I am not sure of the correct lingo on this one but I would like to place rails on the track on the viaduct bridge. I am thinking they may be called derailer track or rerailer or something.

My concern is that the pickup roller may touch these added track sections and not sure if that is a good or bad thing. The added track would be just glued to the roadbed to adhere.

I know that if the pickup roller touches the derailer preventor track, and a wheel from the engine or cars would touch also, then a short would occur. I could power the added track so if the pickup roller would touch that it shouldn't be a problem unless an outer wheel would come in contact also.

I have 3 pictures to show what I am explaining here.

The track is newer track but the reflection doesn't do it justice. You can see the track quality the best from the aerial view which is the first picture.



This one is having the added track closet to the center rail,



Now closer to the outside rail,



And now spaced equally between the rails,



I was hoping to add this on mostly for appearance but if it is recommended not to do this, I would listen.

I see that it kind of makes the track look cluttered but the actual only extra rail would be the center rail. If Atlas made a center rail the color of the ties, wouldn't that help to hide the center rail more? I know that it can't be completely invisible but......or can it? LOL

Thanks,
Lyle

Lyle, the rails you are referring to are called "guard rails". They should be placed close to the outside rails, as in your second picture. Their intent is, in case of a derailment on a bridge or viaduct, to catch the wheels of the derailed car and keep it from going over the side. The wheels will fall between the rails. One note, the guard rails should be bent slightly on each end towards the center rail.

Hope this helps.

Lyle,
While these guard rails are standard on many bridges and trestles, they are a detail that I leave off on my layout.

I think that 5 rails are just one too many and make the deck look too crowded, but just my opinion.

If you use them, I would place the guard rails as close to the running rails as possible. This should prevent the pickup rollers from touching them. They should be as far from the running rails as the guardrails on turnouts/switches since they are serving the same purpose.

Jim

Gizzmo, that's a good idea! I can see that working. Basically, making the guardrails the center rail through that section. But that will only work on items with wide roller pick-ups.

As a note, though, the roller pick-ups touching the guardrails will not be a problem as long as the wheels of the rolling stock don't also touch. Then you have a direct short.

I have seen pictures where the guard rails are outside the normal rails. I have seen pictures with only one guard rail. I have seen pictures where two guard rails were used, both of them to the outside of the curve relative to the running rails. That is one between the rails and one outside the rails.

In the case of your curved bridge and using three rails I would suggest one rail on the outside of the curve. If the bridge is supposed to be old enough I have seen wood used as guard rails, that would prevent a short.

Rand

I think the rails look cluttered, especially with the rail thickness of Atlas track. I like the idea of the use of a smaller rail and place it as close to the outside rails as possible. I would even see if you could use a plastic rail. That would eliminate the possible shorting of rollers. You could even bend a few sections of metal rails and then cast them in resin. Once painted you wouldn't even know they were not metal.

Lyle, I wonder if coloring the center rail the color of the ties would actually hide the center rail. Its a neat deatil to add if you were modeling 2 rail but IMO they are lost with the 3rd rail.

Make sure the guard rails don't pick on the old shoes for uncoupling and operating.

I have used in the past O-27 profile track for secondary lines, and built a o-27/31 adapter track.

Now, why can't Lionel make FT with two diferent colors of ballast....

I was thinking about what Rand said last night about the outside guard rails, called guard timbers. just adding these may give you a nice look without having to "clutter up" the middle.



And as our friend bfishma did.

There are actually standards for placement of guard rails - look them up on the NMRA standards web pages.... The important part of those standards is to maintain the clearance spacing between the rails so that your wheels & flanges clear and roll cleanly.

I've not seen this done - adding guard rails - very frequently when using commercial track for 3-rail. Can't recall off the top of my head whether I added them to my 3-rail area (probably did...& I'll check tonight) - mine is handlaid code 148 rail and probably not immediately comparable though.

OTOH, not all RR's used guard rails on their bridges..........

My two cents worth is that it looks too crowded and calls attention to the extra third rail. I do love the looks of the extra rails on two rail track but just don't think it looks right with three rail track. But, what ever floats your boat?

Art

As long as the rails aren't connected to any power then they are dead and it shouldn't matter if they are touched by pickups. You would only need one guard rail, the one on the inside of the curve. But then again the center rail should act as a guard rail. Try to run your trains carefully and you shouldn't need a guard rail. Odd-d

great subject, sorry i didnt pick up on this thread sooner. when vulcan sent me the pic above of the prototype, i also thought about modeling the 'guard rails' on my gully bridge. in the end i opted out simply because it looked much too cluttered and as mentioned earlier called even more attention to the third rail. however, i was using fullsized scaletrax rails ... perhaps something similar constructed of much thinner styrene might fit the bill more appropriately.

We left them off of our trestles. As a practical matter, if your track is good going into and out of the trestle, you probably won't have an issue with derailments. The only derailment we had on our curved trestle was a stringline incident involving a train with too many cars and no helpers (take one guess who that genius was. ) Stringlining is probably more of a threat than anything else on a curved trestle and guard rails won't help you there.

Lyle, please speak up if I'm wrong. But I think we're getting off track here.

I don't think he wants functional guardrails as much as he likes the look. In other words, he's not looking to use them to keep his trains on the track. And it does look good, I've done it on all my bridges and trestles, but these are 2 rail tracks. That third rail is the issue.

You are right on the money Vulcan.

I was looking to place them on for the look. I don't feel that there should be any trouble with the trains going over or around the bridge except for stringlining as some have mentioned. I don't believe that I will be pulling that long of a consist to have that trouble but we will see. LOL

I do appreciate all the great responses. I am going to leave them off because of the cluttered look. On the other hand, I loved the comment on removing the middle rail and adding the guard rails and making the guard rails the hot rail or powered rails.

Thanks again for all of the great advice. It is appreciated.

Thanks,
Lyle