Large Scale Central

RAIL BENDER

Tools and Tips
#1

Greetings, Rail bending fans. In my quest to completely conquer all remaining land in the yard for my rail empire, I’ve been granted special permission by the queen to expand from fence to shining fence. My own little manifest destiny, if you will. So, that brings up the idea of unbending some of the 9 foot diameter Aristocraft curves I currently own. I’m not sure exactly what size I’ll be able to unbend up to, but safe to say I’ll definitely be able to go much more than 9 feet. Ideally, I’d like to use a dual bender- to save me from taking all the ties off. I’d also like to bend several sections at a time while they are still joined together. Currently most are joined with Aristo slide on joiners (you know- the ones that you lose all the tiny little screws to. Argh!). I realize that there are many great (expensive) benders out there. However, after the ‘grand expansion’, I will probably not have much use for the tool, so I hate to buy the “Cadillac” model. It will just end up sitting in the garage unused- just like my Cadillac (have you seen the price of gas, lately?).

Why all this mindless bantering, you say? Well, as it turns out, Aristocraft has a 30% off sale going on right now. Which means that their dual bender is about as affordable as it gets for a one time use tool (Reminds me of Harbor Freight. I wonder if they’re related?). Okay, so before you jump on the quality of Aristocrafts bender (I’ve read some reviews) keep in mind a few things:

I probably will not use it ever again- as a matter of fact, I’d rather borrow one (we need a G gauge Rent-a-Center) instead of buying one. Sort of like a tuxedo, What do you do with it after the prom? Here’s a scarier thought- What did the last kid do IN it after the prom?.

I realize that it has some trouble clearing Aristocraft’s American tie plates- which is what I have (naturally). Maybe someone has a fix for this (check out my website!). Maybe there is no fix for this?

I’ve got zero experience using a rail bender so, a few questions:

After I unbend, I’ll need to cut the inside rail to even it out to the outside rail dimension. Afterwords I’ll probably use a rail clamp to attach adjoining sections of track, as I have no patience when it comes to drilling and tapping tiny holes in rail. Sound right to you?

About how many sections can I leave connected while I unbend?

The project will not begin until the fall, so I’ve got some time on my hands. The Aristocraft sale ends August 5th. So, if this is a good idea, I’d better buy it soon. If it’s a bad idea…well… It wouldn’t be my first!!!

So, what other advice and/or experience do you guys have? Any information is well appreciated. Thanks for your continued support of my foolishness.

-Kevin.

#2

Same boat Kevin. I like G-Rent-A-Center idea…

There was an article in GR my first time around (90’s?) about building a bender but my old issues are long gone.

I was thinking about then Train-Li one but my budget (after a $1600 car repair bill) is minimal.

I also await the responses…

#3

The Train-Li rail bender is simply the best. EasyBend DuoTrak™ code 332 rail bender. I have used others and there is only one best of type. I have bent about 300 Ft of 332 SS rail, and it doesn’t get any tougher then that.

I highly recommend using the Keep-Parallel™ clamp for code 332 when bending rail, it will save you a ton of work.

Their rail clamps are GREAT and the easiest to use. ProLine™ NpB Clamps (code 332) 10 pcs.

I have one that I would entertain loaning out with restriction to board folk. LBut I will need to use it again. Lets see what we could work out.

#4

Kevin,

I have an Aristo Craft rail bender that I’ve used for over 3 years on my railroad as well as different club members railroads. It works well on all the different brands of track we have bent so far, Aristo Craft, USA, and LGB. The only modification I made to my bender was I added small thin washers under the two fiberglass runners on each end of the bender. This raised the roller bearings enough to clear the track ties but it still has plent of contact with the rail.

Now I will agree with Dave that the Train-Li bender is the best but it also costs alot more. And as you said the 30% off sale going on right now at Aristo Craft makes their bender pretty affordable.

Maybe if you purchase one you could start the G-Rent-A-Center?

#5

Thanks for the info, gents.

Dave- I’m certain that the Train Li bender is probably the best on the market. However, the price is a bit tough to get over. If I were going to use a bender more often, I would definitely pony up the extra cash and buy one. At this point, I’m just looking to widen out some curves to make bigger curves. Down the road, I’ve got another small project that I will use the bender for and then it’ll probably just sit on a shelf. When it comes to tools, I always try to buy the best, but sometimes you gotta weigh out the cost versus use factor. I wish I could justify buying the Train Li, but… Aristo at a fraction of the cost…

Chuck- glad to hear a good review of the Aristo rail bender. I was apprehensive because I read that the bender had a hard time clearing the Aristo US tie details. It sounds to me like the fix for that is as easy as a couple of washers. I can handle that. I also read that Marty Cozad actually filed/ground down the bolts on his Aristo bender to clear the tie details. Maybe a bit extreme? I dunno? I wonder if you can just replace the bolts with smaller ones? And your right- I should start the G-Rent-A-Center! Rail Bender, anyone?

-Kevin.

#6

Call Train-Li and rent their bender for that one time occurance.

It is heavy, so the shipping costs could be more than the rental.