Ugh… Well I am so glad to have found a forum to ask all these questions and I have to say I am so excited to be back out in the yard and have the trains running again. It’s been a long time. I need some ideas where to get track ties or any suggestions of what to use in place of them. I acquired some track from an old friend and the ties have fallen off the rails. It looks like I have a giant pile of rails waiting.
My other question is, for any of the rails that have been misshaped of the years, how do I get them back to the shape that they were, easily?
As IRB asks, if you can tell us the code, we can recommend type of ties (wood or plastic) which rail bender to use to restore original curvatures. Generally you will want to slightly straighten it a bit, then re-establish the curve. (i.e. if it was a 4 ft curve, run it through the rail bender a bit backwards to a 5 ft curve, the tighten it back to a 4 ft curve. This will remove any little kinks and twists the rails may have picked up whilw in storage.
Yes, If you have the RIGHT rail bender, you can straighten bent rails. I have done this several times.
If it’s Aristocraft track, it has a lifetime warranty, and you can get new ties free.
Easy way to tell is that there are screws underneath that secure(d) the rail to the ties, and the ends of the rails are tapped for small screws. This will narrow it down to USAT or Aristo track… you should be able to find some ties with the manufacturer’s name.