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Flex Track

How do I keep flex track from kinking when I have a joint in the middle of a curve?

One simple way to REDUCE kinking is to stagger the joint (tends to happen naturally in curves anyway) so that the actual break in one rail is an inch or two (or more) away from the break in the other rail. Sliding the rails so that the break occurs over the ties of only one of the sections will also help.

  joint
=============================================== <- rail
}  }  }  }  }  }  }  }  {  {  {  {  {  {  {  {  <- ties
=============================================== <- rail
                                 joint

} = tie from left section

{ = tie from right section

ELIMINATING THE KINK

I solder the two sections together to ELIMINATE the kink. I lay the first section, and glue it most of the way, leaving a few inches at end unglued. Then I solder both rails of the two sections together while the ends are straight. Then I finish gluing the rest of the first and as much as necessary of the second section.

Concerning soldering rail, still use a metal rail joiner, but then flow solder into the outside edge of the joiner/rail area. Don't solder the inside edge, or it will create problems with wheel flanges. The rail joiner helps hold the rails in alignment while soldering, and will keep them together should the solder joint fail (due to thermal expansion or contraction).

A second note about soldering on flex... You'll want to be careful not to melt the plastic "spikes" (I've melted entire ties). Melting them will naturally exacerbate kinking/gauge problems. How do you melt solder (374 deg F) without melting plastic?? good question. If you are an expert with a soldering gun, no problem. I've found that using a 100 watt gun helps because it heats the rail fast, so you can get it and out quickly. Plasitc meltage seems directly proportional to time, rather than temperature.

Handling flex: I try to keep the sections straight until I really need them, and then I only bend the section for fitting purposes in the one place where it's going to go. This way, no pre-kinking gets into the rail and the rail will on its own seek a smooth curve between the endpoints. This also helps in making STRAIGHT mainlines. Of course for old, somewhat overused yards or spurs, you might deliberately kink up the section first, and then try to lay it as straight as possible... this produces a good effect when sighted along at track level.

FLEXTRACK

Laying long runs of hand laid track will be time consuming to say the least. I have a KADEE SPIKER, a wonderful tool but no longer available. It does speed up track laying by a factor of 10. Otherwise, plan a lot of time hand laying.

Track tolerances aren't all that critical so just about anybody's flextrack WORKS fine. Here's how I see flextrack:

ATLAS code 100 - Cheap and has a lot of metal in it. However, the big rails, and big "spikes", make it unacceptable to me. It flexes very easily - maybe too easy.

ATLAS code 83 - Pretty good. I believe it is made by ROCO so is a bit European in look. However, when painted and ballasted, this isn't a critical issue in my opinion. It has very little metal in it - not good. It flexes very easily - maybe too easy.

WALTHERS/SHINOHARA - Over priced - no doubt (1). However, it has modest spikes and A LOT OF METAL. Unfortunately, this also makes the rail look bigger (it is). Remember that Nickel Silver has a lot of resistance so more metal is better from the electrical standpoint. DO NOT USE their rail joiners - cost too much. ATLAS code 100 rail joiners work fine for code 83, IF YOU SOLDER RALJOINTS. It flexes the best - not too hard, not too easy.

(1) Review the postings about the WALTHERS catalog a few weeks ago. WALTHERS is out to maximize profits. Nothing wrong with that but some of their items are over hyped and over priced. Overall, however, WALTHERS is a good operation.

PECO - High quality but spikes are too big as is code 100-rail. PECO warns about clearance problems with their code 75 items (to their credit).

PILZ - May be something to look at, my ignorance here is substantial.

Nobody, however, beats MICRO ENGINEERING rail and track. Rail cross section is closer to prototype than anyone else's. Tie strips are ABS or DELRIN; superior to just about everybody else's STYRENE. The spikes are near prototype in size and overall cosmetics are hard to beat. Plastic is plastic, however, and no one will fool me comparing real wood ties to plastic! However, as is noted on another post, you really can't get hand laid track to meet the cosmetics of MICRO ENGINEERING. MICRO ENGINEERING track is difficult to flex, particularly the weathered. However, nobody said model railroading is supposed to be easy. With patience, no track products on the market will beat this material for looks.

I consider the flextrack selection easy. However, the post about testing some for yourself is the best.

TURNOUTS

PROPERLY BUILT handlaid turnouts will out perform anything on the market. However, I STRESS PROPERLY BUILT!!!!

Most handlaid turnouts I have seen fall short. It isn't difficult to handlay nearly perfect turnouts but you have to know what is important in their tolerances and construction techniques. If this really appeals to you, I encourage it.

ALL HO SCALE TURNOUTS HAVE PROBLEMS with the possible exception of PILZ.

ATLAS - Cheap but not reliable enough to suit me. I suggest avoiding.

ATLAS code 83 - Haven't used these. I believe they have insulated points and this is a major issue. Insulated points are better than non- insulated points - see below.

WALTHERS/SHINOHARA - Same comments as about track. Also, require electrical jumpers to points for long term, reliable electrical operation. Meet NMRA track specs. Non-insulated points see below.

PECO - Same comments as about track. Points need jumpers. Do not meet NMRA track specs - flangeways are too wide so operate roughly. However, for N scalers, PECO code 55 turnouts are the best on the market in my opinion.

PILZ - See above. They have a large family of items.

MICRO ENGINEERING - The best cosmetically, hands down. However, as another post points out, only #6's exist. Other info about this company is good. Small, frequently out-of-stock but, they do things right - quality comes first. NEVERTHELESS, MICRO ENGINEERING turnouts do have a built in "time bomb". The frogs are brass castings butt soldered to the closure rails. These 4 joints WILL CRACK and eventually cause intermittent opens. Electrically strap the 4 joints. While you are at it, electrically strap the point assembly to a closure rail.

I consider the flextrack selection easy. However, the post about testing some for you is the best.

I am strictly a hand layer. However, I would think twice about handlaying TRACK for another layout. It takes too long, even with the SPIKER. I would always hand lay turnouts. You have total flexibility and can make any kind of turnout you want. The sweeping curves of custom turnouts may not have super fine spikes, and no tie plates, but the visual impact overwhelms these far smaller details. However, I again emphasize the need to do it right. Bad handlaid turnouts will ruin everything.

While I am at it, I will mention two pet peeves. TRACK NAILS (not spikes) should be outlawed along with INSULATED RAILJOINERS. Handlaying requires spikes (and something like HOMASOTE) but flextrack should be laid with CONTACT CEMENT. In 10 years of commercially building thousands of square feet of layouts, which are installed all over the U.S. it as become clear that this is the only way to do it.

INSULATED rail joiners are trouble waiting to happen. They insulate ok but mechanical support is nil. Misaligned track ends cause problems! Instead, lay your entire track without gaps. Use JB WELD (any hardware or building supply dealer) to encapsulate (pot) where you want a joint to be. Four (4) hours after application scrape away the flangeways. After 24 hours, cut a gap with a cut off wheel in a Dremel. Back fill the gap, let set for 24 hours, then file the flangeways clear. If you forget the material removal after 4 hours, you will understand why it s important. JB WELD is hard. It files well but takes a long time.

INSULATED VS. NON-INSULATED POINTS

With insulated points, each point rail is electrically tied to its adjacent stock rail. With non-insulated points, the two rails are electrically common. This means that point spacing is critical. If the back of a metal wheel touches the nearby point, a momentary short occurs. If you have auto resetting, electronic circuit breakers, they'll trip.
Ross Allen