JimG
Western Thunderer
I've got a couple of drawers full of US RTR S scale locos and rolling stock which I obtained some years ago and I fancied getting a small switching layout put together which would give me something running while other projects were ongoing. The layout will be about 12' x 1' along a wall in my bedroom, so there won't be a requirement for too much track building since there is a physical limit on how much track I can get in twelve square feet. I've decided to model quite light track by American standards and I'm going to use Code 82 FB rail, a pack of which I happened to have around. As for sleepers, or - as I should call them - ties, I'm going to cut them out of 2mm plywood and the CNC mill will be ideal for that.
To hold the track down, I'm going to use spikes from Andy Reichert in the US.
Spikes Scale HO
I got a sample pack of his range and I've opted to use his O and S scale short spikes after a bit of experimentation.
This is the early stages of cutting the ties. The small piles of sawdust show where the 0.5mm spike holes have been drilled already and the 1mm cutter has started on the vertical cuts for the tie lengths.
A bit further on, the cutter is now slicing the lot into tie width of a scale nine inches.
...and the finished sheet ready to lift off the table...
...with a close up to show the spike holes. The plywood is still a bit "hairy" from the cutter but that cleans off quite easily when taken off the table. But the line is supposed to be a slightly run down short line so I don't want the track to be perfect, but more towards the "Jordan" standards, so a bit of roughness here and there won't hurt.
I've also cut some long timbers for turnout construction but I suspect that I'll need to cut a lot more. Having just spent a day on Templot drawing out pointwork to US standards, I'm going to need a lot of timbering since they do have their turnout timbering at a closer pitch than in the UK.
This is the bit of test track I built to test out the system, using a bit of 1.5mm plywood I had available and using the spikes from Andy Reichert's sample pack. The spikes I'm using have a 0.6mm x 0.4mm cross section so I chose the 0.5mm drilled holes to give a small amount of grip to the spike. this seems to work well with the spike being retained in the holes and holding the rail quite firmly. I've opted for the 2mm ply to give a slightly greater depth to better match the length of the spike.
A closer shot showing the spikes. They are probably slightly oversize for absolute scale in S, but they look fine and they handle reasonably well. Inserting them is a bit fiddly but I was getting better at it as I progressed. I intentionally tended towards the "throw it together" method of working in the hope that the track would have the "Jordan" look but it came out quite straight and flat - I'll have to concentrate more in future.
The freight car is an S Helper Service hopper (beautiful quality and detail) with a Kadee #5 coupler fitted. The coupler's dropper is too high and won't operate properly in magnetic uncoupling, but I'm aiming to use manual uncoupling so the droppers could be cut off in any case.
Jim.
To hold the track down, I'm going to use spikes from Andy Reichert in the US.
Spikes Scale HO
I got a sample pack of his range and I've opted to use his O and S scale short spikes after a bit of experimentation.
This is the early stages of cutting the ties. The small piles of sawdust show where the 0.5mm spike holes have been drilled already and the 1mm cutter has started on the vertical cuts for the tie lengths.
A bit further on, the cutter is now slicing the lot into tie width of a scale nine inches.
...and the finished sheet ready to lift off the table...
...with a close up to show the spike holes. The plywood is still a bit "hairy" from the cutter but that cleans off quite easily when taken off the table. But the line is supposed to be a slightly run down short line so I don't want the track to be perfect, but more towards the "Jordan" standards, so a bit of roughness here and there won't hurt.
I've also cut some long timbers for turnout construction but I suspect that I'll need to cut a lot more. Having just spent a day on Templot drawing out pointwork to US standards, I'm going to need a lot of timbering since they do have their turnout timbering at a closer pitch than in the UK.
This is the bit of test track I built to test out the system, using a bit of 1.5mm plywood I had available and using the spikes from Andy Reichert's sample pack. The spikes I'm using have a 0.6mm x 0.4mm cross section so I chose the 0.5mm drilled holes to give a small amount of grip to the spike. this seems to work well with the spike being retained in the holes and holding the rail quite firmly. I've opted for the 2mm ply to give a slightly greater depth to better match the length of the spike.
A closer shot showing the spikes. They are probably slightly oversize for absolute scale in S, but they look fine and they handle reasonably well. Inserting them is a bit fiddly but I was getting better at it as I progressed. I intentionally tended towards the "throw it together" method of working in the hope that the track would have the "Jordan" look but it came out quite straight and flat - I'll have to concentrate more in future.
The freight car is an S Helper Service hopper (beautiful quality and detail) with a Kadee #5 coupler fitted. The coupler's dropper is too high and won't operate properly in magnetic uncoupling, but I'm aiming to use manual uncoupling so the droppers could be cut off in any case.
Jim.