Snow Hill & Valley Railway

[ThomasI]

23 hours ago, MarkE said:

DDC Concept's track products have a higher amount of nickel content, so less cleaning is required. In the view  below, the track was layed in August 2022 and left out all winter, this photo was taken in April 23. The track has never be cleaned but the rail sides still look untarnished .

Do they also sell their rail profiles individually?

Because at least where I use and will use Code 75 profiles (Peco, Weinert mein Gleis etc.) there are already individual sections where I would think about using them.

They probably don't have Code 83 profiles...

[MarkE]

I think they only sell codes 75 & 100 flat bottom rail (I only use code 100 in the garden). They also do bullhead rail, but that's the old rail type used in the UK. Sorry I don't know any more than that!

[Andrew]

On 02/06/2023 at 21:05, MarkE said:

In the view  below, the track was layed in August 2022 and left out all winter, this photo was taken in April 23. The track has never be cleaned but the rail sides still look untarnished .

Mark,  that track looks great with its proper sleeper spacing (in the photo with the Terrier "Box Hill").  I've been considering using such track, but it (or at least the Peco and C&L equivalents) have much thinner sleepers so wouldn't be easy to fix by pinning.  Did you glue yours down, perhaps?

Edited June 3, 2023 by Andrew
edit

[Riddles]

7 hours ago, Andrew said:

Mark,  that track looks great with its proper sleeper spacing (in the photo with the Terrier "Box Hill").  I've been considering using such track, but it (or at least the Peco and C&L equivalents) have much thinner sleepers so wouldn't be easy to fix by pinning.  Did you glue yours down, perhaps?

I agree about it looking great but have never compared the sleeper thickness. Peco have always claimed that the plastic used in their flexible track contains additives to stop it going brittle after prolonged exposure to UV sunlight. I wonder whether DCC Concepts can claim the same.

[MarkE]

19 hours ago, Andrew said:

Mark,  that track looks great with its proper sleeper spacing (in the photo with the Terrier "Box Hill").  I've been considering using such track, but it (or at least the Peco and C&L equivalents) have much thinner sleepers so wouldn't be easy to fix by pinning.  Did you glue yours down, perhaps?

I don't pin my track! The track base is made of concrete, so I glue the track down with a "no more nails" type adhesive, and then a "stone type" ballast is applied with SBR glue with a 2 to 1 mix with water.

[mick]

That looks really, really nice Mark. You've made a smashing job with the ballasting. It all looks like a proper railway.

The realistic sleeper spacing looks much better which reminds me of the time I adapted some of my Peco track by cutting through the sleeper webs. I never got round to ballasting it properly and in the end I got fed up with the sleepers moving about and it was all replaced with standard Peco when I renewed the track base.

I note that you glue the track down and wondered if you've experienced any problems with the 'no more nails' type adhesive to date? I've used it and similar exterior products extensively outdoors and always find that it's fine for a while but over time it starts to become soft and pliable and the joined parts begin falling apart. I would imagine at track level it's going to be prone to damp conditions but perhaps the SBR will hold everything together?

[MarkE]

18 hours ago, mick said:

That looks really, really nice Mark. You've made a smashing job with the ballasting. It all looks like a proper railway.

The realistic sleeper spacing looks much better which reminds me of the time I adapted some of my Peco track by cutting through the sleeper webs. I never got round to ballasting it properly and in the end I got fed up with the sleepers moving about and it was all replaced with standard Peco when I renewed the track base.

I note that you glue the track down and wondered if you've experienced any problems with the 'no more nails' type adhesive to date? I've used it and similar exterior products extensively outdoors and always find that it's fine for a while but over time it starts to become soft and pliable and the joined parts begin falling apart. I would imagine at track level it's going to be prone to damp conditions but perhaps the SBR will hold everything together?

Thanks Mick for your comments. I've tried many different ways in fixing the track. To date I haven't had any issues with a "no more nails" type adhesives, but I always ballast my track as soon as possible after the track was glued down, making sure the concrete base is completely clear of any dust or dirt.

In short these are the steps I do:-

1) Clean the concrete base well with a wire brush.

2) Glue track down.

3) Test track alignment.

4) Hard wire all rail joints and feeds.

5) Ballast track with SBR.

This latest section using DCC Concepts track has only been down 10 months, but I'm very happy with the results, I plan to use this track in future especially on ground level sections on the layout to reduce track cleaning. The only down side  is that I may need to paint the sides of the rails to give them that weathered look.

[Andrew]

On 08/06/2023 at 16:16, MarkE said:

The only down side  is that I may need to paint the sides of the rails to give them that weathered look.

Definitely worth the effort - but before laying the track!  I did that with my Peco eleven years ago and the rusty-look rails helped to offset the unrealistic sleepers.

[traingeekboy]

Do you have a track plan for this?