EMGS commissions Peco for RTR EM Gauge bullhead track/turnouts

[martin_wynne]

Now I can rest assured that sleepers will match where Templot would put them

 

Bear in mind that the Templot default is for 25 sleepers per 60ft length. I don't know which spacing the EMGS have gone for, you may need to change the setting to match:

 

 

The three standard spacings for jointed bullhead track are 24, 25, and 26 sleepers per 60ft rail length.

 

24 is for straight track and down to 40 chains radius, on firm ground.

 

25 is for curves between 40 chains and 20 chains radius, and also for straight track on soft ground, in tunnels, and under water troughs.

 

26 is for curves below 20 chains radius.

 

In EM 4mm/ft scale:

 

40 chains = 10,560mm = 416" = 35ft radius.

 

20 chains = 5,280 mm = 208" = 17ft radius.

 

cheers,

 

Martin.

[hayfield]

Hi,

 

the 914 is the standard length of rail Peco use to sell their flexi track in yards lengths and this is what the machines are set to produce.

 

Lots of modellers who looked at the track at Warley and asked questions, liked the idea of 60ft panels as its not been done before in an off the shelf form. I can't remember anybody doing it.

 

The lengths come with 3 and a half panels so there is a bit of rail left over at the ends. Yes not idela but we are currently discussing it and may have a plan but you will have to wait on that one.

 

To have the track in shorter lengths would mean one of two things, the price goes up as you need to pay someone to cut the rail in to shorter lengths before the panels are added or some poor mug, ie me, will have to sit there cutting them before posting them out to customers.

 

 

C&L announces several months announced their new 00 gauge track has 60' panels, with the correct spacing at the ends of each panel, planned to have been available at Warley !!

[classy52]

Wow never saw this coming and pretty late to this thread...as usual 

I'm moving house next week and will be building my first new layout in 2019 and have always toyed with the idea of going to EM Gauge but to be honest I'm a bit too raw to take the leap but this development may well tip me over the edge and properly investigate.

[ThaneofFife]

diddly dar diddly day..........love that sound.  plus did bullhead rail ever reach continuously welded production ?  don't think it did so if the sums and logistics of it all adds up, 60ft scale lengths would be fab. 

 

and ive just noticed EMGS membership is only £20 for UK members not £25. 

Edited December 5, 2018 by ThaneofFife

['CHARD]

Wow never saw this coming and pretty late to this thread...as usual 

I'm moving house next week and will be building my first new layout in 2019 and have always toyed with the idea of going to EM Gauge but to be honest I'm a bit too raw to take the leap but this development may well tip me over the edge and properly investigate.

 

Dip your toe in, sir!  My membership pack arrived on Monday, so a huge thanks to the EMGS Membership Secretary for processing my application so diligently and promptly. Now the real fun begins.... 

[classy52]

Dip your toe in, sir!  My membership pack arrived on Monday, so a huge thanks to the EMGS Membership Secretary for processing my application so diligently and promptly. Now the real fun begins.... 

 

Yeah why the hell not!...read this entire thread and lot's of moaning about having to stump up to join EMGS to get access to the new track but to me the contacts and knowledge you would probably gain by joining far outweigh the very small cost.

[dhjgreen]

Yeah why the hell not!...read this entire thread and lot's of moaning about having to stump up to join EMGS to get access to the new track but to me the contacts and knowledge you would probably gain by joining far outweigh the very small cost.

There are 18 area groups too, including one in Kent

[lapford34102]

 

including one in Kent

Is there, wonder where ?

 

Stu

[dhjgreen]

Is there, wonder where ?

 

Stu

The EMGS web site says they meet in members homes once a month; details are only available to members. There has not been a report from them in the last 2 newsletters, although not every group reports every quarter. Edited December 5, 2018 by dhjgreen

[KeithHC]

And my membership is in the post...........

