Peco rail expansion

[AyJay]

Hi Andi,

You don't say if your track will be exposed to direct sunshine or not?

My layout has similar dimensions to yours, but located in the unventilated 'mancave'.

When I laid the track, I allowed an expansion gap on every track length/on every board, about 1 - 2mm.

Come the height of last summer, door open and fan running, I realised that one section was exposed to the sunshine and I could feel that the track was warm to the touch. Also, the expansion gaps were down to zero!  Propbably the only thing that saved it was that this was a bend, so there must have been a bit of 'give' in the sleeper ties.  

I immediately got the Dremel out and gave each length an extra couple of mm.  I also rigged up an emergency shade over the offending window and kept the fan running with the door open.  Disaster averted!

Now it is winter and those expansion gaps are at about 5mm.

[pheaton]

On 04/03/2023 at 19:17, F-UnitMad said:

I would agree with this, pretty much. I left a gap of 1mm approx between rails, in my loft, which is fully insulated but can fluctuate in temperature.

In the heat last summer I found only one small distortion out of gauge, it was a turnout rail with less spikes in place. The layout is U.S. O Scale, Code 125 & Code 100 rail spiked through coffee-stirrer ties (sleepers).

Mindyou, it looks like this anyway - not from heat distortion!!

Looks pretty damn accurate to me based off some of the videos of US railroads ive seen on youtube!!!

[cypherman]

Hi all,

All the tracks mentioned here are pinned down so there is some flexibility in the movement of the sleepers for more moderate heat ranges. But I wonder how the expansion would go if you glue your track down. I am not a fan of gluing track down and would advise against it. But it seems to be a method that is happening more often.

[Dagworth]

6 minutes ago, cypherman said:

Hi all,

All the tracks mentioned here are pinned down so there is some flexibility in the movement of the sleepers for more moderate heat ranges. But I wonder how the expansion would go if you glue your track down. I am not a fan of gluing track down and would advise against it. But it seems to be a method that is happening more often.

All the scenic track on Ravens is glued down and ballasted, both with PVA. It's been like that for more than ten years and I've only ever had one bit move which was easily sorted. The layout lives in the garage and gets extreme temperature variation. I had big problems in the pinned down fiddle yard one summer but the main lines have been fine.

 

Andi

[Il Grifone]

On 06/03/2023 at 17:10, Happy Hippo said:

Wrenn track was the fibre sleepered stuff.

 

Wrenn was the common one (easily recognised by the enormous sleepers - "Scaled to match the rail!"), but there was Peco and Welkut as well. (Peco was rather good - I can't speak for Welkut). Rail fixings are best described as delicate'. Peco did supply 1/2" spikes to fix their track with! IIRC Wrenn favoured tiny screws.... Wrenn clipped the rail to the sleeper base every few inches with a rail joiner like device. When I tried to curve some, the rail parted company with the sleepers. At around 6/- a yard (3 rail steel) I wasn't impressed! It was necessary to cut the sleeper webs to curve the track - no mollycddling like today when it's already done for us. (Well Ok for gentle curves. Set track type curves need a bit more. (I always cut the lot, as there is surfeit of sleepers. As supplied it's about right for H0 U.S. mainline practice (their main market of course).

 

I would have thought 2 degrees F was a bit chilly even for Cardiff. I lived in Bristol (Just over the river) in my youth and never had anything like that.

Only 34.2 degrees C? I've got a picture I took in Sardinia of the thermometer reading 45 degrees C!