E-Z track durability (New Member)

[webster]

I have had a 4' x 10' set-up for just over a year now (my second layout since beginning the hobby).  We have recently re-done our basement and I now have an area to permanently set up a new and larger layout.  I have two boys getting hooked on this hobby along with myself so I'm trying to please all three of us.  I am an avid crafter and artist so making buildings and scenery do not trouble me, but track does.  My current set-up has Atlas track permantly placed.  However, we heat with wood in the winter and the temperature fluctuations are a real challenge.  I'm really starting to have to trouble with the track and I'm wondering weather or not a system like the E-Z track will hold up better under the expansion and contraction because it is attached to its own trackbed.  If I do go with the E-Z track, when constructing bridges and such, does the track come off the road bed?  I know Bachmann has an E-Z track layout book.  Would this be a good investment?

[Jhanecker2]

Webster :  EZ track does not come off the roadbed easily.  However if you are using atlas track you can use it with EZ track  since it connects together with rail joiners.  This applies if you are using Code !00 Atlas as EZ track is also Code 100.  How is your current track fastened to your bench work ? What type of underlayment are you using ?  There are relatively few bridges that use EZ track . The current EZ track layout book is adequate but not definitive ,  I have a copy and enjoyed it .   However I also have good number of the atlas track layout books found them it be more helpful and better for planning layouts.  Both systems have their pros & cons .  You can use both together to make up for deficiencies in either. Expansion & contraction problems are usually caused by humidity effecting benchwork made worse by temperature fluctuations . I would suggest that you seal all wood work with paint or shellac to reduce adsorption .

[NarrowMinded]

If you were to leave the eztrack free floating on your layout I think it would solve some (not all) of your extreme temp change issues, but as mentioned it will not look as "real" as ballasted track.

As far as bridges go simply cut off the snap in part and use rail joiners as mentioned.

For my girls track I took one piece of eztrack and removed the track and ties, cut 2" pieces off of the ends, I then glued them to the bottom of an Atlas girder bridge so they could use it with eztrack.  

To line it up perfectly I first connected the eztack with rail joiners to the bridge. then I took the 2" section with rail and ties removed put a spot of glue on it and snapped it into the eztrack, let it dry over night and presto an eztack girder bridge.


NM

[jward]

what is your track laid on? your choice of subroadbed will determine how much trouble you have with your track in a situation like this than the choice of track will.

as an example, a while back i was resotring a layout given to me. it was laid on homasote and my cellar at the time was an area of high humidity and temperature fluctuated at least 20 degrees over the year. i had all kinds of trouble with the track until i ripped the homasote out and redid everything on white pine. the homasote, even when painted, expanded and contracted, and swelled with moisture. i could never keep my track in guage in certain spots with homasote.

white pine is more dimensionally stable than homasote, takes spikes well, and i had not temperature or humidity related problems with the sections of railroad i redid on white pine. as any of you who have read my posts over the years may recall, i am sold on this material and will use it for all new construction from now on......

[webster]

Thanks so much for your suggestions.  I used an unfinished spruce for the bed with a layer of drywall on top as suggested in one layout book and attached the track directly on top of that.  Changing to the pine and sealing it might help.  I've got a de-humidifier now for the summer months so that should also help.  As I really love the realism with model railroading, it sounds like I should stick with what I'm currently using.   Woodland scenes sells their foam trackbed and I've heard it's supposed to help in this regard.  Has anybody used this and what do you think?

[OldTimer]

Webster,
Could you please let me know the author of the book that suggested drywall for roadbed.  I'll be adding him to my don't buy or recommend list.  Drywall is a horrible material to work with, as anyone who has ever used it for its intended purpose will tell you.   
OldTimer

[mabloodhound]

I would not use the EZ track for your layout with the temperature problems you currently have.   The plastic roadbed will expand/contract at a different rate than the track.
Better to use flex track and allow for the expansion/contraction in the track.   Many have cut/allowed spaces every 6' on the track and it seems to work.   Only trial and error will work as your temperatures may be different.
Allowing movement in the track is the key.

[Joe323]

Our prototypes have the same issues with track expansion.  Maybe CSX could help

[Doneldon]

The discussion about temperature expansion and contraction is meaningless. For the lengths we're talking about here, basically anything less than a monster layout, temperature isn't even a minor consideration unless the fluctuations are huge, like from below zero to 95^o or 100^o above. With the temperature fluctuations we see indoors our rail will vary in length by about .01%. So a 50' length of track, 600 inches, will vary roughly .06" from warmest to coolest, and only about .03" each way from the mean temperature. But for argument's sake, let's use the .06" over 50'. If that 50' is made up of 17 pieces of 3' flex track or hand-laid rail, a gap of just .003' per junction will soak up all of the expansion from longest to shortest. Let's be realistic: we really don't have rails that close together. With sectional track the number of joints is so large that we could have every rail jammed tightly to the next one and still be totally without problems. But what if the track is soldered, you may ask. Well, then we would have that .06" of flex in the track. But that is far, far too little to push our rails under or over gauge. And let's be realistic, too. We don't have 50' sections of unbroken rail, even on large club layouts. We have turnouts, insulated rail joints and that extra give we build in for the moisture expansion to soak up what amounts to approximately 1/100" over 10'.

The real problem is moisture. That's what makes our roadbeds and benchwork change dimension, not temperature. It's like furniture. Did you ever hear anyone complain about how temperature changes ruined their furniture? No, of course not. But ask what humidity did to finishes, joints and frames and there are a whole lot of stories. A 20^o temperature range is trivial. Focus on reducing the effects of moisture changes.   

Webster, you've already started a good moisture fluctuation control problem with your dehumidifier. Seal the undersides of the wood products and you should experience few problems in the future. Remove the lousy drywall and seal up under it before replacing with a structurally stable material like foam insulation and your expansion/contraction problems will be gone forever.     

Yes, 12":1' foot railroads have problems with temperature changes. But look at what those changes are compared to a basement layout. Below zero at night at times over the countryside and for sure at higher elevations, and full sun with temperatures well over 100^o in the summer. Just think of a piece of rail at Flagstaff, Denver or Glacier Park. Extreme cold at night during the winter and rail temperatures as high as 150^o to 170^o on a hot sunny summer day.  If anyone has fluctuations like that in their basement they need to move. Badly. And immediately. Plus, we're talking about tens of feet worth of unbroken rail on our model trains, or at most a couple of hundred feet. The real railroads have tens or hundreds of miles.
                                                                                                                                   -- D

[jward]

the real railroads have found ways to control the direction of expansion, so that the rail expands in width not length. occasionally you will find slip joints where one rail can move against another, they look like switch points but the point part doesn't move.

[mabloodhound]

Of course, Doneldon is correct.   His humidity clarification is right on point.