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Winston-Salem Southbound Series: Handlaying track - Part 3
Thank you for this series on hand laying track. I’ve layed track before, but used switch kits from a company called Simpson. Way back when, I built a tie jig of wood from an article by David L. Waddington in M.R. in the late 40’s or early 50’s. He called it a piano jig, I guess because the ties looked like piano keys.
Bart Sorrentino
Will the next video show putting down the rails?
What advantages do you find by putting the tape under the ties, as opposed to setting them in the jig and then just laying a piece of tape over the top of the ties? I’ve done the later in the past with good results, but I’ve never tried your method.
Awesome
Great jig idea David. Amazing how useful and important jigs are to producing multiple copies in industry and model railroads. That is a good one for track laying, anymore of them come to mind?
Awesome
This is a great series. I have heard about hand laid track but figured it was one of those “lost art” things that disappeared with flex track. Your team has great imagination in designing this series.
David, I really liked how you formed your own jig, and that you can use it for more than just hand laying straight track. We’ve always had an issue in S Scale coming up with turnouts, and the cost of turnout jigs is cost prohibitive if you were using more than 1 style of left and right handed jigs (as well as just doing a couple). This makes creating your own turnout (as well as wyes) jigs much more economical. Very informative. I look forward to the episode when you make and install your points and frogs!
Another idea is to use a corner box-cutting jig on a table saw to cut slots for the ties. No glue needed. Saw it on a YouTube video. Just remember to build in clearance so the ties can be easily removed. I like the tape on top method best.
I don’t understand the need for the extra work to put the tape under the ties. I have laid track with ties put together in jigs for years and just placed the ties in the jig and laid the tape over top of them. simple and easy. Then when laying crossover ties, no need to flip them. if you see a right hand crossover you don’t need to second guess yourself as to the way it should be placed.
David
Thank you for the videos on hand laying track. This is something we don’t get to see too often but it is a benefit to those who may be contemplating doing a blend of hand layed trackwork mixed with commercial produced, or even custom made outsourced turnouts.
Regards,
David Menno - Buffalo NY
Hi David!
In this video, you are using a typographer’s rule for measuring type size. (it has that rounded end and different scales). Please share with us how you use this type of ruler, and where can you get one of these nowadays??
Thanks!
The video brings back a lot of memories. In about 1967, I joined the Peninsula Model Railroad Club in San Mateo, CA when they started on a new layout with all hand laid track. Anyone remember the Kadee spiker? We also had a jig but made out of wood and after placing the ties into the jig, we laid a thin strip of masking tape over them and rolled the ties up and stored in a cut down cardboard soda case. There was always someone making up rolls of ties because we ended up with a 30’ by 60’ layout complete with a dual-guage branch line and two large yards. Can’t recall the year, but the club layout graced the pages of Model Railroader with a cover shot to boot. Still have the magazine stored away! Thanks again.
When I watched the previous video with Tony Koester laying out the ties one-by-on, I thought “Tony lays out the ties the same way I do.” I almost skipped the video with the jig - but, I am so glad I watched it. Hand-laying ties on my turnouts has been a pain-point on my Monarch Branch of the Denver and Rio Grande Narrow Gauge. I used the Turnout Templates from Trout Creek Engineering and they are accurate. But, transferring the data to the tie-laying process was hard. I had to eyeball the tie-spacing. The big “Ah-Ha” Moment came when I saw David putting the ties in the turnout jig. I have been stuck at a critical point in my layout (which is why I am watching this series). The narrow gauge separates from the dual-gauge line with a pre-fab - but, still hand-laid - turnout from Trout Creek Engineering. I can’t wait to see the next video in the series. I am so grateful that you put in videos that preserve the techniques of advanced model railroading.