Track warping

green_elite_cab

Keep It Moving!
Hello!

I have run into a terrible problem. Now that christmas is over, i started running my trains down on the layout again. Only one problem: the truck rear of one of my NJT coaches was lifting off the rails! closer inspectsionshowed that the outer rails of two Nickel Silver 22" radius snap track at the beginning of the curve had dips in them. I fixed it some what by hammering the track nails down farther, but the dip is still enough so that the wheels roll off the track. for a derailment, its very silent until it his the switch machine on the other side of the layout.

I hadn't run any trains on there in about a month. The most i did was add some track bumpers and details.

would the weight of someone's elbow bend the rail like that? thats the only thing i can think of. its mounted very securely to cork though, so how much could it really have room to bend?

I suppose i'll either have to remover those track sections and either try to straighten them, or get new 22 inch track.
 

Russ Bellinis

Active Member
Usually the rails don't bend like that. The biggest problem is that the nails will tend to bend the tie in the center and pull the track out of gauge narrow. If you have a verticle bend in a rail, you probably need to replace the track section.
 
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