As I may have mentioned before, I'm trying to build a garden railway without spending any money, or rather, with spending as little money as possible.
I have amassed some track...it's PECO O gauge track- the type that has the flat bottom that uses OO gauge fish plates. Obviously the sleepering will be wrong for my 1/22 ng railway but I bought it because it was dirt cheap and I will just cover the sleepers with ballast if I don't like the look of them, or slide each pair together to make them appear thicker...
My question is, in my hunt for further second hand, cheap track, what types of track use the same rail - i.e. what others can I connect to what I already have?
And, are there any 'bridging' sections available that allow you to connect two different profiles of track together...indeed, I may be tempted to try to make some of my own so that I can connect my track to any other type that I might acquire - anyone tried this?
cheers!
Track
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Si
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MDLR
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Spule 4
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Si
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Graff B.
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Spule 4
There is a trick to mixing heavy and light rail codes.
Take the taller/heavier one and cut and file the top of the rail down to a flat shelf/base, using the lighter code as a guide of how far to go down. Go back a half inch/1 CM or so, and don't do it on a curve.
Then solder the lighter code on top fo the shelf, and give everyting a clean-up with a file, volia!
Take the taller/heavier one and cut and file the top of the rail down to a flat shelf/base, using the lighter code as a guide of how far to go down. Go back a half inch/1 CM or so, and don't do it on a curve.
Then solder the lighter code on top fo the shelf, and give everyting a clean-up with a file, volia!
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GTB
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The other thing to consider is that if a railway lasted long enough, it may have found the money to rebuild part of the track.
In which case, you'd expect older lighter track to remain in sidings, branches, etc., with the heaviest stuff restricted to the mainline. No pw engineer in his right mind would replace flat bottom rail with bullhead, so you'd also expect to see the bullhead in sidings, with the heavier flat bottom on the main.
Depending on how much you have of each type, with careful planning you may not need to make that many joints between the rail types.
It would be easier to join short lengths of rail on the bench (say 6"
minimum) for use as adaptor rails, rather than trying to make lapped joints between different rail sizes in situ.
Graeme
In which case, you'd expect older lighter track to remain in sidings, branches, etc., with the heaviest stuff restricted to the mainline. No pw engineer in his right mind would replace flat bottom rail with bullhead, so you'd also expect to see the bullhead in sidings, with the heavier flat bottom on the main.
Depending on how much you have of each type, with careful planning you may not need to make that many joints between the rail types.
It would be easier to join short lengths of rail on the bench (say 6"
minimum) for use as adaptor rails, rather than trying to make lapped joints between different rail sizes in situ.
Graeme
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IrishPeter
In Britain and Ireland there was a preference for using flatbottom rail on narrow gauge railways, but it was not exclusive. The Festiniog Railway was an exception as was the Penrhyn Quarry Railway mainly because of their early date. In later times some N.G. industrial lines might have ended up built with old SG materials just because that was what was laying around.
The general tendancy was for rail weights to increase. Earlier lines tended towards lightweight rail - often 40lb or 45lb per yard; this increases in the 1880s to 56lb or 60lb/yard rail, and eventually to 75lb/yard rail in some later relaying work on lines such as the Co. Donegal, and the Isle of Man Railway. This 75lb f/b rail was often recycled from secondary lines belonging to the GNR(I) and the M&GWR.
Calthrop's theories on light railway construction throw a slight spanner in the works and lines built in accordance with his principles - e.g. The Leek and Manifold - used 35lb/yard rail weight coupled with a 5 ton axle loading. I think the WDLRs, which followed the Decauville/Calthrop line of evolution, used 24lb/yard rail with a 3 ton loading.
The Isle of Man Railways illustrate this development nicely. The IMR original used 45lb/yard rail when constructed in 1873/4, but later relays were 60lb or 75lb flat bottom rail. 45lb/yard rail was reckoned to be strong enough to carry an 8 to 10 ton axle load at 30 mph in those days, though in later times the standard weigh was increased to produce a more rigid 'road' that needed less frequent maintenance. The Manx Northern started out with 56lb/yard f/b rail of unusual section and later relays were 60lb/yard rail with a deeper web than the original stuff. The Foxdale Railway was built with 60lb/yard f/b rail, laid in chairs to give a more robust trackbed on what was anticipated to be a busy mineral hauler. Original rail tended to linger longest in yards and sidings long after the mainline had been relaid with 60lb rail. I seem to recall light section rail - 45lb/yard? - lurking around in sidings as late of the 1970s, and even some of the original IMR pole sleepers.
Irish light railways and tramways tended to follow the same line of development as the Isle of Man Railway. That is, they started out with mainly 45lb/yard f/b rail spiked straight onto sleepers with a certain percentage of fastenings being fangbolts, and later upgraded to 60lb/yard f/b rail. The NCC used baseplates on its NG sections as this was their standard practice with FB rail, and reduces maintenance. The GSR were relaying their NG Sections with 60lb rail spiked to the sleepers by the late 1920s. However, I am not sure if they used baseplates as I have never heard baseplates mentioned in connection with their NG track, though they appear often enough on BG secondary lines.
Peter in AZ
The general tendancy was for rail weights to increase. Earlier lines tended towards lightweight rail - often 40lb or 45lb per yard; this increases in the 1880s to 56lb or 60lb/yard rail, and eventually to 75lb/yard rail in some later relaying work on lines such as the Co. Donegal, and the Isle of Man Railway. This 75lb f/b rail was often recycled from secondary lines belonging to the GNR(I) and the M&GWR.
Calthrop's theories on light railway construction throw a slight spanner in the works and lines built in accordance with his principles - e.g. The Leek and Manifold - used 35lb/yard rail weight coupled with a 5 ton axle loading. I think the WDLRs, which followed the Decauville/Calthrop line of evolution, used 24lb/yard rail with a 3 ton loading.
The Isle of Man Railways illustrate this development nicely. The IMR original used 45lb/yard rail when constructed in 1873/4, but later relays were 60lb or 75lb flat bottom rail. 45lb/yard rail was reckoned to be strong enough to carry an 8 to 10 ton axle load at 30 mph in those days, though in later times the standard weigh was increased to produce a more rigid 'road' that needed less frequent maintenance. The Manx Northern started out with 56lb/yard f/b rail of unusual section and later relays were 60lb/yard rail with a deeper web than the original stuff. The Foxdale Railway was built with 60lb/yard f/b rail, laid in chairs to give a more robust trackbed on what was anticipated to be a busy mineral hauler. Original rail tended to linger longest in yards and sidings long after the mainline had been relaid with 60lb rail. I seem to recall light section rail - 45lb/yard? - lurking around in sidings as late of the 1970s, and even some of the original IMR pole sleepers.
Irish light railways and tramways tended to follow the same line of development as the Isle of Man Railway. That is, they started out with mainly 45lb/yard f/b rail spiked straight onto sleepers with a certain percentage of fastenings being fangbolts, and later upgraded to 60lb/yard f/b rail. The NCC used baseplates on its NG sections as this was their standard practice with FB rail, and reduces maintenance. The GSR were relaying their NG Sections with 60lb rail spiked to the sleepers by the late 1920s. However, I am not sure if they used baseplates as I have never heard baseplates mentioned in connection with their NG track, though they appear often enough on BG secondary lines.
Peter in AZ
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