Rail Joins at Lifting Section

To make sure that joins in lifting sections are in alignment care needs to be taken.
The following method works well on Brolgan Road.

This is the latex carpet adhesive used to hold all the track, points and underlay in place. Preparing the join on the entry lift-up-flap a small section of cork was added to provide a stiff base. The PCB sleepers are soldered in place and the track suspended in the air with paddle pop sticks. The Tee pins allow the track to be aligned; then raised for the glue; and lowered into position.
The track has weights added until the latex cement sets. Note the plywood pieces to align the rail joins. Short pieces are great for keeping curves aligned where flex track joins.

Note: it would be better to use 5 sleepers instead of 3 to give a bigger bonding surface. Epoxy on these sleepers was a better option.

Three sleepers were removed and PCB replacements soldered in place. The middle of the sleepers sanded away to insulate both sides. The track is code 75.
When the glue sets, the join line was cut with a razor saw. Slow and tedious. The latex was not up to the job on these sleepers and I now use epoxy.

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Rick Fletcher

Born in the steam era and developed an interest in railways when given a clockwork Hornby "set". Surrounded by steam when travelling to school (by train of course) and holidays were always by steam train as we had no car. How lucky was I?

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