Laying some track

It was time to lay some Gargraves track, which is my brand of preference. My end curves are 048 (48" diameter) which isn't considered "sharp" for 3-rail O scale trains (the standard 027 or 031 tubular track curves popularized by Lionel are sharp) but it isn't as broad as 072, which is what large steam engines like Big Boys require. And I have found that it is impossible to bend old or used Gargraves track into anything close to 048 without trouble. Over time, the wood ties swell and corrosion and rust form on the rails and lock the two components together so that you can only gently nudge them into curve shapes. Spraying the ties with WD40 helps but it makes it more difficult to paint and weather the ties, and building plywood jigs to help bend the curves evenly is a good solution but for two curves total it wasn't worth the effort or expense. 

So, I needed new Gargraves track, which is more flexible. And the best place to buy it is straight from the company. They are located about 30 minutes from my old hometown of Rochester, and about 3 hours from my current residence. I have been to their shop before but it was 20+ years ago, and I wasn't planning on driving through their town anytime soon. So I called them up and placed an order for delivery. The owner was extremely friendly and helpful, and he told me that the track I was ordering would be made to order as he currently had none in stock. He assured me it would bend just fine.

And when I arrived, I found out he was half correct. It does bend a bit easier than old track, but it still requires some force. I had to test bend one section at a time (not an easy thing to do) while maintaining the ends of the rails (which constantly shifted as it was bent) and also plan out the locations for the under-rail feeder wires.

When I finally had the first section ready, I attached it with some clear latex caulk.

To assist in holding it in place while the caulk cured, long screws and washers were driven through the 2" foam into the 1/4" plywood benchwork top. They just barely reached, and the washers barely straddled two rails. But it worked.

I decided to shim up the end of the track with a thin piece of balsa.

Once the first piece of track was good and solid (hours later), I gently used a block of wood to tap the rails along the now-secure ties so that they lined up with the edge of the benchwork. Then, I measured and bent and cut the second piece of track. This was dutifully attached to the layout. 

The track joint between sections on the curve was a little bit worrying. I did my best to make it smooth but I couldn't check to see how well it flowed until after I had pulled the screws out.

I needn't have worried. My young track tester pushed some trains back and forth over the joint (at speed!) and it was nice and smooth, with no derailments or bumps. However the real test will be my scale-length Amtrak coaches, which I will pull out and use before ballasting the track. 

The rail joints were later disguised with cut up pieces of ties. It takes four pieces of tie to hide the joint.

Like before, all three rails are wired and I used spade connectors at the ends of the wires which click right into the underside of the rail. It is super easy as long as you remember to wire them up before laying the track.

The wires were secured to the underside to keep them safe, and then the holes were filled with caulk to prevent leaks during later scenery work.

I also temporarily marked the locations of the feeders from above, but this step isn't as critical on a simple curve track. Later I marked them down on my wiring schematic.

The first end went fine, but the far end gave me a bit more trouble. No matter how hard I tried I had a few gentle kinks in the curve. Tests with long passenger cars showed it to be okay, but it looked a bit silly and it bothered me. After thinking about it for a day, I used my Dremel to cut the rails right before the offending area and then rip out the piece of track. And like that, $15 went down the drain as there was no way to reuse it. But, I was more careful to bend the replacement piece (especially the ends) and that went down perfectly. I was much happier after that.