ebtnut,

As I read the reponses in this thread I wondered if anyone was going to point out that energy was being converted to heat, then dissipated through heat sinks/fans. I think that's the truest answer to heart of the original question. You answered it.

Craig

So did I, back when Steve posted it. http://www.bachmanntrains.com/home-usa/board/index.php/topic,1015.0.html

Craig

I always put the ties back so there are no tie-less sections. In places where rail joiners are installed, Rich is absolutely right. I place a gauge on the rails and glue fitted ties beneath the joiners. I leave the gauge in place while the glue cures.

Speaking of gauge:
Super-flex type track tends to have a little play in the gauge because both rails are loose in the cleats. On curves, the tension tends to eliminate that play quite a bit but on straight runs I find myself placing drops of glue on the cleats here and there after installation and gauging.

Craig

Rich,

I'm well aware. I was an electrician, once upon a time. I was thinking that if you are an electrician you probably have a van full of THHN in your driveway, thus my remark.

Craig

Bo,

E-mail me and I'll send you a link you might have use for.

Craig

Bo,

The flex track I use does not have a fixed rail; they both slide with ease. Atlas Superflex is the same way.  I know what you mean about the difficulty of removing ties from flex track with a fixed rail because I used it in my yard a few years ago.

You can't bunch the ties up because they have built in spacers. On one side the spacers are connected in larger groups. This keeps the gauge uniform by preventing the ties from shifting (out of right angles to the rail)as the track is formed into a radius; if the ties shifted, the rails would move closer together. Also, you can't slide the ties past your rail joiners. I have pretty good luck just pressing the rails back into the cleats on the ties after I slide them under the rails, but where joiners are located I grind the cleats off with a dremel and a 1/8" bit.

Craig

I'm with Rich. Stranded wire has a higher load rating so it is the logical choice. But then not everyone has a mobile THHN dispenser in their driveway.

Craig

Gene, yes that's correct. I remove a few ties and slide the rails into the ties of the adjoining track section, then solder them up and replace the missing ties. If necessary, I deliberately make the joints further apart than they naturally occur so there is always plenty of solid rail opposing each joint. In that case I choose a specific number of ties to remove from each section of track and insert the rails into a segment of ties as I did in the photo. The track in the photo was one of four that I bench-soldered and installed as a single section. The joints are strong, the rails do not bind or kink, and the rails stay in gauge.

You had asked if anyone soldered fixed rails to floating rails. In the past I've done that on meandering curves but these days I use flex track with no fixed rails. As Sheldon mentioned earlier, the only consideration is which side the ties are molded together on. They will either spread or close depending on which side is inside or out.

Craig

QuoteAfter curving the track,the outside rail will always be short whichever side you put the flexible and the inner rail will need cutting to match.

I don't agree. You don't want the ends to match. It is far more desireable, for a number of reasons,  to have the rail joints staggered. This is what I do:



Afterwards I, of course, replace the appropriate number of absent ties and modify some to accommodate the rail joiners.

Harold, that is nothing short of amazing. The level of realism you endlessly achieve is astounding. Great work, thanks for sharing your techniques.

He has recent posts in the large scale section of THIS forum. Post THERE.

Nice work, Kyle. Impressive, as always. How do the posts on the porch scale out?

Rich,

The photo gallery at www.scottymason.com features some very impressive structure building. I couldn't help thinking, though, that he might benefit greatly from meeting with Harold Minkwitz, and vice versa. Harold's eye for weathering and landscape details combined with Scott's affinity for structure building could result in some truly remarkable modeling.

Personally, I’d like to have just a tenth their talent. That would advance my skill level ten fold.

Craig

I haven't seen a McHenry or Bachmann coupler with a plastic "whisker" spring in years. All of mine have metal coil springs (that work well enough).  Are you buying old stock? Plastic knuckle couplers are inferior because of the tolerances/slack/weak material. The springs are a non-issue.

Craig

I've been busy adding two rooms to my house but the few times I've been here in the past weeks, the server sure has been slow. Today is no exception. There was some discussion about this the last time I noticed slow loading speeds but I don't see any threads on the issue at the moment. Anybody else observing this?

Craig

Terry,

Kyle said he had access to other machines and CPRR advised him to use one to create a disk.

Kyle,

If you have XP on that machine, why can't you access the recovery console via F12?