Give up on flextrack?


P

PartsMan

New N gauge guy
I am haveing trouble with the flextrack conections on my small layout.
My 9.75" radius curves are pulling pretty hard on the rails. If I layed it the other way and cut some of the plastic maybe it would have flexed better.

Thinking about pulling up the track and starting over before I get started on scenery.

What track should I use?

1. Keep the flex I have and piece it back togather. Free
2. Buy new flex track for a fresh start. Cheap
3. Use segmented track. No tention on the rails
 
9.75?? Is this N scale???.. If HO, never go under 18" and when its that small the loco trucks should only be 2 axle (4 wheels on each end).... What problem are you having?. rails flanging out?...Sorry just a little unclear....Once bent, laid properly and cut straight, shouldn't be any troubles..Our club lives on flex-track!...
You do have to remove some ties, and spacing under side so joints fit truly and rails have no gap. Also one little spot I see is "curved flex into a switch" (or straight)...you should have the flex become straight a little before a connection so its not trying to curve away at the joint. This is where the track wants to fight the joint making for a misalignment. We learned the hard way when we tryed to cut isolation points for a reversing loop, not to do it on a curved flex. :(
 
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Yes N scale. GP40 and 0-6-0 Plymouth with 50' cars. Were I cut the ties out to make the conection the rail wants to go straight. Then it gets out of gauge and the engines hesitate or the 0-6-0 will even derail sometimes. I was able to help the curved flex to straight conections with a piece of 9.75" section track.
 
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I hate to rub your nose in it, and sorry if this sounds confrontational (not intended :)), but now you know why the real railroads use lots of ties...one of the things they do is to keep the rails in gauge!! The difference is that they don't flex their steel to the same degree as we do our model rails.

If you can re-use some of the flex, why not do it and consider it both a lesson and a success at the same time...part of your growth in the hobby. Trust your own intuition about both the materials and your skills. It would always be a good idea to have some new track sections on hand for just such occasions, or for when you decide on a major change to a layout that you don't want to dismantle entirely...just to alter the track plan in one large area.

And, at the last, it is a hobby. A challenging one, and one that can present some hard lessons at times. But it is a hobby, and hobbies should be fun and rewarding. If you feel you have to re-think your whole approach to track plans, you wouldn't be the first person to realize as much, and to move on from there with lots of excitement and determination.

-Crandell
 
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No no don't worry. A little constructive critisism is welcomed.
My trackwork is the real problem here.
I'm just desiding what the best fix is.
 
I don't see any major problems in the photo. However, just from appearances, and perhaps due to the camera's angle, the second stub spur track that has no cars or engines on it, the second from the bottom, has what appears to be a very tight radius at the last turn into it.

One thing to remember when laying track is to finish the ends of the rails. As your curves tighten, the gaps between rail sections can become key in how well the tiny flanges on the wheels glide past them. In order to help them, you need, and should always remember, even on the straight sections (what we call tangents), to use a metal file and bevel the inner flange faces at each rail tip, and also bevel the top face where the tire treads on the wheels meet the rail. It doesn't have to be much, maybe four swipes with the file held at a 20-30 degree angle. The idea is to make the tips of the rails more like cams to help guide the rolling wheels past the gaps.

Otherwise, it doesn't appear to me that your outer curves are all that tight. But, if you have measured them accurately, you'll know if they conform to the recommended minimums issued by the NMRA. Lookd for RP 10 and RP 11 for comments and guidelines on curves and track performance.

http://www.nmra.org/standards/sandrp/consist.html
 
I think Bob has it nailed. You've got two points I can see where a curve from flex track is connected directly to a switch. That's where you are going to have problem keeping the track in gauge and get derailments. Try moving the switches and associated track down about six inches so your track connecting to the switch is straight. I'd even use a piece of sectional track before each switch so you don't have to remove any ties. I think that will solve a lot of your derailment problems.
 
I am going to change the two main curves to sectional track. It's only going to take two packages anyway. Not much money. There will be more conections but they will not have any stress on them like the flex.

That spur is all sectional. It must be the camera angle. I can't move my turnouts much or I won't have room to park any cars.
 
I used sectional track in a few key aeras on my Ho layout. The ballast hides most of the section joints. I found that in HO scale 22" radius flex track is sometimes picky. The sectional track is great for simple and easy curves.
N scale is just as bad when you get down to tight radius and I had to work on my flex track in many places to get it right.

Dont feel bad
Trent
 
I replaced the outer loop with sectional track.

Much better!

I'm sure that flex is great in bigger layouts but if you need to make a 180 in a tight spot sections are easier.

Something I hadn't thought about. My trains have a nice little "click clack" as they go by.
 
I played with it some more.
I can run either engine with all 9 cars full speed around the loop!
About 50% in pushing(backwards) and my $4 box cars will derail.

This is all with high geared Bachmann cheapo engines too.:confused:
 
I'm guessing a combination of weight and the couplers is doing you in when pushing. It almost always comes down to those two.
 
Try removing the shells of the boxcars that are derailing and taping a few pennies inside over the trucks. If that fixes the problem just glue them in place.
 
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