 

Keith

[Mel_H]

diddly dar diddly day..........love that sound.  plus did bullhead rail ever reach continuously welded production ?  don't think it did so if the sums and logistics of it all adds up, 60ft scale lengths would be fab. 

 

and ive just noticed EMGS membership is only £20 for UK members not £25. 

 

No, bullhead was never LWR, as you need heavy sleepers and deep ballast to stop it buckling. However, a number of sidings did get 60ft sections welded into longer ones to save on maintenance etc. I recall reading somewhere that in BR days an Area Manager said that if his man in charge of track had his way, he would have welded all the the sidings!@

[Mel_H]

Yeah why the hell not!...read this entire thread and lot's of moaning about having to stump up to join EMGS to get access to the new track but to me the contacts and knowledge you would probably gain by joining far outweigh the very small cost.

For a long time I've thought it would be handy if someone was able to 'editorialise' threads to sum up the cogent posts for those who like to dip in and out. Hey, maybe that could happen once a week and all be posted together to see the most interesting things going on, and call it something like MREmag!

[Jeff Smith]

Unfortunately editing and summarising is subjective. Some points, important to some, unimportant to others, would be left out......

[Enterprisingwestern]

Summarising is fraught with difficulty.

 

 

Mike.

[davefrk]

No, bullhead was never LWR, as you need heavy sleepers and deep ballast to stop it buckling. However, a number of sidings did get 60ft sections welded into longer ones to save on maintenance etc. I recall reading somewhere that in BR days an Area Manager said that if his man in charge of track had his way, he would have welded all the the sidings!@

 

Sorry but that isn't quite right. I photographed bullhead track with the 60 foot sections welded together on the Wharfedale line north of Leeds, yes the sleepers were concrete but wartime with the date being 1942 on the chairs. There were even the fishplate bolt holes either side of the weld so if it happened in one place why not others.

 

Dave Franks.

[sharris]

Was there a standard grouping era method of dealing with track panels that didn't exactly fit into a standard length? Welding an extra bit onto the preceding standard length to make a longer one, using a shorter section with fishplates and sleepering at both ends as per the ends of a standard panel or 'it depends...'?

[Jeff Smith]

Someone published a picture of BH welded to FB a while ago.

[martin_wynne]

Someone published a picture of BH welded to FB a while ago.

 

All things are possible. Here is a special fishplate for connecting worn bullhead rail (on the left) to new or unworn rail (on the right).

 

You can see how much the head depth of the rail has been worn down compared with the new rail -- the stepped fishplate brings it back up level with the unworn rail.

 

 

It's unusual to see this within pointwork. It means the bridge chair supporting the worn rail needs a thicker base than the nearer chair, as they are both on the same timber. Special chairs were made with thicker than the standard 1.3/4" base thickness for this type of situation.

 

 

The fishplate is clearly marked for 95R BH WORN / 95R BH NEW (Highley, SVR)

 

regards,

 

Martin.

Edited December 16, 2018 by martin_wynne

[tomparryharry]

Was there a standard grouping era method of dealing with track panels that didn't exactly fit into a standard length? Welding an extra bit onto the preceding standard length to make a longer one, using a shorter section with fishplates and sleepering at both ends as per the ends of a standard panel or 'it depends...'?

The standard method was to cut down a length, usually when a rail started 'dropping' at the end. A 60' length became 45', and so on. A severe dropped joint might require 4 lengths of rail to fully recover the affected joint.

 

The railway as a whole always used short lengths of rail for a variety of jobs. Fence posts, sign posts, lintels in buildings, etc. Our neighbours always crashed into my hedge. "Sorry, but don't worry, it'll grow back". The problem stopped when I inserted 2x 6' lengths to protect the street sign.

 

I've got a job in the new year to rebuild the fireplace at home. Naturally, it'll be a short, 5' length of 95lb bullhead....

