How I Hand Lay Track On My Model Railroad
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 10 พ.ย. 2022
- In this episode, I finish up laying the track for the rail yard. Now that I've done a little bit of this work I'll share with you what I've learned so far. Maybe it'll inspire you to do hand lay your own track.
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Microengineering Rail - microengineering.com/shop.htm
Xuron Tools - xuron.com/ - amzn.to/3fVImhT (These are the horizontal cutters, the vertical cutters I use are out of stock on Amazon)
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Edited with Davinci Resolve - www.blackmagicdesign.com/prod... - แนวปฏิบัติและการใช้ชีวิต
I'm having fun learning how to make my own turnouts but with as much track as I am doing, I think I will pass on this very tedious work....lol. It is looking very good and you're going to have cars sitting there in no time. Oh, nice Shirt at the beginning! 😃- Jason
Thanks, Jason. Yeah, if my layout was any bigger, I might have made a different decision about hand laying the track.
Hi WRL, one item that I can add is tie spacing jigs. I made them myself from an old article in MR. I have one for the mainline, one for sidings and one for spurs. I think they help with the realness of the finished product. 🚂
Although I did show them in this video, I use tie jigs as well. They are very helpful. I designed mine in tinkercad and had them 3D printed.
I'm a hand lay guy myself, a older man named Charlie Smith taught me how to lay track way back in the early 80's. I really enjoy your videos Drew.
Thanks, Craig. Hand laying track can be pretty satisfying.
Looking forward to seeing how things have progressed.
Very informative, and relaxing to watch.
Your comment that “… it’s a little tedious…” tells me I’ll be using mostly flex track. I will try some hand-laid track to see if I can take it, but i know myself too well.
LOL. For some reason I can't stand tedium in my professional life, but in my hobby I find it relaxing.
This really just makes me want to hand lay some of my own track. It just looks so much better than the Atlas stuff I've got.
Go for it!
Hi WRL, I hand lay as well. I picked up on some of your tips, thanks for sharing your experience. 🚂
Great to hear!
Nice job and progress! See you next time
Thanks 👍
This is fascinating. I don't know if I could go through all these steps and how long it would take, but I admire it. I'm also the kind of person who would rather photography on black and white film, develop it myself, and print in the darkroom rather than using a computer, and shift my own gears in my car....so maybe I just don't know it well enough. I'm also an N scaler at the moment, and I don't think I could deal with doing this in N scale right now. I'm going to attempt to make my first N scale turnout though. HO wasn't terrible...
Also, this is a really well made video. Well done.
Also, how do you add the jumpers to your track? In N scale, I've cut out the plastic portion between the ties on the bottom of the rail and soldered to the bottom so it wasn't visible. Do you just solder to the sides? Other?
Yeah, I think N scale would be tough. There are people that do it, but I think they use different techniques than I do. Here is the video I did on wiring my track, th-cam.com/video/hKDZNd37__4/w-d-xo.html. The technique I use on the jumpers I stole from @RonsTrainsNThings
Looking great nice work I would love a hopper
You're in!
Nicely done recap of the basics of handlaying. I've been handlaying off and on for many years (emphasis on the 'off' part :D ) but you've pointed out several things I'm going to incorporate into my routine:
using pushpins to count out which ties will receive a spike before beginning the spiking
making a fixture to loosen the rail joiners a bit before adding them to a piece of rail
using a track centering jig to center the rails on the ties
I work in code 70, so I've been spiking every fifth tie. Also, the code 70 joiners seem quite a bit sharper than the larger code joiners I've used in the past. I normally hold them with a pair of needlenose pliers to push them onto the rail, or to adjust their position on the rail joint afterward.
Another difference is I've been using five kadee rail gauges to keep the second rail in position as I spike it down, sliding them slightly as needed. Two are good, but I find the extras handy.
Finally, I recommend that anyone beginning with handlaying start by creating a piece of tangent track, for use as just a test track if they are hesitating to dive in. All that's really needed for that is two pieces of rail, a handful of wooden ties, and a package of spikes; the rail gauges are really handy for a quick check of the gauge of sectional or flex track as well, and the other tools you've listed are really a necessity for any sort of layout.
