Interesting Standard Gauge track discovery while making 5 rail track

Riki-

There is enough variability in standard 0 track that you need to trim the length of the added rails after assembly. (Sometimes the curvature needs to be slightly tweaked by hand too.)  The rails we provide are slightly long, but are easily cut to the perfect length with a Dremel abrasive cut-off disc.  I consider the Dremel an essential tool for traditional tinplate track installation.

Kirk

www.sgma.us

sncf231e posted:

navy.seal posted:

Edmund Schwartzel 060518 posted:

 

Edmund,

Your picture is of the Gargraves 5-rail track with the O gauge centered inside the Standard Gauge.

When I get a chance, I will go out to my barn and attempt to find an example of the Gargraves 5-rail track with offset G gauge rails.  I will then take a photo and post it.

Bob Nelson

Bob, 

It would be interested to see this picture, since it might answer my question posted a long time ago:

https://ogrforum.com/...-gauge-in-the-garden

Regards

Fred

Fred,

Above are the photos you requested.  As you can see, the O-gauge rails are "slightly offset" to one side inside the Standard Gauge.  For display purposes, this offset creates a 5-rail track which supports three gauges, i.e., Standard Gauge, G-gauge, and O-gauge.   I used this track exclusively on the shelves I set up in my Vienna, VA home to display my MILWAUKEE ROAD trains.  This unique track gave me the flexibility to quickly and easily rearrange my Standard Gauge, G-gauge, and O-gauge Milwaukee Road trains on any shelf in any location.    

Occasionally for aesthetic purposes, I needed to change the spacing between the shelves.  However, since I was using a "hanging" shelf system, I could easily accomplished this task since the shelves were not fixed to the wall but instead rested on the horizontal "brackets", which were attached at different interval to the vertical "standards",  In turn, the standards were hung from the white "track" that was bolted to the wall just below the ceiling (See photo below showing details of how the  vertical "standards" hang from the horizontal "track".).  

It's difficult to see, but if you look closely at the picture below, on the left side you can just make out the tops of some hanging vertical "standards".  As you can see, these vertical standards run down to the floor.  Furthermore, at different intervals you can see where horizontal "brackets" are attached to the vertical standards in order to support the 6" oak shelves.  Since only the "track" just below the ceiling is bolted to the wall, minimal damage is done to the wall and the entire hanging shelf system can be attached to or removed from the wall in just minutes. 

This hanging shelf system is by "elfa" and can be purchased online from The Container Store.

https://www.containerstore.com...d?productId=10007212

Bob Nelson

Thank you, Bob,

However the pictures do not show; I get "Image not found"

Regards

Fred

sncf231e posted:

Thank you, Bob,

However the pictures do not show; I get "Image not found"

Regards

Fred

Fred,

Not sure why they didn't show up when I first posted the photos but I edited my posting and hopefully corrected the problem.    

Bob Nelson

I was thinking of doing this a couple of years ago. I was going to start with new Menards 0-42 track (already purchased), Going to order 36" O gauge straights then purchase the standard gauge inner and outer rails/ties/insulators from US track.

I see that you are starting with standard gauge track and adding O ties.rails and insulators.

Is there any draw back from starting with O and adding the standard gauge rails/insulators/ties?

I will be using new materials.

Figure I ask as you have more experience on this as you are making it work.

navy.seal posted:

sncf231e posted:

Thank you, Bob,

However the pictures do not show; I get "Image not found"

Regards

Fred

Fred,

Not sure why they didn't show up when I first posted the photos but I edited my posting and hopefully corrected the problem.    

Bob Nelson

Thank you Bob,

Now I see how it can be done, I can try by myself.

Regards

Fred

RonH posted:

I was thinking of doing this a couple of years ago. I was going to start with new Menards 0-42 track (already purchased), Going to order 36" O gauge straights then purchase the standard gauge inner and outer rails/ties/insulators from US track.

I see that you are starting with standard gauge track and adding O ties.rails and insulators.

Is there any draw back from starting with O and adding the standard gauge rails/insulators/ties?

I will be using new materials.

Figure I ask as you have more experience on this as you are making it work.

I actually had a lot of both O gauge and STD gauge track already. I bought more sections from Menards and Kirk at USA Track. I ended up disassembling the STD gauge track to make the 5 rail track. Your approach will work fine. A Few things I learned:

• To Kirk’s point above, the lengths of the rails vary. Plan on cutting the STD gauge rails for each curve and straight length of your track plan to get the tightest fit for each rail joint.
• Menards rail has a wider base than USA Track. The USA Track insulators are a little small for the Menards rail. They can be made to work by opening the insulator and center tie tabs a little more than 90 degrees on each side before installing on the Menards rail.
• S curves are tight for the O gauge trains on 5 rail track. This is where I needed to tweak the radius of the curve a bit. Also the rail head “rolled” to the side a bit here.
• Have a solid surface to work on and use a block under/inside the tie when assembling the ties and rails. I created sections, then moved them to the layout to install.
• I moved some of the O gauge ties back from the end of a track section and used a STD gauge tie there. I alternated this on long straights and inside curves. I didn’t want the outside rails to “float” at every track joint.
• There is a great tutorial on the Tinplate Times website here.

George