Garden Railway Forum

I would like to investigate the possibility of making my own track, actually fixing individual rails to bits of wood. can't be that difficult surely? But where to buy the actual rails, does anyone know of a supplier of the bare rails?

Peco is one of (if not the) best track manufacturer (my Dad is a Peco retailer), and they also make the bare pieces for the track.

IL-8 - Code 200 Bullhead rail
SL-802 - Rail chairs
SL-801 - Plastic wood grain sleepers in 7in lengths

However people I know use actual wood for the sleepers and instead of chairs use tacs to hold the rail in place.

Peco make their own rails, which you can buy from track shack or brandbright.

http://www.track-shack.com/acatalog/IL- ... -IL_8.html
http://www.brandbright.co.uk/product_in ... cts_id=203

Alternatively there is Tenmille products.

http://www.tenmille.com/16mmNGTrackAccessories.html

Beware of Peco rail.

It has a very narrow foot which is hard to spike down.

Consider Tenmille flat bottomed type.

Bullhead rail is available in a variety of sizes and materials, but that commits you to the considerable expense of chairs.

David

Thanks guys.

Boustrophedon:84042 wrote:I would like to investigate the possibility of making my own track, actually fixing individual rails to bits of wood. can't be that difficult surely?  But where to buy the actual rails, does anyone know of a supplier of the bare rails?

Handlaying rail on real wood ties is an easy task. I use SwitchCrafters (http://www.switchcrafters.com/) Code 250 aluminum rail. I also build my own switches. Bit of detail showing some of the construction on my line found here: http://www.gopherminingco.blogspot.com/

Dwayne:84077 wrote:

Boustrophedon:84042 wrote:I would like to investigate the possibility of making my own track, actually fixing individual rails to bits of wood. can't be that difficult surely?  But where to buy the actual rails, does anyone know of a supplier of the bare rails?

Handlaying rail on real wood ties is an easy task. I use SwitchCrafters (http://www.switchcrafters.com/) Code 250 aluminum rail. I also build my own switches. Bit of  detail showing some of the construction on my line found here:   http://www.gopherminingco.blogspot.com/

Thanks for that. What material are the spikes made of? Is your rail bender home made?

Boustrophedon:84091 wrote:

Dwayne:84077 wrote:

Boustrophedon:84042 wrote:I would like to investigate the possibility of making my own track, actually fixing individual rails to bits of wood. can't be that difficult surely?  But where to buy the actual rails, does anyone know of a supplier of the bare rails?

Handlaying rail on real wood ties is an easy task. I use SwitchCrafters (http://www.switchcrafters.com/) Code 250 aluminum rail. I also build my own switches. Bit of  detail showing some of the construction on my line found here:   http://www.gopherminingco.blogspot.com/

Thanks for that. What material are the spikes made of? Is your rail bender home made?

The spikes are produced by Micro Engineering (http://www.switchcrafters.com/ez-catalo ... /ME-30-104). After some exposure to the elements they begin to rust which gives them the ability to grip the wood of the ties even more. Don't use stainless steel spikes as it seems that since they don't rust, they tend to pull out after time.

My railbender was built for me by a good friend who is a machinist. I sent him a small section of the rail and he sent me the bender. To be honest I'm of the opinion that a simple set of three rollers made from inexpensive washers or similar items with the ability to adjust the center roller a bit is all it takes to bend rail. I discovered it's better to bend the rail in several gradually diminishing passes as opposed to trying to get the desired radius in one pass. I don't try to get it perfect even as the rail is spiked to the ties it provides enough flex to be curved slightly more or less as needed. Then when placed into the ballast it can be adjusted more much like is done on the prototype.

Can't seem to do it for less than the cost of Peco. Seems that's the way to go.

I've always been a fan of Tenmille track...
http://www.tenmille.com/16mmNG-Home.html
http://www.tenmille.com/GScaleTrack.html