Ripping up some track

[Woodie]

All,

I need to rip up some track due to problems with derailing loco's. It is a section about 8" long and is elevated with risers. It is fully ballasted and scene constructed around it. It is also elevated using risers. Is it recomended that I cut the entire section out and rebuild the lot? Or just try to pry the track up and leave most of the scenery there? I sorta lost the plot a bit with it, and wacked it with the hammer!

 

[shamus]

Hi Woodie,
Rip it out and start again, always better in the end. By the way, what camera are you using, photo's are very good.

Shamus

 

[Gary Pfeil]

Hi Woody, I would cut the rails at both ends of the problem section, remove the track, then remove the ballast. If you fastened the ballast with white glue, you can loosen it by soaking with warm water. Use a chisel blade in an exacto knife to remove the ballast under the ends of the track which are left Remove ties from the ends of the replacement section so you can slide rail joiners all the way on to the rails(which you have cut to the exact length you need), position the new section and slide the joiners onto the adjacent rails. Nail or spike the track down and reballast. Touch up any scenery you mess up and open a beer, run a train!

Gary

 

[Woodie]

Ripped up track

Yep...... wacked it with the hammer good and proper!

However, I was able to cut one rail out (the problem one that had a dent in it, caused by a hammer wack!) Exacto knife'd it all to remove any lumps, ties ballast etc, and was able to just replace the single rail. It was all part of a level crossing, so I'll have to rebuild that part, but not just yet. Wanna make sure it's not going to give me any further probs. It was the worst derail spot i've had. No way known could I determine why one partiular loco would derail at this particular spot (and only about 1 in 10 passes too). None of the rolling stock would derail, just this one loco. I tried and looked for every which way and reason, and it would only derail (front bogie only) when rollingstock was trailing behind. Drove me mad!

With about 8" of a single rail replaced, it does not now cause the loco to derail, but I am going to leave it like that for a while just to make sure ALL locos and stock are OK with the rebuild.

Shamus, I have no idea what sort of camera it is. A friend dropped by and just clicked away. Only spent about 10 mins doing it. No lighting or staging or cleaning up was done. The pics were the result.