More than nine years ago at age 49 I had a major stroke.
Two years into recovery I decided it was time to buld a railroad. I’m a second generation HO builder but the stroke had affected my eyesight and fine dexerity in my left arm and hand. I saw G scale and I was hooked. Building a railroad was great therapy.
I decided to go with RC/battery because I needed to follow my trains. That was a good decision.
I decided to use rail joiners since I wasn’t powering my tracks. That was a bad decision.
I had constant maintenance issues because of expansion/contraction of the track. My track floats but with temperature changes on the desert the track needs to move a lot.
In the last year I decided it was time to power the tracks because in the two clubs I’m in there are very few with battery/rc.
It was time to bite the bullet and install Hillman rail clamps. So far I have 300 feet of mainline clamped and in the next month I’ll have the sidings done. Progress is slow but I wish I had done this originally. If you are building this year consider rail clamps. You won’t have to relevel and reballast like I have been doing!
Doug I have been using the AML clamps. They had them on sale for .95 each. I thought that a good price and have been very happy with them so far. I put 150 of them in last year and have 150 more to go. I think I will hve to try and get more as in a year or two I will be adding on to the railroad and will be going with rail clamps from now on.
I’m sure sold on them. Not only that but since I have wide curves I bent all my rail over my knee. I wasn’t happy with a few places and the rail clamps smoothed out the curves!
I have been using the Aristo clamps but mainly on the turnouts and areas were I cut the track. They are much more affordable and very easy to work with. .
I’ve been using the Split-Jaw clamps from day one, and have been happy with them.
Doug,
You may not do as much leveling and re-ballasting, but you will always have to do some. That is even a constant battle for the one to one guys.
Yep…theres no sech thing as maintenance free track…just some that’s less than others…one thing that makes the chore less…run trains frequently! Shows problems while they’re still small and infrequent…
Rail clamps will help with expansion?
Tom Ruby said:They just keep the joints together when it contracts... you'll still have just as much movement.
Rail clamps will help with expansion?
I just clamp the outside on curves, and stagger (alternate) a single clamp at every straight joint… half as many clamps, and less chance of a major sun kink.
The layout is about 100 feet long and 50 feet wide. We had a hot stretch a few years ago when it hit about 110 during the day. By the third day the track on one end actually expanded over a foot beyond where it "belongs. It shows you that even brass track can expand a lot.
Can you imagine what that track would have looked like if it had been tied down?
Doug, I have a double track layout with brass flex-track and Hillman rail clamps. I ended up installing Hillman expansion track in several places because of expansion. I would level the track and ballast it in the cool of the day and by the heat of the next day, the curve had move and inch or more. The expansion track help cut the movement down so it stayed level better. After the installation, my Dash 9 center axle did not derail any more.
Doug, All:
My RR is and has been 100% battery / RC, with absolutely no thought to changing that in my lifetime.
The track is ballasted just like the prototype. As Ric points out, it does require leveling and the (mostly seasonal) addition of ballast, just like the prototype. I have been using Hillman clamps from the beginning (nearly 20 years). I like the clamps so much that I really tried to buy the Hillmans out when they retired. We were only about $120,000 apart on price for the company!!
One of the things I see with the Hillman clamps is that the design could be improved. There is a very small change in the machining that would make them lots stronger and prevent the few failures that I have experienced. Not a big problem, and the Hillmans always made good on any that failed. I haven’t bought any since Silvergate Manufacturing has owned the company, so don’t know what their policy is.
Like Mik, I only use clamps on the outside rail of curves, with the stock joiners on the inside rail. I use (mostly three piece) clamps on all rails of every switch, and anyplace that is likely to need removal. Otherwise, I just alternate between clamps and stock joiners based on where I think the rail might tend to separate. Saves lots of $$$.
I do think I would use clamps on every joint if the RR were track powered. Then again, if it was track powered, I probably wouldn’t have an outdoor RR. Just too much grief, especially of the get down on my 68 year old hands and knees type!
By the way, one of the joys of living on the North Coast of California is the extremely temperate weather, but the temperature still swings from the low 20s to above 110 F over the year. Our rainy season is from November through April, and this year we have had ~60 inches of rain so far.
Happy RRing,
Jerry