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STREET TRACK HELP PAGE
NOTE: ALL THE PARTS ON THIS PAGE ARE SUITABLE FOR PROTO:87 USE and P4 USE. They may be useful for regular HO and OO with certain operational and system restrictions.
Let's start with a picture of what we are going to achieve
"Setts" texture is fitted on the straight sections and "asphalt/concrete" texture is used on the curves, because it has no directional pattern.
First we need a base and track plan.
Draw, or use a computer program printout, to mark the exact rail positions on the bare street.
Cut the rails from the fret, at the point where the rail is no longer full thickness. Be careful not to bend any part of the rails.
Xuron rail nippers or a dremel cutting disk will do .
Here are properly cut rail ends shown together
Before we begin laying, we are going to need tweezers, some "gel" super-glue, an appropriate track gauge (or reference wheelsets in a truck) and (not shown) a fine pointed end craft knife, to lift up rail ends slightly
In addition, a file may be useful for squaring up any ragged rail ends.
The first piece of rail is laid with it's gauge line exactly on the drawn gauge line. Use small dabs of glue in the center and only up to 1 cm of the ends. Do not put any glue on the last 1 cm of each end.
This glue-free gap allows the insertion of the alignment pins and for any soldering to be done later.
Cut an alignment pin ready for the next rail piece on the same side of the track.
DO NOT lay the rail on the other side of the track yet!
Grip the pin in the tweezers and hold the knife blade flat to the laid rail end.
Using the knife blade to just lift the rail very slightly, (1/2 mm max) slide the pin HALFWAY into the slot under the rail
Don't lift the rail too high, or it will bend up permanently!.
Now we are ready to lay the next rail on the same side.
Note, it isn't actually necessary to draw the second (opposite gauge line, but it helps in more complex parts of the track
Use the same gluing technique, keeping the last 1 cm at each end glue free. The first end will lock onto the pin and the free end should again be aligned exactly to the drawn gauge line.
To lay more rail on the same side, just repeat the steps above.
Two IMPORTANT things to note before going further.
1 Every three sections or so, leave a 0.010" gap to allow for expansion rail movement.
2 Lay any "flat wiring" conductors that must pass under the rail (and insulating pads if needed) down before laying the rail over them. This may take a little forethought, but will make subsequent power wiring ridiculously easy and simple.
Here we have switched over to laying the opposite rail.
Now instead of using the gauge line, we use a track gauge (if P:87 or P4,) or as shown, a "reference" truck or bogie if HO/00 compatibility mode"
What's a reference truck you ask? Well, it's a truck with wheels that are set to same "back to back" setting as all the other wheels on all the other vehicles you are going to use on the track. One of the conditions for using HO/00 compatibility mode is that all the wheels you use will have the same consistent settings.
Because the PSS flangeway is so close to scale width, in HO/00 compatibility mode, the track cannot be set to the true 16.5 mm gauge, but must be set to have the flangeways be positioned inwards just enough to fit exactly underneath the tips of the wheel flanges.
Note that even if your wheels are consistent, you must of course make sure the new gauge does not deviate to any noticeable extent as you lay compatible mode track.
This sounds more difficult than it actually is, and on a good quality, well maintained system, HO/00 compatibility mode will work well enough, at scale running speeds, to give a good level of operation and pleasure. But for excellent, reliable operation, a proto:scale is best.
With all the rail laid, we should make all the electrical system connections. The rail joints should be soldered by capillary action using a little flux, then a VERY SMALL amount of solder applied to the outside of the rail only. You don't need much solder for electrical continuity, but getting excess solder INTO the flangeway is easy, and filing it out afterwards, very arduous. But any excess solder in the flangeway MUST be removed, as it will cause derailments. The extra wide gaps mentioned earlier, should be left unsoldered every 12" or so, to prevent buckling with expansion.
Also any power wiring should be run to the rails and soldered in a similar fashion. Evey gapped section needs to be separately connected, as the pins cannot be relied on to transmit current reliably over time. The "Flat Wiring System" will allow this to be done very easily on the surface and is also useful in pieces under rail joints to make soldering them neatly a little easier.
Moving finally on to tackle the finished street surface.
While we supply a range of several different textured plastic sheets, you can also use card or a plaster/putty method, with optional scribing to form appropriates stones, etc. in the road surface. As an example, Werner Jurkowski's wonderful technique and tutorial are at:
http://www.modelltram.de/seite4a.htm
Just remember to always keep the street surface BELOW the rail height, so the wheels don't get lifted off the rails, and also so that you can clean the rails without damaging the street surface.
We recommend a surface thickness of 0.020" vs the rail height of 0.028". That is the same thickness as our plastic surfaces.
The cutting and laying of the plastic texture is really self explanatory. There is no particular "right way". One does have to measure well and cut perhaps a little "over", then trim for a final good fit. It is possible to use spare pieces of rail to act as templates for marking and cutting the curves more easily.
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