Edited December 19, 2018 by tomparryharry

[Penlan]

I've got a job in the new year to rebuild the fireplace at home. Naturally, it'll be a short, 5' length of 95lb bullhead....

When I was working on the M5 construction near Bridgewater in the early 70's,

the RE decided to buy an old house - "It's OK, I know property.." etc., etc.,

He started to knock a few bits out, a couple or more Acro-Props in place and suddenly creaking.

The main - central - vertical support for the whole house was revealed to be a piece of Bridge Rail,

rusted more than not, which with the removal of some minor side supports, collapsed.

At least the outside walls remained vertical, but there was little left to keep the rain out. 

He could have bought a brand new Wimpy 3 Bedroom Semi near North Petherton at the time for £2,750. 

This was just before all the guzzumping took place. 

Edited December 21, 2018 by Penlan

[JimF51]

having wandered around and dabbled in most of the UK's rail/scale combinations (N, 2mmFS, OO, OO9, EM, P4, 7mm and 7mmNG), I never could settle on just one. Each had their pros and cons. I kept coming back to OO, as being in the US, it would just be so much simpler to acquire what I needed. Yet I still hesitated, as the 'narrow gauge' look just put me off, and I wanted track that looked better than the standard Peco, but was not inclined to build my own. So I just continued on with other hobbies. Peco then comes out with their bullhead track, and the interest comes up again, but still, that NG look.

 

Now, however, the EMGS is having track produced, eliminating building track and points, and just about fixing the NG look. Excellent!

 

I have no issue with having to join (rejoin) the EMGS in order to buy track, and staying with it for help as I proceed in EM gauge. I have no issue with using paypal to pay for membership, and to pay for the track and turnouts. Unless shipping doubles the cost of the order, I'll willingly pay that, as well. It's the only way I'll be able to get it, over here, so I'll bite the bullet.

 

I honestly do not get why there is 16 pages of posts about this track. I could understand if they were all from folks who are either going to buy it and are happy it forthcoming, or folks just saying 'well done' EMGS. But all the comments regarding "'it should be sold by other sources (Peco, hobby shops, etc..)", or "It won't bring more people to EM gauge", or "I don't see why people don't just build their own track" and all the similar comments, just seem like folks have nothing better to do than criticize. And, I'd be willing to wager, a number of negative comments have been made by folks who have no interest in EM gauge, to start with.

 

As I stated above, I will not be joining the Soc. solely for the track: however, if it is NOT possible to ship track to me without it breaking the bank, then I will forgo joining, as well as working in EM gauge. But I will wait till I know for certain, one way or another.

 

Excellent move, EMGS, other Guilds/Societies should take a page from yoru book.

 

Jim F

[sharris]

Will there be any samples of the new track on the EMGS stand at Stevenage?

[Mr.S.corn78]

Will there be any samples of the new track on the EMGS stand at Stevenage?

Hi,

Subject to the postal system it is hoped to have one of the points and a small section of the plain track at the show.

 

The small section of plain track is due to Royal Mail wanting an arm, leg and several other organs to post the yard length.

 

Thanks

[jonhall]

 

The small section of plain track is due to Royal Mail wanting an arm, leg and several other organs to post the yard length.

 

 

I do wonder if it wouldn't be more sensible for track to be made in a slightly more 'mail order friendly' length, a yard or a meter is OK, but would it really matter if it was sold in 850mm lengths to allow cheaper/easier postage? From the Royal Mail website: 

 

 

 

Tubes

For tube-shaped items, the length of the item plus twice the diameter must not exceed 104cm, with the greatest dimension being no more than 90cm.

 

 

Jon

[Jol Wilkinson]

As most BH track was aid in panels (usually 60ft in later years, AFAIK) would a multiple of that scale length be sensible. Three panels would be 720mm, 28.4", which is also the same as four early  45ft panels. As EM track standards are about being a bit more realistic, then adopting prototype lengths might seem logical if it makes for easier packaging and delivery.