We all fret about laying our rail straight on our layouts, but here's a picture of a freight siding next to one of our plants. The line is currently a BNSF line, but the siding has been there since the SLSF (Frisco) days 30 years ago. I know of at least three derailments here in the 30 years. It's hard to see, but there are some significant dips as well.
Freight siding
- Thread starter santafewillie
- Start date
Yeah..I think I seen some of that trackage on the old Ohio Rail.
SF Willie,I am in the weird camp that believes our industrial track should not be perfect.
I take heart in the fact that not all prototype track work is poker straight.
Because some of mine is not either! :lol:
Because some of mine is not either! :lol:
The trick is to get sidings that look that bad but don't derail the cars everytime you try to work the siding. In the real world, derailments are a pain, but if they happen, the railroad pays the crew for the time it takes to put things back on the track. If it happens too much on a model railroad, it is just a source of frustration for operators. Also the out of scale hand of an operator trying to use the 5 finger switcher to put cars back on the tracks kind of messes up the illusion we are trying to create!
Russ,One way I dent and weave my industrial track is to tap it lightly with a hammer.Now when I back a car into this siding its at a very slow speed and over the years I have used this method I had zero derailments.
A word to the wise..If you are a "speed demon" while switching cars don't even think about using this approach.
A word to the wise..If you are a "speed demon" while switching cars don't even think about using this approach.
Good idea, Brakie. I may try something like that on my LAJ layout when I build it. Do you have track secured before you hit it with the hammer? I would think you need to do something so it goes "out of straight" without going out of gauge?
Russ,Its spike in place before I tap it with a hammer.I then check it to be sure its still in guage or very close.
I do suggest trying this on a short piece of scrap track before apply this method to the layout.
I do suggest trying this on a short piece of scrap track before apply this method to the layout.
N
nachoman
another thing that helps the illusion: Use a smaller rail size for industrial sidings. Maybe step down to code 70 or 55 in HO. Also, you can cut some of the ties out and re-space them to a wider spacing. If you use good-quality wheels and properly weighted equipment, and don't drive too fast, things should operate fine.
Kevin
Kevin
Thanks for the suggestion Kevin, but my home layout is going to be laid with code 55 all the way through, of course the LAJ has no main line, so it is all industrial sidings.