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As a member of the Somerset County 4H Trainmasters, who has a traveling modular O gauge layout, our track tends to take a beating when we transport the layout.

 

Most cases the track, which is Gargraves, gets bent in certain ways that it makes it rather bumpy, and in some very annoying cases, makes it easy for steam engine pilot trucks to derail.

 

Have any of you guys had to replace track that overtime experienced extensive wear?

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Something that gets transported regularly is much different than most of our permanent layouts that just sit in one place all the time and never get moved let alone transported to train shows. Perhaps a solid rail track like Atlas or Scaletrax would be less likely to be bent or dented? I suppose even the solid rail track could be nicked and gouged though, but would probably still be a bit more resistant to damage than hollow rail track.

 

I think some of the older Realtrax was also solid rail, before they went to the current hollow rail track they have now. However, it may be hard to find now days as I think it's been a while since they stopped making the solid rail Realtrax.

 

Something to put on top of the modules for some added protection might also help, but could be difficult to make if you have scenery and accessories permanently mounted on the modules. Not sure what to even suggest using for something like that?

 

One more thought, maybe some hard foam insulation (like some use on their layouts) cut to fit over just the track might add some protection. It is light weight and would offer some protection if it would even be feasible to attempt cutting it to somehow cover just the track and getting it to stay in place. 

Gargraves tinplate steel rail, Ross Custom Steel rail, which for Looks, electrical continuity, and realism is Great. However,if you drop something heavy on the rails, it could easily dent the rail. Atlas O, solid rail is really durable. As stated earlier, permanent layouts made with mix-matched track tend to Last a Lifetime.....I used almost all Atlas O and Ross Custom, and Gargraves mixed for my layout....Its going to Out Live Me, I think.

Happy Railroading.

Originally Posted by Mikado 4501:    our track tends to take a beating when we transport the layout.

 

Most cases the track, which is Gargraves, gets bent in certain ways 

 

Have any of you guys had to replace track that overtime experienced extensive wear?

abuse and "extensive wear" are two different things. atlas while having solid rail ,will pop off the ties if it gets bent sideways. sounds like O tubular would work the best for club members that carelessly handle layout sections. you group needs to review how those sections get moved and transported.-Jim

When I did my Eagle Scout Project at the National City Historic Train Depot, I said to the donors that any remaining funds will be put towards re tracking the three rail layout to Atlas Track after the Gargraves track they had was thinning out real bad after 30 years of service. Whole layout was done 2 years ago.

For the San Diego 3-Railers, we (meaning bigdodgetrain, Roger L or someone else has to replace our switches on our dogbone loop because the switches endures a lot of Big Boys, Challengers and big Locomotives roll through those switches all day for 6 days a week and 32 hours plus a week. We have to replace the double crossover for our route into our tunnels. That layout has Atlas Tracks and switches with a few amount of Ross Custom Switches.

Our club/museum has replaced quite a bit of track, mostly Gargraves stainless (which was donated; we wouldn't have bought stainless!). The problems have had a number of causes, mainly installation issues. The track was originally laid in a hurry to make a deadline for opening the new building. Corners were cut. This was before my time and nobody now around is exactly sure what happened, but some genius had problems soldering wires to stainless track (no surprise) and decided that the solution was acid flux. Years later the bill for that blunder came due. A lot of track was laid sloppily and without sufficient provision for temperature expansion, so a lot of humps and bumps developed. Some individuals who worked on the track didn't get the concept of "tight enough" and screwed down the ties extra tight at joints, resulting in dips that were sometimes so big that pilots shorted out on the center rail or the leading truck on steamers derailed. The 0 gauge chairman used to joke about using my Lionel Milwaukee Road Northern as a test engine to search for bad track, since it is extremely sensitive to flaws in the track and will derail at very minor bumps and dips. 

 

One more problem, not a track issue as such. Somebody (again, no one now active knows who) decided that 20-22 gauge wire was adequate for 50-foot runs to power the corners of the layout. It isn't.  We had a lot of chronic slow spots. Most of the wiring has been replaced over the past two summers, when we close for annual renovations. 

 

The moral of the story is: planning and preparation are everything. That which is done in haste will be done again when it comes undone. 

 

Our portable layouts are transported on homemade racks to make sure that the track and other things don't take any hits in transit. The racks are set up so they can be put into a pickup bed or a trailer and then loaded with the modules. 

Last edited by Southwest Hiawatha

We've replaced track, mostly on realignments. The most recent replacement was three small sections resulting from replacing a broken turnout (an Atlas #5 we had been given over a decade ago). We replaced it with a Ross 11-degree with Gargraves to fill in the realignment. We've had a couple of places where Gargraves track has developed dings and one hole (?) which were repaired by forming a patch from molten solder and filing it to the shape of the rail head. Due to their small size, they've held up for years.

Originally Posted by Forrest Jerome:

I would examine how you are transporting it. 

Bingo!

 

Originally Posted by BillP:

Modules can really get beat up.

You really have to take extra care, especially the ends.

Bingo, Again!!  

 

Thomas,

The major culprit is the choice of track to begin with. Next would be the folks who handle and assemble the modules. There's many good suggestions above. It's only a matter of certain individuals taking heed. The only thing that I can add would be this. Convert everything to postwar Lionel tubular or K-Line tubular. Both with extra ties for added strength. Better yet and probably more affordable would be the American made modern tubular that a few of the Tinplater's are using.

I don't see any situation where a fixed and covered (that is, indoors with a modicum of climate control) layout would ever "need" its track replaced.

 

Modular layouts are certainly different. We had a modular and transportable layout that used Atlas track. It was too fragile for long-term banging around, even with care.

We were often fixing it. I'm sure some will disagree, but that was our experience.

 

Gar Graves would have been better, probably.

 

Lionel tubular (and clones) is the most rugged, as its DNA is toy DNA. 

 

Problem is: it's ugly as homemade sin. Really. Can't make it look "good", unless you are going for the toy look, which we weren't. All the ballast and huge ties in the world are just lipstick on a pig. 

It could be improved (Super-O-ish, with more metal, you say?) and still be pretty tough.

 

I have yet to decide whether Fastrack is a step up from PW, or just silly-looking. Depends on my mood.

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