How many handlay track in On3 or use whatever is available commerical wise. I want to handlay and have a spike question. Do you spike every tie or everyother tie, or as in reg O Scale, every 3-4 tie?
How about some layout On3 layout pics
Mike P

Mr. Pierce,

When I was modeling On2, I spiked every tie using Micro Engineerings micro spikes. I've heard a lot of bad things said about these spikes, so I decided to develope a system for their use. And with the railroad set close to eye level, I wanted you to have a feeling of being next to the real thing. The prototype spikes every tie.
Some ask me why? Because I enjoy hand laying my own track and I enjoy building my turnouts in place even more. And using code 70. But thats me. To me the track just doesn't look right with missing spikes. Hope this help a little.

Chester

I spike every other tie. I prefer Mt Albert ties, Micro Engineering weathered rail (primarily code 83), and Micro Engineering small spikes. Here is a pic of some of my On3/On2.

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This is a more updated pic.

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Mount Albert TIES are the best . I know because I helped them with their product line. Because the present lumber went out of sight on costs we tested and hand layed track on a new lumber which is clear pine and it worked great.

A little easier to drive a spike and that's important.

All of my track is handlaid on either Kappler ties or on ties that I cut myself -- di dnot spike every tie and could not as well - every so often I found one of my red oak ties,

I admire all you fellows who hand lay your track. IMHO,however, being natural born lazy, my thoughts are, if we were supposed to hand lay track, flex track would not have been invented. Keep up the good work.
Al

quote:

Originally posted by AL CLAIR:
I admire all you fellows who hand lay your track. IMHO,however, being natural born lazy, my thoughts are, if we were supposed to hand lay track, flex track would not have been invented. Keep up the good work.
Al

Well, perhaps the greatest degrees of freedom in your layout design might derived from one's ability to handlay switches in place to go wherever you the modeler so desires as opposed to being constrained by whatever it is that one can purchase.

As for flex track - if I had had the funds to buy it at the time, I probably would have gone that route. But, a few bundles or track was cheap at the time, ties were free, spikes were not costly, and I had the time. Thanks to that combination of events and variables, I (1) got my trackwork down, and (2) can hand lay what I want. I might not want to do very much of that anymore, but I feel the urge to add a spur to wherever, I know I can do just that.

By coincidence, that's what I have been doing the past couple of days. It's only on a 21" section but there was a Y turnout involved and a second spur.

I pretty much went with the "every other tie" method. I know every tie is prototypical but after it's ballasted and weathered the spikes seem to disappear, unless you really focus on them.

I have used three methods:
1) medium spikes every 2-4 ties
2) micro spikes, 4 per tie
3) soldering (mostly for my 3-way turnout)

I use Kappler ties and ME spikes. I want to try out the Proto:87 store's micros spikes, as they have pointed ends unlike ME micro spikes.

At my present income level, I am not the market for commercial track, and doubt I'd use it if I could afford it. I'd rather lay my own, have interesting, flowing, custom track work, and use that money on nice locomotives. If I hated track work, I'd go with commercial track.

Michael

Here is a comparison of a ME small spike and a Proto 87 spike. My ME spike is slightly pointed although to the eye it looks blunt. I've not used these yet but have installed several dozen of the Proto 87s. These are etched from stainless steel and come on frets. Although they don't look very sharp in this photo, they are and penetrate soft ties easily. What doesn't show here is their thinness which gives a more prototypical look to the head. Handling and driving their small size requires a fine-pointed needle nose or tweezers. If you are all thumbs like me, it is a bit of a challenge at first. They seem to hold well and don't split the ties. I have used them mostly on switches and on short pieces of display track. When the track is painted, they almost disappear.

Paul S

On my O gauge (18" gauge) 7/8 scale track, every tie is spiked and then checked for quality by my track inspector

Here's 2 good sources for stub switches and track reference

http://books.google.com/books?...v=onepage&q=&f=false

http://books.google.com/books?...RLu_zWQb0c&dq=Lovell

As far as spiking is concerned you don't need to spike every tie if you ballast the trackwork after everything is laid.

When your spray mixture has a certain amount of carpenters, or white glue in the water. it will lock your rail in place...

quote:

Originally posted by DSP&P Fan:

At my present income level, I am not the market for commercial track, and doubt I'd use it if I could afford it.

Have you compared the cost of the rail, ties, spikes, tie plates, etc. required to make track that looks as good as flextrack? I've found the savings are not much unless I cut my own ties and scrounge up used rail. The only place that really saves a lot is building switches by hand....dave

Yes, but there is a two fold answer:

-I received two lots of unused rail...so that was free. I spend $10 or so on ties, so there was no comparison there.

-The flex track is $6 per piece yard. Rail is typically half that or less. I can't get San Juan's track much below list, but I can get atlas track and steal the rail for quite a bit less. The result is that even without the initial supplies, it is only around 60-75% of the cost of flex track.

The killing is definitely in the turnouts, but when on a tight budget, the track is far more affordable to me.

Michael

For me its not an economics issue, but one of looks. I prefer the look of handlaid track over any commercial product out there. I was facinated with handlaying track since I was 12 years old, when I first saw it on a club layout. It's also easier to fix a problem with track that is hand laid.

If any of your are looking for a Kadee track spiker, one is on the bay now.
Al

Al- If I had another Kaydee Spiker the first place it would go is in the garbage.

I never saw an instrument kink more rail than that contraption.....sorry guys ,when it is fired the hammer comes down to fast and we found it caused a lot of track to be re-laid.

That's my opinion, maybe you are happy with the Kaydee Spiker.

Stan,

Apparently there are others who have had problems with Kadee spiker.

A guy named Scott had troubles:



"I had access to one when I was a teenager, and saw firsthand the problems associated with its design, and misuse.

You needed to be consistent with the speed and amount of pressure you applied to the trip lever, or you would crush the ties. It also took a little bit of practice to make sure that the tool was centered on the tie, or you'd shoot a spike off-center, splitting the tie, or missing it completely.

Spiking only worked if you went through the tie, and into a soft roadbed material such as Homasote. Spiking into plywood would cause the main trip spring to break.

Lastly, I found that the Kadee Spiker did not hold the rail as securely as hand spiking, so many more spike were required.

Scott

I've seen a few positive comments about them (they seem to be common with the 4 per tie, every tie crowd), but I'm also under the impression that they are just too powerful. Perhaps it is a good idea with insufficient execution.

Like Tim said, hand laying is less about the money than the look and satisfaction from watching a train cruise over the rails. There are few things more satisfying than a string of scratch built cars rolling over hand laid track.

I wouldn't have an On3 layout if I was forced to buy the expensive On3 flex track, but I wouldn't use it if I could have afforded it...I prefer the look of hand laid.

Michael