Hello Stephen,

What do you use to attach and align your baseboards together? If they are just loosely pushed together then you will have problems, especially if your baseboard framing is of unequal heights. If you use clamps this will also cause endless trouble, and damage your timber frames over time. If you used proper alignment dowels and fixing nuts and bolts this would go some way to curing the derailment problem. Likewise, if your track is not laid carefully and perfectly flat around the joins this will cause more grief. None of the above is irreversible and could be sorted out. Laying track on proper cork underlay with even amounts of PVA glue is a good start; some people use copper clad sleepers as the last sleeper before the join, to really secure and protect the track. It's not hard to get accurate and level track joins, it just takes care and accurate track filing. You can super glue the last few sleepers between joins to make sure the track stays exactly where you want it - immediately - and doesn't creep as the PVA glue dries.

Cheers

Simon

It does sound a shame if you are happy with all other aspects. To be able to make suggestions we probably need some more information about the current arrangement:

• Is the layout permanently fitted in the room or do you strip it down into modules and reassemble to run?
  
• Are the baseboards flat and do the top surfaces match at joints?
  
• How is the Peco track fixed down onto the board and what underlay (if any) did you use?
  
• Where derailments occur are you aware of the reason (i.e. vertical or horizontal missalignment, joint on curve)?
  

Thanks for the comments Mike & Simon. I had added some images to show what the layout current looks like. As you can see the room is very cluttered and this is because there is simply no room to adequately store things (whether they are train related or not). Although I like the layout I do find it to consume the space of the room and the running problems highlighted that this layout may need to be reconsidered.

To give some further info on the layout here we go:

The layout is currently perminantly fixed into position. It was originally an L shaped end to end layout but has since been extended to be a round the room layout with a central operating chair.

One issue I have with the baseboards is that they should all be the same level but there is an inconsistency in height on one board (due to a construction error on my part) which has meant I have had to build the track up to the height required. This means that in two locations the baseboards are not at the same height as each other.

The Peco track is fixed down onto cork underlay on the main board but uses fibre board underlay on the other boards. It is fixed down using track pins. At the baseboard joins I soldered the rail to PCB so it would stay in place then secured the PCB to the boards. This works well on some joins but not too well on others.

The derailments occur in different styles for different stock (and in different directions e.g. one piece of stock might be fine in one direction but derail in the other).

I appreciate that a lot of this is reverseable, I am just at the stage where I am considering my options. It might take a bit of work to get it right, in which case this could be time well spent. But I need to remember the fact that I am thinking the size is perhaps a little large and I could get better running qualities from T Trak modules or the like. Still my mind is not made up yet so maybe I will save this large layout.

First of all, the most important question is this: if it ran perfectly would you still want to replace it with something new? As you will now be aware there are many benefits of the T Trak approach, or modules in general, giving greater flexibility moving forward.

There is a technique used by the East Surrey N Gauge group who use modules extensively within the club. They use N Trak modules. With the N Trak system the rails stop some 2" short of the module end and 4" bridging pieces of Peco streamline physically join the two sections together. Using this approach the is no rail joint at the module interfaces and they seem to run with no problems.

If your answer to my first question was something like "yes I would like to sort out my current layout" then it should be posible to retrofit this arrangement. You would need to measure back 2" from each "joint" and using a rotory cutter cut through the rails and remove the track across the joint. Cut 4" lengths of matching Peco track and thread fishplates on so not part of the fishplate extends beyond the track end (you will probably need to remove some sleepers for this). Place the new length in the new gap between boards and using a sharp screwdriver slide the fishplate along the rail to extend onto the adjacent rail. Given the layout is permanent you can then paint/balast the new pieces to match the rest of the layout. Worth a try?

Mike, thanks for the advice (and the images you sent). I think that option would certainly do the job in terms of making the layout operate smoothly. There is one area though, that is particularly prone to derailments, where there is a very tight curve straight after the join. Unfortunately this is unavoidable but I might be able to rethink this area of track.

As I have said I am still undecided. I think the big issue I am looking at is space and long term sustainability of the layout (I expect that I will move house in a few years and therefore the layout would probably need to go/change to accommodate that.

So I will keep all of these comments in mind when I am looking at the future of the layout.

Many many thanks!