# Bending Rail in place (two rails at time)



## Del Tapparo (Jan 4, 2008)

In another topic on rail clamps, several folks mention using the Train-Li rail bender to bend rail right over the tops of the clamps. The result, in some cases was bending the screws in the rail clamp. Although our club owns a Train-Li rail bender, I have never used it. Is this recommended practice? Common sense tells me that the inside rail has to be shorter than the outside rail. If it's all clamped up tight, there has to be some serious stress going on here.


I have heard nothing but good things about the Train-Li rail bender, and I'm not trying to put it down. I guess I just always assumed the rail bending would take place between clamped sections not over them. It seems that some trimming of the ends would be necessary to account for the different radius. Please enlighten me. How does this process work without somewhere trimming the rails to the proper length?


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

I have done this, but I shared your concern about "where is the movement going to go?" ... something indeed needs to move. 

I have seen that clamp to hold the rails from moving with the SJ.... that might work fine for bending rails that are ALREADY sliding freely in the ties. On Aristo stuff, there's a bunch of screws. 

Now, many people say you have to remove ALL the screws. That did not sit right with me, I was bending sectional track, and also did not want the tie strips migrating into the next state! 

This is how I did it: 

took 2 curved sections, hooked together with SJ clamps 
removed the screws except for one screw each rail in the middle of each of the 4 pieces of rail. 
bent.... 

Now I had a number of pieces of track made of 2 sections... and since I was going tighter, the inner rails were "longer". 

I trimmed the longer inner rails to be "even" with the outer rails 
now I combined 2 sections of 2 with SJ clamps, and bent pretty darn close to final... 

When I got done, all the tie strips were "centered" on the rails (no big weird gaps) and it was no difficulty with the Train-Li on the SJ clamps. 

Regards, Greg


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## Del Tapparo (Jan 4, 2008)

OK. That process makes sense, although it sounds like a single rail bender would be nearly as easy. I guess I got the impression that folks were doing this on the ground without disconnecting and rail joiners.


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## Treeman (Jan 6, 2008)

Myself and other members of our local club have used the dual rail bender when building in new areas. We clamp on an additional section of track when getting near the end of the first piece after cutting the rails even. Then continue thru the curve. This makes one contionous and smooth curve. We always have loose rail ends out in front of us while we work. I think these dual benders are the best.


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## BodsRailRoad (Jul 26, 2008)

Posted By Del Tapparo on 19 May 2011 11:50 AM 
In another topic on rail clamps, several folks mention using the Train-Li rail bender to bend rail right over the tops of the clamps. The result, in some cases was bending the screws in the rail clamp. Although our club owns a Train-Li rail bender, I have never used it. Is this recommended practice? Common sense tells me that the inside rail has to be shorter than the outside rail. If it's all clamped up tight, there has to be some serious stress going on here.


I have heard nothing but good things about the Train-Li rail bender, and I'm not trying to put it down. I guess I just always assumed the rail bending would take place between clamped sections not over them. It seems that some trimming of the ends would be necessary to account for the different radius. Please enlighten me. How does this process work without somewhere trimming the rails to the proper length? 



It really depends on the size and length and sharpness of the curve. First off I use Train-Li's keep parallel tool so I only have to cut one rail instead of two.

For long wide curves I start the bend and when I get it close I square off the end if necessary (for wide curves I use 8' rail), attach the next rail and continue the curve till finished, then square off the rail at end.
This way you get the same radius throughout the curve on both rails and you can do it right on the layout

For tight curves I like to use a shorter rail on the inside (I have 4.5' and 5' rails I use for tighter curves), then when I bend they end up being close in length, trim to square and repeat.

The advantage to bending over the rail clamp is that it allows you to maintain the exact same curvature throughout the curve, which is very hard to do if you try to match up separately bent sections,

This is how I have come to do it. It may not be how others do it and I'm not saying my way is better than someone else's, it works very well for me.

I hope this helps.

Ron


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## John J (Dec 29, 2007)

The Train Li bender is the best investment I have made for my RR. It allows you to bend or un bend at will.

With the any two rail bender you can now cash in on any track bargain you find. 

You can custom bend or straighten out any track you got. You can adjust the bend of any track.

