I realize that good track laying should make the use of rerailers (the permanent type, not the ones that sit on top of the track) unnecessary but I have seen layouts utilizing them. For the unusual case where something on the track or a defective car truck, etc. may cause a derailment would it be a good idea to place rerailers at the entrance to tunnels, bridges or other locations where a derailment could cause damage to locomotives and scenery?
If you use rerailers, what brand do you use and where do you place them. I have also seen a simple homemade rerailer made from a thin piece of wood that just fits inside the rails with a taper at each end. I’m thinking this could be just as functional as the manufactured ones and not as noticeable as especially the Atlas type.
I strongly recommend them (Atlas) in tunnels and staging/storage areas that are unscenicked and/or out of sight.
On a previous layout I camoflauged some as road crossings, and have to admit that with some flat black/brown paint, gravel and groundcover, they worked out pretty nice.
Same here. I have a pair in double tracked tunnel for just in case and a pair near my control panel for putting cars on. They might look ugly but I am will to give that up for easy of putting my cars and locos on the track.
I don’t have any rerailers on my layout, but I have noticed that I can roll a derailed truck over turnouts and get it to rerail, so I suspect that homemade rerailers may be possible.
When I built my giant 4-track helix (actually two stacked semi-circles connected by 24"-long straight sections to ease the grade), I put rereailers in each straight section on each track. Though I was pretty careful with the trackwork and never did have a derailment (though I didn’t use it all that much), I figured the re-railers were cheap enough insurance…
I have one each Atlas code 100 rerailer in place on a hidden yard lead, just in advance of five sets of facing points. It was installed six years ago and has yet to rerail anything. It isn’t even my first choice for putting cars on the rails. A trailing point move through points with my (non-patented) soft point-holding system is easier.
OTOH, I have been liberal about installing guard rails; at joints between removable modules and fixed track, in advance of facing points (curved turnout on a 610mm radius curve) and in other places where I thought tracking would be improved by getting the inner-wheel flange into the act. Keeping the flanges between the rails is preferable to putting them back between the rails.
I have seen prototype grade crossings which exactly duplicate the rail/surroundings geometry of model rerailers. Never did see if one would re-rail a wayward wheel…
In addition to several Atlas rerailers I also use some Jiffy Rerailers, all for putting rolling stock on the rails.
The Jiffy Rerailers are small plastic ones that insert between the rails. They are much less noticeable than the Atlas, but require a little bit more attentionn when railing a car.
Based on these home made ones should work just as well…
Ummm, you guys are not going to start this again, are you? I hope the next thing we see won’t be terms and conditions and a limit of liability on the 100% certainty that there is a suspicion that something might be possible.
This is the video for the homemade rerailer in N scale. Should be simple enough to make in HO scale also.
For the jokesters in the crowd: DISCLAIMER—This is not my video. I do not vouch for the quality or performance of this application. Results may vary with modeling skills and methods. Also, derailments are prototypical. Rerailments require a little more effort in 1:1.
However, I am open to comments if anyone has tried to make and use one of these.