Replacing a Piece of Track

[Riccarton Junction]

I'm sure this is something that happens a lot. The track is where you thought you wanted it, so it's glued down and tightly fitted together. Then you realise you actually want to replace a straight with right-had point or you need to replace a bit of broken track. Problem is the pieces are snuggly locked together with no wiggle room. Therefore the question is, how the heck do you remove and replace a single piece of track without needing to pull up an entire section i.e. it's not (easily) possible to remove a piece between two other pieces without almost (or actually) breaking one of the neighbouring pieces. I'm sure there is a trick to this, but I've not worked it out yet. Pulling up entire sections seems OTT but don't see how else to do it.

[Gordon A]

Use a slitting disc in a mini drill. Preferable with a flexible drive. Cut through the rails on the  removed piece of track's side of the track joint.

You can then remove the piece of track either with a big chisel, but first try softening the glue with meths, depending on what glue you used.

 

Gordon A

[richard.h]

A lot depends on the glue you have used if it is a PVA water based glue you can soften it with warm water so after you have cut through and isolated the track with a cutting disc you can easily remove the offending section, other adhesives will require different solvents.

The new section will need the fishplate joiners to be recessed so that they can be slid out afterwards to ensure alignment and good electrical contact.

[ianLMS]

7 minutes ago, richard.h said:

 

The new section will need the fishplate joiners to be recessed so that they can be slid out afterwards to ensure alignment and good electrical contact.

Or leave the new rails isolated and apply a new power feed

[Chrisr40]

When you have cut your new piece of track to size remove 2 or 3 sleepers each end and slide on your fish plates. Push them up on to the sections of track with no sleepers so that the fish plates do not extend further than the ends of the rails. Then pop you piece of track back in the gap where it should be a good but not tight fit (taking thermal expansion in to account) and the slide your rail joiners out to connect to the track that remained in situ. You can then trim the chairs off the sleepers you removed so that they can be slid in to the gaps you will have.  As above post suggests either add a new power feed if you dont want to rely upon the fish plates to conduct the electric or you can gently nip up the fish plates once positioned with a small pair of pliers for a tight fit. Good luck, it sounds more daunting than it is but take your time and you will be fine.

[The Johnster]

You’ll make a mess if you’re anything like me, and there will be ballast, plaster, and all sorts all over the place, so have a vacuum cleaner handy to clear out all the small debris before dropping the new piece in.  If you are connecting with ‘fishplate’ joiners (I prefer this as it ensures good alignment) it is a good idea to loosen whatever is holding the adjoining pieces in place (usually pva) so that you can wiggle them about to fit the joiners more easily.