Is there a book out there about hand laying track using wood ties? I’m only planning on a small door-sized layout and think I would like to at least try to have all track hand layed, including turnouts.
Is it easy doing it with out a jig? Does anyone make jigs specifically for wood ties? Is it harder to use spikes or just to glue? Should I use both?
There have been many articles in Model Railroader over the years on different methods of hand laying track. There is also a Handlaid Track Yahoo Group (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/handlaidtrack/) which can offer advice and support.
Spiked, soldered, and glued construction all work. Each method has its adherents. You will probably come to (if not already) prefer one method over the others. That doesn’t mean you won’t use a combination when the situation demands. I’m a fan of spiked construction, but that’s me - and in HO and HOn3.
Many of us learned to hand lay track before Fast Tracks and their jigs existed, so yes it’s reasonably easy to do. Hand laying track is not brain surgery. But it does require patience to keep at it until things are right. Only then does the superior quality and reliability of handlaid track get released. Aside from files, needle nose pliers, 40 watt soldering iron, the only special tool is a “piano key” jig to speed up laying ties.
For my HO track, this is a 9" length of 1x2 with ties glued where I want the space between the ties to be. I place my actual ties in the spaces on the jig, run a piece of masking tape over the ties, and remove the tie string to place in the spread wet glue on the layout. The masking tape is removed and final spacing and alignment of the ties is done before the glue dries.
Hand laying in N scale brings a couple of things to think about:
No worries there. I don’t like the tall flanged wheels. Besides the issues mentioned they just don’t look good. Few weekends ago I got an older Austrialian version Atlas whale body tank car and it came with the tall flanged metal wheel sets. First thing I did was changed out the trucks to newer Atlas sets with plastic wheel sets and magnetic knuckle couplers. The original trucks had T-shank Rapido couplers. Yucko. I’m still thinking over track size and just how realistic I want. reastilistic sized rail, different size rail for different track lines, all that. Heck I’m not even sure how I would do the different height balast if I went that far. At he least it would all be code 55 rail with different height ballast to represent the different lines like main line, passing sidings, spur tracks and such. At the most it would prototypical, code 70 rail and tall ballast for main, code 55 rail and medium ballast for passing sidings, and code 40 rail with little or no ballast height fro industrial spurs. If I do stick with my one idea of following the “Dallas On A Door” feature from MRP there would be lots of opportunety to model industrial spur tracks with low code 40 rail set right on the sub roadbed. I also need to consider how realistic I will get with tie spacing, and the possibility of handlaying specialty turnouts like cross-overs or curved turnouts.
Being my first layout and first ordeal with handlayed track I think I would make it somewhat easier and work more with code 70 and/or code 55 track and just represent different track lines with ballast height and possibly tie spacing. Mostly likely I will concern myself more with these matters when it gets closer to actually laying track.
Thanks for the link Fred. I joined the group today and can’t wait till I’m accepted so I can check it out. My wife has given me the go ahead to have some of my train stuff on display so a sceniced display shelf is also in the possibities, and a photographic m
My favorite guide on handlaid track is “Birth of a Turnout” by Jack Work. It was an article in April 1963 Model Railroader. Copies of the article can be ordered from Kalmbach or the NMRA Library (you don’t have to be a member). I still do most of what Jack recommended.
Fast Tracks (http://www.handlaidtrack.com/) has excellent videos on hand laying turnouts using Fast Tracks jigs, tools, and supplies. The video on flangeways and check gauge is particularly good at explaining key track dimensions. Note that you do not have to use Fast Tracks tools or methods to hand lay track. Proto87 Stores (http://www.proto87.com/) sells some very nice spikes that are much better quality and smaller than the MicroEngineering micro spikes you find in the LHS.
I think building a display or DCC programming track is an excellent way to introduce yourself to hand laying track.
Make sure you use a roadbed that is soft enough to spike into. Don’t ask me how I know this. Home Depot has 10ft 3.5" wide Homasote strips that are perfect for a display track (after cutting to width) for $3.79. Look in the concrete section; the strips are used for concrete forms and expansion gaps.
From Jack Work’s article, I glue the ties and ballast at the same time. Depending on the thickness of your ties and height of your ballast, you may want to apply additional diluted matte medium or white glue to hold the upper layers of ballast in place. Sand the tops of your ties level before spiking the rail (also in the Jack Work article).
Wear safety glasses while spiking. Hopefully, you’ll never send a spike flying. But…
Enjoy. Trust me, it is not as difficult as fiddling with coupler installations or a locomotive mechanism. Many find hand laying track restful and stress-relieving. Others are just the opposite, and handlaid track is not for them.
Fred W