So long story short, 1st attempt BAD, original track plan derailed everything, 2nd attempt great till I got the whole mountain finished and everything started derailing under the mountain... So now I am on 3rd attempt, 1st 3 pics are the final stage until I took an axe to everything. 4th is the current idea(plan) to modify it and expand the layout to 42"x82".
They key to remember, cars will derail anywhere that you do not have access to. You should figure out some way to have access into the tunnels. I did it by making the mountain on the JACALAR "lift off". And, on other hidden / covered sections, the tops of those areas lift, too. I have only one 2 foot section that I could not do this with, and at least it is perfectly straight track there.
Yeah I have no clue, that area was accessible by the cutouts, and the track was glued directly to 1/2" foamboard(blue stuff) that I used for 2nd level base. as seen here. I was all flextrack soldered together to make 1 nice turn from 8" before the tunnel to half way down the back straightaway.
The current state of my table. The 3rd and 4th pic show my addition of a drawer. It will be 36 1/2"x24"x5". The rails are rated at 100lbs each I believe.
me thinks your soldered track may have been the issue. Track expands and contracts in response to weather conditions (mostly temperature), and if you solder it all together with no gaps for expansion, it can kink right off the tie strip (in extreme cases). Sometimes it just flexes a little, and that is enough to ruin the gauge - leading to derailments. That said you have nice solid benchwork, and yes, those slides are 100lb rated each.
Sure could be his problem. Wild Turkey, do you temperature and/or humidity variations in the layout area?
Well It is in an apartment and sits right where it is in the pics. There is a vent above it and a window opposite but not shinning directly on the table. The curves were 2-3 pieces of flex soldered to make 1 long even curve. I am going Kato Unitrack now so no real worries there.
I laid some flex for the straight track between the 180 degree turns at each end. it was a test run layout, simple oval, 4 track main as I could fit it easily. used Atlas c55 flex and sectional curves. in the matter of a couple of days the flex kinked badly, all eight places, right where they connected to the sectional curved tracks. it was near a window but it was a shaded window and in a climate/humidity controlled floor of our then townhouse (main floor in fact). not sure it takes much to effect flex in terms of expansion. had similar results in HO scale years back. rails on flex track popped right out of the ties on the 180 degree turns. I have since learned to actually use a "feeler gauge" to insert gaps between rails at regular intervals and soldering feeders to each piece of track, leaving the joints (rail joiners) without solder. it has worked for me. respectfully Gary
What size "feeler gauge" do you use. Don't worry about getting technical I used to be a machinist, quality technician and sometimes mechanic. So I've used them in both inch and metric. Now just a sissy modeler. Haaa!
I have a set of blade gauges given to me by my father who was a machinist, worked for a major aluminum company for over 40 years. I believe the one I used was the .5mm one in the set (according to my micrometer). that size seems to compensate for expansion and also add a nice sound to the wheel sets throughout the layout. this is N Scale. when I was modelling in HO Scale it was a 1mm if I recall correctly (back in the 80's and 90's) he first gave me the gauge when he was teaching me (as a teen) to correctly gap spark plugs. that was .35 I think but not sure inches or metric. have not gapped a spark plug in decades! respectfully Gary
I have a set of feeler gauges I used when I was doing my A&P school. I am sure they are buried in a toolbox somewhere. Though this is all negated by using Kato UniTrack on my new layout.
Updated pics, Drawer is done, made a trip to the LHS for some track and have a HUGE order enrought from MTS, due Monday.
Another update, been busy with work. Here are some shots of my "floating" the risers to make them smooth and level. Also some electrical digging for leads and turnout controls.
