# Can This Track be Repaired



## jbwilcox (Jan 2, 2008)

I have several sections of damaged track and I was wondering if anyone else has encountered the same problems and if so, can it be repaired?










You can see in the above picture that someone has stepped on the track and separated the rail from the ties. I have tried to force the ties back into place but that has not worked. So the question is -- is this track still useable or should I discard it?










Another example of track that has apparently been stepped on. Is there any way of getting the bend out of it? If not, is it still useable or should it be discarded?










Another section of track that has separated from the ties. I have some sections that have more ties than this loose. Is this repairable and if so, how do you fix it?

I also have curved track that looks like it has a natural easement to it, in other words, the outer rail seems to be raised slightly higher than the inner rail when I put it on a flat surface. How can that be fixed?


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## Jethro J. (Apr 4, 2012)

Unscrew the ties, slide them off, then slide the back on and your done. As far as the kinked track goes, good luck with that.


J.


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## toddalin (Jan 4, 2008)

I had invented a tool to put the ties back onto the rails without removing the track from the ground. It can even put them on the rail joiners. 


Flatten one end of a couple nails and file the flattened area to a fanned shape. Then bend the nails as shown in the illustration. Use these as the "jaws" in a pair of K&B Snap Ring Pliers. You also have to thin it down a bit on the round end to get it into the tool. When you squeeze the pliers you open the jaws.

Position the tie under the rails. Open the jaws and and put them over the railhead and close them. Slide the flattened section of the jaws so as to engage the "fish plates." Squeeze the pliers and pull up and it simultaneously opens the fish plates while pulling them over the rail foot.

I was goind to go into production and found a local source wire-bending factory to do the jaws. But I wasn't happy with the plier samples out of China and K&B would only sell to me in quantity if I became a distributor and carried their entire line of tools.


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## Ron Senek (Jan 2, 2008)

With the kinked part put in a vise and hit with hammer and keep turning it to get back to shape. I've had worse and straightened it back to useable. As far as the ties coming off like that just slide off like he said or if little clips are broken just cut the ties off and add new ones if you have some. If no vise cut that section out and put jointer on and slide back together but one rail will be shorter. Ron


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

Where the "spikes" have come off the rail, if the ties are still reasonable flexible, bend the tie so that the bends right under the rail... then use a small flat blade screwdriver to put the "inner" spike back in place.... the outer spike is already clear of the rail and as you release the tie, the spike will "go home" 

Be sure your ties are flexible enough not to break first! 

Greg


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## Totalwrecker (Feb 26, 2009)

When I was in Ulen Siberia I ventured into a trading post because I had misplaced my penknife. 
When my turn came I motioned the clerk over and pointed at the knives on display. She pulled out the velvet covered card and set about 4 knives before me. I saw one with a nice blade and a short sinew scraper hook of a blade. 
I had bought 1000 rubles befor leaving the ship. I offered a 500 note and she withdrew in shock. I held up my 1,000 in a 500, two 200 and a hundred ruble note. A little wizened old man beside pulled the 100 note from my offerings and handed to the kind woman. She went to her abicuss, did her figuring and then rang it up on the cash register and gave me 53 rubles in change. 
I can slip the sinew hook under the trapped 'spike' and replace it on top without breakage 99% of the time. The few that break off don't affect operation. 

Oh that knife ... in 1993 cost me 4.7 cents, a thousand new rubles was a dollar. 

John


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## toddalin (Jan 4, 2008)

You cannot slide the ties off (or on) the rails once you have soldered jumper wires. Even after you remove the jumpers, to replace the ties requires that most all of the solder be removed until the rail is again smooth, and it is a PITA.


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## jbwilcox (Jan 2, 2008)

Thankks for the replys. 

I am a proponent of Murphys Law. If anything can go wrong it will.

I have never tried sliding a rail out of the ties before. That part sounds pretty easy. The difficult part is in sliding it back in again! But I do have a couple of short sections of track that I can try it on first. Of course, I would only need to slide the rail until I reach the ties that have slipped off so that may not be so bad.

I will try first bending the ties to see how flexible they are and if that works fine.

I would love to have one of those tools but it looks too complicated for me to make. That sounded like the best solution.

