Code 55 N Gauge Track

"Graham Kendall" wrote

I had a brief excursion a few years back in N-gauge with Peco Code 55 track and was far from impressed. I found it very difficult to get any sort of smooth curve with the stuff and in the end abandoned the project and went back to 4mm scale.

John.

Waggle the track back-and-fore gently, and persist with it. Usually will slide rails to some extent.

However, simpler solution is to curve it to approximate shape, then cut at either end to leave rails at required lengths for jointing.

Some other makes of flexi-track slide much more easily; the old Minitrix stuff is very easy to slide along, to the extent that one can motorise a bit to make a fiddle-yard line-selector (ie. a 6-way turnout !).

- Nigel

On my venture into N I used to press the rail I didn't want to move against the sleepers, an then bend the track so the other rail moved in the desired direction. The press both against the sleepers while straightening the track (so the ends of interest stay put), then repeat as required.

Richard

You have to cut the longer rail to fit. Do _not_ try to pull the rail through the sleepers, you will wreck the rail fastenings (chairs).

A joint on a curve is a problem. The best solution follows - I've used it with 16.5mm and 9mm flextrack.

If a joint must fall on a curve, add rail joiners (fishplates) _before_ curving the track. Cut one or two sleepers away on each side of the joint, and solder the joiners. Curve the track as needed, pin loosely in place (ie, it should float above the cork). Mark locations to cut so as to fit adjoining straight track or points. Unpin, cut the track, dress the rail ends, and replace. Cut away the rail fastenings from the sleepers you removed, and slide them under the joints. You may have to thin them down some so as to avoid a hump in the track.

Do not fasten track directly to a baseboard, use cork strip, or mat board, or foam-core, etc as a ballast former. Spread ballast and glue ballast in place with acrylic-latex medium (PVA can be used, but it tends to dry harder, and so transmit sound more.) After the glue has dried, pull the pins.

BTW, there's no point trying to cut flex track to exact size before laying it down. Locate the points first. Locate the intermediate pieces (curving as needed), and cut a cm or so too long. On curves, cut about

2cm too long - it's amazing how often a trial fit on a curve turns out to be short if you try to cut to exact length. Loosely pin in place, temporarily joining at one and and overlapping the other with the already located track, and mark the cutting points, allowing an extra couple of mm for final adjustment (shifting track and/or filing to length.)

HTH

Start by fixing the middle of a full length in the middle of the curve and bend both halves of the curve. the inner rail will "lengthen" at both ends of the curve and should be trimmed as appropriate.

MBQ