O gauge outdoor

[400four]

Hi, Im  new here. Building o gauge garden railway. Have laid concrete strips around the garden, most of it at ground level. Now fixing 10mm uPVC to the concrete, it follows the shape of the track plus a bit either side and I have beveled it to make it look like built up ballast. Question: Im going to pin track to the uPVC, I also have resin to bond fine ballast, do you think this will work? Also I cant get my head around the track joiners are the same as used on OO, is this correct? They are so hard to fit is there an alternatve? Thanks.

[Phil Parker]

There are loads of ways to lay track in the garden. We cover many different ones in Garden Rail magazine. Without having done it, I can't say if yours will work better or worse then any other, although I'm inclined to say uPVC should be better than wood.

 

O gauge rail joiners are bigger, for the larger rail section, than OO.

[Happy Hippo]

If you are going to buy Peco track, then Peco Code 124 bullhead track does indeed use the OO fish plates.

 

But be aware that it's the Code 100 fish plates that it uses and not the smaller ones used for Peco Code 75 rail section.

 

Peco flat bottomed rail has it's own specific set of fish plates.  If you are joining the two types of track together then there are special adaptor fish plates.

 

All the info is on the Peco website.

 

If you are using any other manufacturers ready to lay track, then they need to use their own fish plates as the Peco ones will not fit, due to the different rail profile that Peco uses.

[400four]

Thanks for the replies, but Im still confused.

Phil says: o gauge joiners ARE bigger than those for OO as bigger track.

Happy Hippo says: Peco code 124 track DOES use same joiners as OO.

I dont get how those tiny OO rail joiners can fit, in fact I have a packet and they are murder to fit. But I will make sure I get code 100 as I have a mile of code 124 bullhead that I bought years ago in preparation for this project. This is not a finescale effort as the model buildings are concrete, cast from moulds and the loco`s and rolling stock are Lima, converted to radio control.

[Happy Hippo]

7 hours ago, 400four said:

Thanks for the replies, but Im still confused.

Phil says: o gauge joiners ARE bigger than those for OO as bigger track.

Happy Hippo says: Peco code 124 track DOES use same joiners as OO.

I dont get how those tiny OO rail joiners can fit, in fact I have a packet and they are murder to fit. But I will make sure I get code 100 as I have a mile of code 124 bullhead that I bought years ago in preparation for this project. This is not a finescale effort as the model buildings are concrete, cast from moulds and the loco`s and rolling stock are Lima, converted to radio control.

If you have Peco components and track, then if you look at their website it states which fish plates are used for the  G O track

 

For flat bottomed rail ( IL-7FB) and ready made flat bottomed track (SL-700FB). Use:

 

SL-710FB and SL-711FB (insulated)

 

For bullhead rail (IL-7BH) and ready made bullhead track (SL-700BH).  Use:

 

SL-10 and SL-11(insulated)

 

 

To join FB to BH use the adaptor rail joiner pack (IL-717).

 

Just to prove I'm not pulling your plonker, this is a quote from the Peco Website:

 

PECO STREAMLINE OO/HO CODE 100

INSULATED RAIL JOINER

Designed to be used with our 00/H0 Code 100 track systems (Ref nos. SL-100 and 102); also with 0 Gauge Bullhead (SL-700BH) and 0-16.5/0n30 (SL-500) track systems.

Design prevents adjacent rails from touching whilst holding them in alignment. Insulated rail joiners are required to provide electrical breaks where Electrofrog turnouts are used, for more details see our Wiring the Layout publications Nos 4 and 21.

Recommended to be used with:

SL-100 00/H0 Track

SL-700BH 0 Gauge Track

SL-500 0-16.5 Track

 

 

PECO STREAMLINE CODE 100

RAIL JOINER

Designed to be used with our 00/H0 Code 100 track systems (Ref nos. SL-100 and 102); also with 0 Gauge Bullhead (SL-700BH) and 0-16.5/0n30 (SL-500) track systems.

Recommended to be used with:

SL-100 00/H0 Track

SL-700BH 0 Gauge Track

SL-500 0-16.5 Track

 

You will find the joiners much easier to fit if you:

 

a.  Open the ends up with a small screwdriver

b. Consider  a few strokes with a file to put a slight taper on the foot of the rail to remove the sharp edges. This is especially important if you have cut the rail as you will need to remove the burrs.

 

Please remember that there are more track systems out there than just Peco and they use different types of fish plate/joiner.

 

In that respect Phil#s statement about differing sizes is not incorrect, but it was not a detailed statement.

 

Please remember to bond the rails together with wire and do not rely on using the fishplates to transfer the current.  they are there purely for alignment once you get out into the outdoors.

 

It might also be a good point to remember to leave adequate expansion gaps between each length of rail.

 

Does that now make more sense?

 

Edit: The differing Prefixes IL and SL stand for Individual Laid and Stream Line which merely differentiates between track components and ready to lay track. 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 4, 2020 by Happy Hippo

[400four]

Thanks again, all makes sense now. Btw no current to the track so no worries there, but expansion is a good point. The loco has rechargeable batteries and works with radio control.

[Captain Cuttle]

On 04/04/2020 at 11:39, 400four said:

Thanks again, all makes sense now. Btw no current to the track so no worries there, but expansion is a good point. The loco has rechargeable batteries and works with radio control.

I always aneal the fishplates this makes them more manageable and run them onto a spare length of old rail first as it opens them up a bit.

Regards

Alan