Track Laying in Earnest 



I've been laying track on the layout in earnest. In the visible areas I've been laying Micro Engineering Code 55. In the hidden or temporary areas I've been laying Atlas Code 55. I've found that each has it's advantages and disadvantages in track laying. The Atlas Code 55 is fairly easy to keep straight on the tangent sections. The disadvantage is that when you solder the feeders to the bottom of the rail as I am doing, you need to solder them at the beginning of the piece of flex, otherwise as you bend it into the curve the moveable rail obviously moves out. So you can't just solder the feeder anywhere along the rail. The Micro Engineering flex is exactly the opposite. When you bend the track into shape, it holds that shape. In this case you can cut the the rail to size, file and prep it then set it in place. Keeping wiggle out of the Micro Engineering in the tangent sections is much harder. The use of a long metal ruler to line up the rail and ties will help out.

 

Posted: Tue - May 17, 2005 at 09:23 PM          

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