Welded stainless track

Busted Bricks · Post by **Busted Bricks** » Sat May 30, 2015 7:50 pm

We recently bought a house here on the Faroe Islands so now I finally have a garden to build a railway in. I won't be able to afford to buy track as it would cost a lot to ship to the Faroes. Therefore I have to make my own. The climate is harsh here and steel rusts very quickly so I think I will probably have to use stainless steel. There are a couple of business who make stainless equipment for the fish processing plants so I hope one of them will be able to shear some strips from sheet. I have a TIG welder and a plasma cutter.

Has anyone made their own track from stainless steel?

MDLR · Post by **MDLR** » Sat May 30, 2015 11:04 pm

No, but Trackshack not ship to you?

Busted Bricks · Post by **Busted Bricks** » Sun May 31, 2015 12:02 am

They don't list Faroe Islands as a country they ship to. Anyway, can't afford it. Postage is always very high to here and then there is duty, fees and 25% VAT on goods and postage.

Peter Butler · Post by **Peter Butler** » Sun May 31, 2015 10:17 am

Have you considered fishing as hobby????

Big Jim · Post by **Big Jim** » Sun May 31, 2015 1:14 pm

While I have never done it, I can't see any major issues with using S/S. Just make sure you leave expansion gaps. Were you thinking of using wooden sleepers who building the whole lot of steel?

Busted Bricks · Post by **Busted Bricks** » Thu Jun 04, 2015 9:36 pm

I would weld the track together with a few metal sleepers and then add some wood sleepers that simply have a slot cut into them.

Keith S · Post by **Keith S** » Sat Jun 06, 2015 1:43 am

I've looked on "wikipedia" and found out that it seldom gets much below freezing in the Faroes thanks to the warm ocean currents but also doesn't go much above +10 thanks to, well, the cold ocean

I hope you are using steam engines, this seems like the ideal environment for some good steamy exhaust plumes!

Post by **Andrew** » Sat Jun 06, 2015 9:43 am

Hello,

I can't offer any advice on stainless steel track, but just wanted to chip in to say good luck - I thoroughly admire your determination to build a railway in what sound like difficult environmental and economic conditions. I really hope it goes well - and look forward to updates and pictures, of course...

With very best wishes

Andrew.

KNO3 · Post by **KNO3** » Sat Jun 06, 2015 9:56 am

I can't help, as I have never built track myself, but I'm curious about what track gauge you are planning? 32 or 45 mm or something bigger?

Why don't you post some pictures with the area you want to build the garden railway in?

And by the way, if you are set on some standard track, such as LGB, often larger collections of used track can be bought on ebay for reasonable prices. So even if shipping isn't cheap it might still be worth watching the ebay offers.

Quite an interesting climate on the Faroe Islands, I read. I guess a swim in the ocean isn't exactly pleasant, temperature-wise :-)

IrishPeter · Post by **IrishPeter** » Sat Jun 06, 2015 6:24 pm

Stainless steel ladder track would seem to be the way to go given the salt air, and the postage problem. Can you get small section stainless OK on the island? Don't forget to soak any wooden components in preservative (whatever the heck that stuff we have to use instead of creosote) for an extended length of time before use. The perpetual damp also does a number on the wooden bits.

As for swimming I would guess that the ocean temperatures are warmer than the North Sea in May, thanks to the North Atlantic Drift, which is also the Norwegian Coast all the way up to Narvik ice free most years.

Peter in AZ

Busted Bricks · Post by **Busted Bricks** » Sat Jun 06, 2015 6:29 pm

I don't own any steam engines but plan to build my own.

Our house is smack in the middle of the village. It's on a flat plot of land. Getting my hands on rocks so I can build an elevated track is not a problem. We are not short on rocks here

I suffer from knee and back pain so an elevated track is a must. I'm leaning towards 45mm gauge as I would like to build in 7/8ths. LGB track would be ideal but buying ing on Ebay can get really expensive. A private seller will not be able to deduct VAT from the sale price. I on the other hand will have to pay duty, fees and 25% VAT on both items and cost of shipping.

The ocean surrounding us is pretty much a constant 7C so I don't go swimming. The only time I have been in the water was when we where hauling whales ashore. It is often very windy so running days will be few and far between.

Busted Bricks · Post by **Busted Bricks** » Sat Jun 06, 2015 6:35 pm

IrishPeter:111360 wrote: Can you get small section stainless OK on the island?

No, hence my hope that I can get some strips sheared from sheet. Failing that I will have to abandon the idea of an outdoor track for the time being. I have a small oval of 45mm Acccucraft track but the salty air would cause that to rust away very quickly.

IrishPeter · Post by **IrishPeter** » Sat Jun 06, 2015 7:48 pm

If you are not going to use track power, have you thought of importing just aluminium rail (relatively light, less shipping cost) and then fabricating the track on wooden sleepers? It might get the costs down somewhat, though not as much as getting stainless locally, especially if you are thinking in terms of SE, rather than SM32/45/Gummi.

Peter in AZ

Busted Bricks · Post by **Busted Bricks** » Sat Jun 06, 2015 8:22 pm

Alu does seem to corrode quite fast here too.

For all I know they may charge an arm and a leg for the stainless steel. Most things are obscenely expensive here. Time will tell.

IrishPeter · Post by **IrishPeter** » Sun Jun 07, 2015 12:52 am

IIRC correctly one useful property of Aluminium is that unlike iron and steel the corrosion stops one a coat of aluminium oxide has been formed. The trick, therefore, is not to clean it.

Peter in AZ

tegfan railway · Post by **tegfan railway** » Sun Jun 07, 2015 8:58 am

I am heading your way in the Summer for some landscape photography and a bit of RC slope soaring, If I had more weight allowance I could bring some track over

Busted Bricks · Post by **Busted Bricks** » Sun Jun 07, 2015 12:36 pm

Summer? We are not familiar with that term.

Busted Bricks · Post by **Busted Bricks** » Sun Jun 07, 2015 1:12 pm

I found out that Conrad in Germany will ship a load of PIKO 45mm track to the Faroe Islands for EUR 7.99 which is very cheap. They also deduct the 20% German VAT. An oval with 12xR3 curved sections and 10 600mm straight sections would set me back about £250 by the time I receive it. I guess that is the benchmark for deciding if stainless track is a viable alternative. If not considerably cheaper then it will be quite a while before I can build a railway.

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