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 Posted - February 25 2015 : 10:14:45 AM
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Been getting some Marklin engines it for repair at my train shop job, I had to make a temporary track to test them as the boss didn't have any Marklin HO track. Today, I took some Flex-track, a loose rail, and a piece of wood from a dumpster, and brought them to my "real" job to try spiking and hand-laying some rail.  
Turned out OK, it's a bit wavy, but nothing that will cause the center pick-up shoe to derail, I don't think. Overall, I got a nice 30" section of one-piece 3-rail test track to use now.  I had the mini spikes bought from an estate at auction, only question was would the wood be too hard to penetrate? Luckily, this 2nd piece of wood I tried was soft enough to accept the spikes, although I ended up bending 30% of them trying to nail them down anyway. Hazard with scale spiking, I guess. :) Somewhere I think I have the correct tool to do it, but it's whereabouts at home are unknown at the moment.
Here's a couple of pictures of my effort.
 
I just spiked the center-rail down every 5 inches or so, and not through the ties, either. Overall, I think it'll work OK for now. Better than electrical tape holding it at least! I may add more spikes later if necessary.
Jerry
" When life throws you bananas...it's easy to slip up"
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Posted - February 25 2015 : 10:49:26 AM
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what do you know
A Lionel 3 rail track in HO scale!
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Posted - February 25 2015 : 9:17:08 PM
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quote:what do you know
A Lionel 3 rail track in HO scale!
Originally posted by microbusss - February 25 2015 : 10:49:26 AM
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 That was the standard style of track Europeans used up until the 60's, 70's or 80's. Heck, Marklin I believe still uses it now. 
-Steve
"A lot of modellers out there who go to these train shows see broken HO stuff and go, 'This is useless' when, in reality, they can still be used for modeling whether it's as a prop on your layout or a cool project to make something old new again."
Edited by - kovacste000 on February 25 2015 9:17:21 PM
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Posted - February 25 2015 : 9:29:17 PM
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quote:
Marklin used to use a solid center rail, now they've gone to tittle black buttons down the middle, looks closer to real track, and still functions.
Jerry
" When life throws you bananas...it's easy to slip up"
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Posted - February 26 2015 : 8:06:20 PM
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Those should be the quietest Marklins ever!
I admire the engineering almost as much as Flieschmann, except for the racket
they make on that horrible track.
You've given me an idea for the next batch of locos needing tune-ups.
Well done.
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vancer
Switcher
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Posted - March 28 2015 : 8:30:15 PM
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| My father hand spiked a center rail on our Christmas Marklin layout back in the 50's. This even at the switches.
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