# Laying aluminum track on White Deer RR



## White Deer RR (May 15, 2009)

Greetings to all. I have not posted a lot because my little road has been locked into two four foot wide flower beds...UNTIL NOW! The kids have passed the age of wanting a play structure, meaning both space and surplus PT lumber have become available. The idea of running track all the way around the yard has still, strangely, not been approved by the light of my life. All in good time, all in good time.

Being the cheap sort, I finally decided (after reading every post I could find about using aluminum for track power) to go ahead and take the risk of connecting Aristo aluminum to my existing Aristo stainless. I'm using aluminum Split Jaw clamps and an anti-oxidant compound called Ox-Gard in the clamps. After about two weeks of being hit by sprinklers every morning, the Ox-Gard is still present and I still get full voltage at the end of track.The little 0-4-0 chugs along just as well as on the stainless, and better in a way because the expansion has bigger curves and is more or less level.

No warranties, your mileage may vary, and we'll see how it holds up over time. I did run it one morning while the track was still wet and didn't observe any problems. BTW, I am using green Scotch-Brite on the track cleaning car, which I did anyway on the stainless to remove carbon black.

I have also run a conduit from near the existing base station location, in case I ever want to run a feeder or the light of my life gets her wish for a water feature. Grist mill anyone?
!
Worst case I have to convert to battery power, which would not be the end of the world for me as I am STILL using my Aristo starter set power pack with Basic Train engineer! Didn't know how much of a deal I got back in the mid-Oughts! Can't even buy a loco for what I paid for that starter set.

Once I save up for a new loco to go with the steadfast if modest 0-4-0 it will definitely have sound. Sadly, I didn't manage to eliminate the 4 foot curves, as the light of my life likes the existing track where it is, but at least the expansion has ten foot curves. It's set on the reclaimed PT lumber, which has been screwed together straight for eleven years, and a lot of it is certainly in good enough shape to be buried in ballast. If it rots someday, it rots, and no, we're not going to grow anything edible in the train area. Did I mention I'm cheap?

So here are a few pics. Will spend next eleven years landscaping, building trestles, a bridge or two, who knows.


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## CliffyJ (Apr 29, 2009)

Very nice! Can you post an overall track plan, for what you're intending to do?


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## White Deer RR (May 15, 2009)

I apologize, I don't have a track plan drawn up on computer. 

In the first photo above, the expansion will simple circle around the sawhorses and dirt piles and return to the existing track, which in the first photo is just left of the dwarf Alberta spruce. 

The existing layout can best be described as a little dogbone that runs along the house (where the absurdly out of scale orange lillies are growing,) around and back. In the first photo you can see where the tracks cross near the end of the sidewalk. 

So essentially I wind up with three loops, two of them with four foot curves and one with ten foot curves. It's progress for this little railroad anyhow! It will now look more like it's going somewhere, and will take longer than 30 seconds to make a full circuit of the layout. 

My layout still won't be that grand, but after some years of wishing I am finally getting to expand it. 

And perhaps of interest to some who read this, I consider this a hands on experiment with aluminum track and track power. Obviously if it becomes a huge problem I will switch to battery, since I don't have a bunch of money invested in power supply and such, but so far it seems like it might work. Time will tell.


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## John J (Dec 29, 2007)

I never had a track plan either. I bought software to do but never used it.

I made all kinds of mistakes....but I sure had fun. 

AT one point I had a 9% grade.

I did a lot of digging to fix that one.

But that was all before I found this place 

I got a lot of help from these forums.

Learned a lot for these guys. 

JJ


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## White Deer RR (May 15, 2009)

So here are a few more pics

*(Below)* First, my first attempt at building an abutment. Half inch square dowel nailed to a scrap of PT 2 x 6 using copper weather stripping nails and a few brass screws for good measure, then stained "American Walnut." Should have stair-stepped the "timbers" down, but some rip-rap will do in a pinch. It actually looks kind of cool so I bought some el-cheapo "river pebbles" at the big box store today, with an eye to rip-rapping a culvert and some other stuff.

Someday this will be the end of a bridge instead of a 2 x 6 stringer. Yes, it will eventually rot. I've used this material outdoors before, and with some re-painting it will last some years, perhaps five, and I'm hoping that the piece of PT behind it will prolong its life a little. I'm definitely going for an old west look. Most people don't notice abutments but I want to have a few little details like this that add some fun character.

 

*(Below)* The view from the porch. Planned trestle starting on right side from this view, to some kind of bridge on the straight portion in center left. Wife wants a water feature of some type. A project to go with the project! Really want some greenery along fence line eventually as a backdrop.

 

*(Below)* Also a view from porch. On left is the very first phase, a simple loop in one flower bed. It grew to cross near end of sidewalk around and back through tunnel. This shows addition meeting up with existing layout. Could not find a way out of having four foot curves, but I've come to accept that I will be running small locos. It's still fun! And I can pick up my shorty cars in about thirty seconds and stick them on the shelf in the garage, which is right behind the air conditioner.

 

As for the aluminum track using power with my 0-4-0, it's still working so far, and it runs pretty well because the new roadbed underneath all that gravel is far more level than the old portion. I've had occasion during construction to remove several of the new track pieces as I added fill, and the anti-oxidant compound has not washed away so far. Granted, it's only been several weeks, but at this point I'm hopeful this will suit my purposes as I work on the expansion for the coming months. As I stated in my original post, if long term the aluminum track becomes too much bother with track power, I intend to convert to battery power.


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

I have been testing another brand, "no-alox" I found in a squeeze tube in home depot, have been using it on split jaw stainless... been over a year and no seizing of the SS screws in the SS body and did not wash off. 

So far, this looks better than the grease I was using before. I was hesitant since this was for aluminum, but reading the properties made it seem worth a try. 

So, it looks like this is a similar product. 

Regards, Greg


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## White Deer RR (May 15, 2009)

Yes, I have to think they both contain zinc particles, based on various internet searches. Another group of hobbyists who want conductivity outdoors are ham radio operators, so they discuss these products too. At any rate, conductivity plus no seizing plus not washing away quickly equals a winner, hopefully.


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