It will not go over the Aristo rail jointer's.

Here are some pictures I took of bending 1 foot sections of track joined with hillman clamps.

Yes you have to cut track to make it fit with the straight sections. 

Also removed screws from the bottom of the rail ( Aristo track)

I cut every other strap between the ties on the out side rail. ( Some don't cut the strap and some do not remove the screws from Aristo Track. See what happens.)

Due to the size of the bender there is a section of track at the ends that is left not bent. I add a section of track to each end with rail clamps to compensate for the un bent section that way I can bend the full length of the curve I am making. 

I made this bend extremely sharp to demonstrate what happens when you bend with a two rail bender.


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## noelw (Jan 2, 2008)

We do the same thing as J.J. Only thing we can add and I know John has done it if you have some small curve tracks, Put two of them together (one in one direction and the other in other direction to look like an "S. with Helman rail clamps.) You won't have to cut the ends off to make them even when making a streight track... 
The off set of two will equal one with out having to cutting ends off when make a track streight.


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

Man, great idea Noel! So simple but who woulda thunk? 

Greg


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## John J (Dec 29, 2007)

Whoda Thunk?







Noel Thunked









He is a good Thunker


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## paintjockey (Jan 3, 2008)

I don't cut the rails when using my train li. I take all the screws off of the inside rail and make my bend. As the rail gets longer I compensate by sliding the rail in the next piece of track ahead. This does two things. First it makes the joints uneven jus like in the 1:1 railroads and second if and when I pull my track up to redo my layout I won't have a bunch of track that are uneven lengths. To clamp them I just put the clamp between the ties wherever they match up.


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## Nicholas Savatgy (Dec 17, 2008)

Yes, 

Noel is one of my Train God Hero's

He's smart and thinks out side the box.

He's a great asset to our hobby..........

And there's very few i say that about............


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## Steve Stockham (Jan 2, 2008)

The point is that the dual rail bender allows for a perfect parallel bend all-in-one! It takes a couple of minutes to take out all the little screws that hold the ties to the rails but by doing it this way (and then cutting the plastic between the ties every third tie or so) you effectively make flex track! You can then use any radius curve you need and you don't have to worry that you have an entire 180º curve of 4' radius and you need 6.25' radius! (Just an example.) It's not that the dual will do a better job than the single but that the whole process is quicker and easier!


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## noelw (Jan 2, 2008)

*I think you and Nicky been out in the sun to long with to much COOL AID.. TKS GUYS.. STILL LAF. 







*


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## jake3404 (Dec 3, 2010)

Posted By paintjockey on 20 May 2011 02:38 PM 
I don't cut the rails when using my train li. I take all the screws off of the inside rail and make my bend. As the rail gets longer I compensate by sliding the rail in the next piece of track ahead. This does two things. First it makes the joints uneven jus like in the 1:1 railroads and second if and when I pull my track up to redo my layout I won't have a bunch of track that are uneven lengths. To clamp them I just put the clamp between the ties wherever they match up. 


Dont forget that a staggard joint is also much more stable than a parallel one. One of the reasons why the "big guys" do it.


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## aceinspp (Jan 2, 2008)

Make sure to also cut the tie strip from under neath as if your bending a sharp curve you will find the ties not wanting to follow the curvature of the rail. 

Yep one of the reason why railroad got rid of square joints was two fold. Get rid of the rough ride and keep from uncoupling of the cars due to excessive profile. However the staggered joints eventually became a problem also when the 70 ton grain cars arrived. Now that CWR is in place most of those problems have gone but not entirely. Later RJD


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## pimanjc (Jan 2, 2008)

When using the Train-Li Railbender I do not cut the ends even. Two reasons: The overlapping sets of rails create a smoother continuous curve, and if I ever want to reclaim/remove a section of track, I can straighten it and it will retain even ends. In the event that the track was being sold [should I die or become disabled], straightening the track and having even/standard lengths would be an asset since I mostly use 3ft, 4ft, or 5ft lengths of track to bend. I also take out screws and clip every other tie connection. The Train-Li is run over the SJs or Hillmans so there is no short straight section of track at the connecting joints. I lay mine on the ground as I progress. 
JimC.


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

Good tips Jim, and nice to see you on the forum! 

Greg


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