slightly or file off some of the bottom. But as stated above, you are best off fixing the transition. If you start the grade a little earlier you can make it 1.5% and then another 1.5% so it’s not just a sudden change. If you just stretch it out over another 9 inches you should be ok. It’s just too sharp at one point.
I use a 1½” wide putty/mud knife to slide under the ties. I sharpen the edge with a file then gradually work it under the ties. Unless you have some pretty strong ballast glue it should give way to the blade and allow the track to be raised. It shouldn’t take much shimming to improve the transition. Use a straight edge (steel rulers work) until you get a smaller smooth gap in the transition, no abrupt kinks.
I use either thin cardstock or .02” Styrene sheet for shims.
Mel
Modeling the early to mid 1950s SP in HO scale since 1951
I agree with Mel. Soften any caulking or glue with water if that will work, then shove an old kitchen knife or something like a slim jim under the ties and slice back and forth to free about six inches on either side of where you first shoved the knife. Shim on either side of the midpoint, and force some ballast grains under there. Start with the stuff already in place…you can pour more over top the area once you know you have the lifted tracks firmly supported with the older groomed ballast grains that you have attempted to force below and under the lifted ties. Then, re-groom some newer ballast grains, pour some thinned ballast adhesive into it, let it harden, and you should have a better experience.
Don’t forget to wipe off the rails in that area after gluing the ballast.
A lot of the problem can be pointed to the 9" pieces of snap track - they don’t flex vertically. The only “transition” is right at the rail joint. I’d toss the snap track in the transition area and relace it with a pieces of flex track that will also flex vertically giving a much smoother transition into the actual grade.
Mark makes a good point, working with short sections of track at a transition will be very difficult. It will be much easier with a longer section of flex track.
Mel
Modeling the early to mid 1950s SP in HO scale since 1951
