Garden Railway Forum

Hello

Quick question - my father's garden railway has had a new lease of life thanks to my son taking an interest.

As a quick extension, we can lay some track on the patio. It's very flat and new, so I'm planning to put [what in smaller-scale would be called set-track]. I need a 4' radius return loop and point, possibly a few straights. Who are the suppliers and what have people used?

Thanks

Mike

Hi Mike,
Are you looking at 45mm or 32mm gauge?

I'm only familiar with 32mm. Peco do fixed radius curves at either 30" or 38", and Mamod\MSS is also 30".
If you're thinking af the extension across the patio as being temporary then Mamod track might be worth considering due to it's 'clip together' nature. It could be removed between running sessions.

I'll let someone else explore the 45mm options.

We are 32mm.
Radii are quite annoying. Anyoen know any larger ones?

Any reason why you can't go with bending flexi track to your requirements?

Simply because the idea is simply to lay it on the patio like a trainset. The patio is less than 5 years old and very level.

There are all kinds of potential issues about making sure it's level enough to run trains, suitable dismountable fixings etc, but these are all solvable, but if we can't get track of the requisite curve we are somewhat stymied

38" radius is the largest Peco supply for set track pieces for 32mm gauge, I am not aware of any other provider.

45mm gauge track providers like have more to offer for train set style track (G scale brands).

If the radius is your most important single factor, I think your best bet is to buy flexitrack, pull the rail out, run it through a rail bender to get your desired radius and then re-thread the rails into the sleepers. It shouldn't actually take too long to do and since flexitrack is cheaper than settrack, you will cover part of the cost of buying a half decent railbender, ( If you are not able to make one for yourself) which in itself will probably be cheaper than importing settrack from the USA anyway.

I have just ordered a sample of the filcris re-cycled plastic baseboards. the new plan is to get appropriate radius boards, fix flexi track to it and lay it like a trainset. Lots of consequential issue to solve (how to fix track to board, how to make suitable joining between boards etc), but if it's flat enough, it should work

Mike there are several Filcris afficionado's amongst the membership. Just do a search for "Filcris" and you should find bits of info relative to the points you've outlined.

Filcris is expensive Mike. Wouldn't 5mm to 9mm ply do. A 6' x 6' board would do it, you will have loads of room to put anything else on it too. And if you use Flexitrack, you can have whatever radius you need. It's cheaper and lighter. Are you going to be using it for a temporary extension, that can be lifted and put down when required. The joints can be left open so you can line it up with your permanent track quite easily.

If so, ply would be the better option in my opinion, for what it's worth....

Apologies for the delay in response.

It's not going to be a board as it has to be removable from a patio and liftable by my 70+ yr old dad if necessary.
The other problem with ply is that it doesn't (AFAIK) come in pre-cut pieces. I don't like near my parents, and don't have the space/tools/time to make it myself.

The main line was built by myself and my father 25 years ago by casting concrete in shuttering. That will be there to confuse future archaeologists. This time, it can't be permanent or heavy.

Mike