Installing Gauge Rods. So we don't derail.
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 10 ก.พ. 2025
- Today, we have a wide spot on a curve. So, it's time to install a few more gauge rods and fix the issue with the track.
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Thanks for taking the trouble to post this video. I have a short section, just a metre and half, of our garden tramway that is over gauge. I was thinking of digging out each side to make room for a drill and putting a threaded rod through the web of each rail. Now I can see that there is another way - much easier to make blocks standing at the bench than to drill holes lying on the ground.
I'm glad it helped. Thanks for watching!
EH Harriman would be impressed with your industry and appreciation of ROW maintenance and upgrades, imo👏
“ fingericecycles “ I know that well, having to repair my car out side due to no access to the garage when I was a kid.
those gauge bars look like they will keep the cars and engine on the tracks! such a great application of full scale
railroading! the tracks at work have the gauge bars about 10 feet apart on the curves, even slight ones. sometime I need to
take my tape measure and check the gauge on the curves vs straight track.great job, hope you were not too cold when done.
My gauge tolerance is .060" wide. As far as machining goes, it may as well be a mile and a half. As far as trains tracking well, I think it's right about where it needs to be. Now, if I could get the track to stay within that gaule tolerance, it would be a very good thing.
I dont mean to sound dumb, but isn't that what the rail ties are for?
I see you shortened the rods. Good choice.
Now that you're getting the gauge problem under control, when does the high speed service start?
We're already going as fast as the little engines will go.
It appears that you need one more thing. For what you're doing, I recommend elbow pads. 😊 it looks like it could be quite painful.
I don't spend much time on my elbows, and I can shift positions when it gets uncomfortable.
Hi back 😊
I'm glad you're back! 😊
So what's failing that you need to keep adding gauge rods?
The ends of the ties are splitting out. I'll eventually replace them, but this holds things together until it's warm enough to do that.
How about an extra block (with a groove on both sides) to go between the guard and stock rails, to maintain the flangeway distance?
"So we don't derail"...You will lose subscribers if you don't derail sometimes 🤨🤨😮😮
I do like your idea about a double groove block. I might use that on switch guard rails.
Your idea is a good one, but why not use the Accu-Tie RR tie. Prefabricated for 7 1/4" and at $1.67 each, I'd think that they would hold better. I'm not suggesting that you need to re-tie the entire track, just problems areas like you are doing now.
That only works if he uses rail with the same foot size as their rail (15/16”). They don’t make it for the smaller size rail Aaron uses. This means it won’t hold the correct gauge
@@JaredDunbar Thanks Jared, kind of thought that would be the issue.
Yup. I use very small rail. It's 5/8" deep from head to foot. Most people use 1" deep rail. My rail is also narrower, but I haven't committed that measurement to memory. Both measurements affect the gauge on a pre-gauged tie. The width of the foot affects the position of the rail head, and the depth of the rail on the canted tie plates introduces some sine error. Now, I could probably make a tie plate insert to make it all work together, but then I would sacrifice some rigidity that I've gained with these gauge rods. I can make three gauge rods for the price of one Accu-ties pre-gauged tie.
...now, even with my rail so small and the questionable state of my ties, somehow, I still manage to haul heavier loads than most people do with their larger rail. Maybe everyone else underestimates what kinds of dynamic loads aluminum can handle. I'd like to put the larger rail to the test one day.
Why the need for a guard rail? The curve doesn't look like exceptional.
A previous chief of "our" veteran tracks would say: "Garbage" about a lot of Your ties.
65 years ago I had trains in the 0 scale. The tracks were held together by tie looking metal feet.
The tram tracks in the past were held in position by welded bars between the rails.
Our veteran railroad every year has a "track works week" before the season starts. One intensive year they changed 800 ties during that week. Okey, plenty of hands available.
The guard rail is there to protect the outside rail. it is a 50 foot radius curve. The ties came from other railroads. Many of them have reached the end of their service life and will be replaced during our annual work weekend in April. That's if I don't replace them beforehand. I'll replace them with new, pressure treated ties.
@@MillBrookRailroad Oh. It didn't look like a very small radious.
The veteran railroad I joined 1971 also used used ties when building the storage yard amongst others. Ties have a limited lifetime, yes.
In EU there was a ban for creosot treated ties on the way. Then the railroad used all resources, money and hands, to upgrade the line before the oncoming ban. For 3 or 4 years some 800 ties were changed each year.
You look like facing the same, change a lot of ties. What would work for You? Change every 5, 10, 20 ties?
You've got a great railroad but renewing the ties is unavoidable.
I've had eyes on a Swedish 7 1/4 railroad in Borås, BMÅS. I never heard they had that many split ties.
I also don't know what wood, what other technik, tricks they've used but derailings.... not heard of.
@@MillBrookRailroad Sad the "pond" (Tthe Atlantic) keeps us apart.....
The stay here where you belong for rails
You guys will forever be regauging the rails on your railroad not because of the rails so much but of the wheels. Look at a model box car or any other piece of rolling stock of a Lionel car. The wheels are not scale. The distance of the flange to the outside of the wheel is exaggerated. Your wheels are fractions of inches from derailing because they are scale across the rail head. Double the distance between the flange and the outside of the wheel and the car or engine will not derail. Lionel cars do not derail when run on a continuous track. Ever. Ho scale cars do, because they are scale wheels and the slightest deviation in the rail will derail the car. Finding a wheel manufacturer that would increase the width of the wheel compared to the diameter might be difficult, but for now, measure the width of wheels with a caliper and you may find that the widest wheels will be on cars that never derail. They should all be the same, but I suspect they are not, across your fleet.
You do make a good point, but let me fill in some of the gaps for you.
First: you are correct. Wider wheel treads result in fewer derailments. My wheels, however, are wider than scale, but not quite wide enough. Wheels for 1.5" scale are, by design, wider than they should be. Not all of my wheels are made to that standard, however. They all come from various small home shops and built to different standards. The car that derails the least is my 2.5" scale flat car. It has much wider wheel treads.
Finding wheel manufacturers is not an easy task. A chronic shortage in 5-1/4" wheels recently prompted me to buy a CNC lathe, then secure a contract to make wheels and axles for a popular manufacturer. That puts me in a better place to make wider wheels.