Straightening bent rail?

Garden Railroading
1

I’ve got several pieces of rail that are bent… some worse than others. What is the best way to try to straighten them?

2

other than playing around and trying to bend them by hand, a rail bender works best. The hardest rails to unbend are those that are bent vertically. These can usually just be spiked down to your wood ties with some weights added as you spike them so they don’t pull out. For ready made track, those bent vertically could be nailed or screwed to battens.

3

funny, I was just going to ask that same question.

I have some 4’dia curve sections that are worthless to me, but if they are straight, then I could use them. I did this last night…

I undid all the screws under the track and slid the rails off the ties.

I then snipped some of the connectors that hold the ties to eachother so it could flex.

I then proceeded to straighten out the rails with my hands. I was suprised how easy the rail bent and how smooth too, no kinks. but it started fast but ended slow. where I wasnt able to bend the rails with my hands due to lack of leverage, I used some plyers and they worked well, the trick was to take my time and go easy.

After I felt i had what i could, I slid the rails back on to the ties. it seems to be ok, just not perfect.

I have rails that are 95% straight. they have a few slight waves in them that I am unable to get out. and these are what I imagine you are having troubles with as well…those ever so slight waves in the rail.

There are rail benders out there, and there is a design to make your own with cheap parts from the hardware store right in the GR mag. but even with a rail bender i am not sure we will ever get rid of all of those slight waves in the rails.

so another question that will need to be answered is, how tollerant are the Gscale trains, be it USAtrains, Accucraft, Aristo, Bachmann, Hartland, or what have you; with slightly wavey rails?

Kevin

4

I think gauge is the key. If you straightened the rails one at a time and then put the ties back on as I believe you said you did then you have the possibility of wide and/or narrow gauge in different places. Most trains don’t like that and will abandon the road in most cases. Some wiggle is okay at lower speeds as long as both rails do the same thing. You might check with others in your area to see if anyone has a two-rail bender that will keep the gauge consistent.

My two cents,

Rex

5

you are correct as you think. there is a very large possibility that there are wide spots.

I am only in need of a 6" section at the time being. I will be needing to place an order for a case of 2’ straights in a week or so.

I’d hate to chop up a 5 footer to get a 6" section.

I will spend more time on my section in order to get it straight.

kevin

6

I have done it several times before. To get rid of bothersome little “kinks” in the track:

  1. run the rail through the rail bender and put a sight curve in it (say about 18 ft. Dia.),
  2. run the rail through the bender in the other direction thus reversing the curve in the rail.
  3. do this several more times increasing the diameter of the bend until the rail is straight.
7

ah ha, that makes sense.

I looked at my section. its not too bad really. granted I am taking one section of a 4’ Dia curve and making it straight so there isnt a whole lot of length.

I suppose a rail bender is something that any of us should have. I need to find my article in the GW mag that instructs on how to make one from the hardware store parts.

Kevin

8

  1. About how far back was the article, Kevin, and I’ll start looking.

  2. I’ve now looked back thru October 2004 and haven’t found it in those volumes.

9

I cant remember right off, I will look back through too, but I do know I have it. it might be before 2004 though.

Kevin

10

The Train-Li railbender has worked very successfully for me and several others, “unbending” 4ft and other types of curves into straights. The Train-Li handles both rails at the same time. You may have to cut the plastic strips between ties on the inside of the curve, so it can straighten out. There are threads on MLS by pimanjc and JohnJ, in the Tools forum and Track forum with pictures of this and other railbending projects.

JimC.

11

I had an elk stomp on two sections of track this past fall [xx(]

The rail bent badly and vertically in spots. I was able to straighten the rail but could not remove the vertical bend. So I used my dremel tool with a large cutting disk to cut out the part where the vertical bend was most severe. Then I was left with two useable straight rails.

The small vertically bent sections made excellent scrap rail in my MOW gondola.

My rail is Llagas Creek code 250 nickel silver, if this makes any difference.

12

Alright JimC. Allow me to demonstrate my ignorance. What is MLS?

13

Gobbler,

The article you’re looking for was in the June 2002 issue. MLS stands for My Large Scale, a large-scale community: www.mylargescale.com

14

Thanks, Rene. I have that volume. That rail bender looks simple enough. And I’ll check out the MLS site.