Wow, such great information in this comment. Thanks for taking the time to share your expertise. Maybe I’ll pick up a few more gauges.
love the work you are doing. looking forward to many more videos.
Much appreciated!
Very informative. Thanks.
Glad it was helpful!
Nicely done video, just the right amount of detail. Gratz .
Thanks, John. Glad I was able to hit the sweet spot.
Awesome Job! Keep up the good work
Thanks, Terry.
Wonderful job, yet another great video
Thank you so much 😀
Thanks for taking the time to show the details. Well done.
My pleasure!
I have always wanted to do this. Now that I am rebuilding I just might. Thanks for the tips. And nice mug.
Go for it. It's a fair bit of work, but I've enjoyed it. And thanks for the mug.
Very nice video while laying track by hand. We enjoyed watching and have a nice rest of your day.
Thank you! You too!
Perfect Drew! Love your work and really liked your picture of the rail! PRR picture!!! At ah boy!!!! 😂
Thanks, Yukon. I was glad to find a pic of rail cross section that was in the public domain, but I figured it would make some PRR fans happy.
Another great video. These are getting me motivated to start working on my layout again. But I am thinking of doing a small switching layout before I move on to the main layout. Keep the videos coming!
Thanks, John. Switching layouts seem like a lot of fun.
A good details video on laying track Drew. I have tried the needle nose with the slot to lay track. Didn't really help to much if at all and it took longer to get the spike in the slot.
About wiring, did you give any thought to soldering on a wire to the bottom of the rail before laying it. You have to drill a hole 1st also. Another method is to solder the wire to the bottom of the rail joiner. Again you have to drill a hole under it before sliding it on. Both of these help make your track look better in the end. I've tried both and for the record solder my wires to the outside of the rail and drilling a hole at the same time. Clean the solder joint and if your painting your track the connection can disappear especially after ballast has been laid down.
Great tips on soldering the feeders beforehand. Now I wish I'd done that.
Maybe some day I'll hand lay track, but for my first layout I'm gonna stick with pre-made.
This means you are a much more sensible person than me. 😆
@@WhiteRiverLine lol maybe just lazy. There's ar least one issue I had with my track plan that would have been solved by hand laying the track.
Have you ever had an issue with the track not holding? Lots of folks who hand lay their own track seem to use homasote or plywood for sub roadbed, but I like your foam approach.
Great job..But I have yet to find out how to lay ties on the curve !! If the ties are on masking tape how are they/if the are, fanned out to be further apart under the outside rail, and how thus is the tape itself bent to follow a center line without the tape kinking/getting lumps in it, say?
I cut the strip of tape holding the ties really narrow to help make it follow the curve a little easier. Some times I do get kinks or lumps in the tape, but that doesn't bother me too much. Once I get the piece on the roadbed, I make little adjustments to make sure the ties follow the curve and fan out as evenly as possible. If it's not perfect, that's fine. The prototype isn't always perfect either. Some of that irregularity is what makes handlaid track look better to me.
Do you think that other wood than balsa can be used for spiking ?
Thanks a lot. Nice work.
I might suggest a portable light.
You mean just to add more light to the area I'm working on?
Hi, Drew! That's all wonderful modelling. I'm wondering, are all of your ties, evenly spaced? If so, why do you, repeatedly, count every eight ties? You could have a template which has marked, the length of four ties, eight ties, and eleven ties, etc. :-)
Thanks Alicia, that’s a fantastic idea!
Now do it again in N scale!!
No thanks. LOL
Do you have a schedule for that line? I'd love to be there at the right time for my son to see a train go by.
Which line are you referring to?
𝓟Ř𝔬𝓂𝔬𝐒ϻ 👌
Interesting. I had a friend that hand laid all of his track. To much for me to do now that I'm 74 years young. Hands will not work the way they did 30 years ago.
I expect that day will come for me some day. Hoping my eyes hold out too. I'll take advantage of my (relatively) steady hands and clear eyes while I can.