Picked up a piece of shelving material tonight, over the weekend I’m hoping to hit up the LHS and pick up a couple of Atlas rerailers and a couple pieces of straight track, plus a pair of Kadee height gauges. I always wanted to build a test track but never did. Rerailers to make it easy to set cars on the track, height guages at each end so I don;t have to pick the cars up and turn them around - and screwed on so I don’t misplace them! Also, markings at measured distances form the couple gauges marked in OUNCES per NMRA recommended weights for a give car length. I don;t really car how many inches long my cars are - I’d have to have the chart handy to look up the wight then. So why not just mark the distances in weight, if the car comes to this line, it should weigh 4.5 ounces - stick it on my scale and see if it’s right. The whole thing is only 3’ long and with the track securely fastened as well as the coupler gauges screwed on, I can stand up up out of the way when not in use.
yeah, I’ll take pictures and put them on my web site when I build it.
Sounds pretty much like what I built, except for the height gauges at both ends. That sounds like a darn good idea. I’d never risk programing for DCC on a spur to the main line, even with a toggle switch attached
If you do what I’m doing and also want to make a program track out of it - remember to gap the ends in front of the Kadee height gauges - they’re metal and a dead short across the track. Was always funt o turn on the DCC track power and have an instant short indication…oops, was checking couplers and forgot to put away the tools…
I was going to get all fancy and hook power into the track, fed by a switch and have 4 terminals to connect to DCC track and DCC program via said DPDT toggle, but then again, clip leads work well… I might still make the super deluxe version later. Hmm, a 3-position switch for DCC Program, DCC Run, and DC power - with an ammeter and voltmeter built in. Or plug-in connections for my meter probes instead of buying meters.
Back in August of 2005, David Popp did such a thing in the “Project Illustrated” section of Model Railroader. I’ve been meaning to build one myself to test cars and to use as a DCC programming track. If you plan on using your test track as a DCC programming track, be sure to either keep the coupler gauges unattached or gap the rail so that no shorts occur and you ruin your decoders.
I made a couple of these. I used a good piece of 1 X 3 as the base. It is just wide enough for the re-railers. You can put a screw-eye into the end of it if you want so that you can hang the thing out of the way when it’s not being used.
Concerning the height gages I also used two, but on one of them I cut off that little lip that is supposed to be the clearance height for the Kadee actuating wire. I always like to make sure that the coupler knuckle height is correct first and then correct the wire if necessary. I have found that sometimes the wire hits the lip, so I adjust the wire, and then the knuckle ends up being low. Then after I adjust the car height, I have to go back and re-bend the wire. With that piece cut off, I just make one adjustment at a time.
My test track is only 18 inches long. I figured smaller was better when I built it. It has two Kadee coupler height gauges, a 58 and a 5 on either end. It fits very nicely in the bottom of my tool box as well.
Wow, really? Last one I bought was about 5 years ago and it still had the old-style coupler to install (the one with the elongated slot in the shank and a small coil spring to go between that and the inside post - and then I had to use a screwdriver to peen over the rivet to hold the lid on. Plastic you say? oh well, I guess everything else is plastic these days as well.
As for the trip pins - I don’t use magnetic ramps so I usually don;t care if they are too high. Or if I do have magnets in a location I use a pair of little button rare-earth types so the adjustment isn’t nearly as critical as with the low-strength kadee magnets. I DO use only Kadee couplers though, the imitations aren’t nearly as good.