The problem is as I get older my flexibility goes down hill. I can still run 8 minute miles at age 70 and outwalk people in their 30's but I cannot even begin to bend down and touch my toes. I can get almost down to my knees if I really streatch my back muscles. The point I am getting to is that because of the lack of flexibility, when I try to step over tracks, sometimes I miss and hit the ties on one side of the rail. That is how most of those ties have been pulled off the rails, I am sure.

This flexibility issue really comes into play when I have to bend over and put a car or engine back on the track. How I wish I had been smart enough to build a raised railroad!


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## John J (Dec 29, 2007)

Your 70 years old?









I thought you were down in the late 40s to mid 50s










JJ


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## chuck n (Jan 2, 2008)

JB, do you live where there are deer? They can put a lot more pressure on a small spot with a small foot print than our large one. I have weighed over 190# since I got involved in LS about 1980. I have been walking on my track for 30+ years and never bent or damaged a rail or a couple of ties. I'd be surprised if your foot is narrow enough to have caused the damage. If you have to step on your track, step on both rails. It spreads the pressure around. Chuck.


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## jbwilcox (Jan 2, 2008)

Yes we have a few deer around here. And yes, I am 70 but I don't feel that old.


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## placitassteam (Jan 2, 2008)

I use Sunset Valley track and the ties slip on and off quite easily. I had wild horses walking on my track and had to pull up a lot twice in one month to straighten. The tools I used are a vice, an ajustable wrench and a rail bender. Vertical bends could be removed by clamping ing the vise and bending by hand or with the adjustable wrench. Horizontal bends were removed wijth the rail bender. If the track would not lay flat the problem was usually a twisted rail. The twist could be removed by clamping in the vise and twisting with the adjustable wrench. I had some badly bent rail but was able to salvage all of it. My railroad now has an electric fence around it!! Good luck.


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## John J (Dec 29, 2007)

I got the same problem


The land round us is open range. I thought the county outlawed open range in this area but It appears they have not.

I don't have horses tromping over my layout I got beefs. 5  that I know out cause I seen them. 

I have had to replace sections of track that they stepped on. 

I have saved the pieces and I am going to try and fix them using the instructions here 

JJ


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

If free range is outlawed, do you get to keep what you find? 

Might be sirloin steak time! 

Greg


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## jbwilcox (Jan 2, 2008)

Toddalin,

How much would it cost for you to make me a tool like what you have described for fixing track?

I probably would gladly pay for one.

John


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## toddalin (Jan 4, 2008)

It's really just cutting the head off a nail and flattening it with a hammer and bending it around a small socket IIRC. You will need to find a K&B (or better) snap ring pliers.


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## John J (Dec 29, 2007)

Posted By Greg Elmassian on 27 May 2013 08:54 PM 
If free range is outlawed, do you get to keep what you find? 

Might be sirloin steak time! 

Greg 
Next time Home Depot has a sale on Chainsaws...









Here Beefy Beefy Beefy........


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## toddalin (Jan 4, 2008)

Some pics as to how to put one together and use it may help you out. It is hard to get a nice bend in the nail, and I gave my really nice set to the mfg plant that was going to make them for me. I never went back to retrieve them. Anyway, this seems to work best on the European ties and it helps it they are softened by putting them in hot water, but not manditory.


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## Don Howard (Jan 2, 2008)

Nice pics of the tool and how to use it. 

I've tried small screwdrivers and I need 4 hands to do everything at once!


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## jbwilcox (Jan 2, 2008)

Thanks

I will have to look for the pliers. Can I find them at Home Depot or Harbor Freight?

John


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

An auto parts place would be better... " K&B Snap Ring Pliers" K&B is the brand name... they will understand you, but you might take a picture, those are pliers for external snap rings... there are ones for internal snap rings which you don't want... then there's the convertible ones... 

Greg


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## jbwilcox (Jan 2, 2008)

DI discovered an easier way to fix track where the ties have separated from the rail.

I turn the track over so the rails are resting on a hard surface like cement.

Then I take a hammer and start tapping on the ties that are separated. After several taps the ties seem to pop back into place and the track is repaired.

I have tried it on 3 sections of track and it seems to work for me.

John


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