# Aristocraft Flex track.



## lrparks (Nov 21, 2008)

I made a rail bender out of roller skate wheel bearings. Can the ART12190 72" rails be removed from the flex ties so I can bend them individually?


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

Yes, with a small screwdriiver, look underneath. 

Regards, Greg


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## LOST AND CONFUSED (Mar 7, 2008)

I got tired of taking out screws myself you may want to try American Main line track if you need more I can bend it without much trouble and it has no screws under it .It really stands up under the florida heat. Do you have a picture of your rail bender I would sure like to make one. I take track out of ties and use two full coke cans to bend it but keeping it tracking straight is a problem that way. It sounds like your system is far better.


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

One of the problems with taking the screws out of the Aristo track is that the screws are what hold the gauge, the "spikes" do not hold gauge on the rail, there is a lot of slop there. 

Their tie strips are not designed to hold gauge. Other manufacturers' tie strips have a closer fit to the rail, and hold gauge. 

Before the faithful start the "you are bashing again" try it for yourself.. you will see. 

Regards, Greg


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## Treeman (Jan 6, 2008)

This is one of the high quality dual rail







benders.


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## Trains (Jan 2, 2008)

I have taken all the screws out of the back of my track and have not had any problems.


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

Right, but check the gauge and see how the rails can move. 

This is a caution, do you remember the group that had all the problems with rails spreading? They were all over the Aristo forum. Also, if you are ever in San Diego, I will show you some nastily tight gauge track. I have regauged my wheelsets to NMRA standards and then had locos walking up out of the track... went there with the Aristo track gauge and they were tight gauge. 

All I am doing is warning someone, and AGAIN saying to look at the amount of "slop" when the screws are removed. 

Regards, Greg


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## Trains (Jan 2, 2008)

I don't go by NMRA standards, I go by my standards and what works for me. There are four or five guy's in this area that has done the same and has not had any problems. I think those guy's were running 100 lb bigboy's.


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

They removed all the screws from the track and they are fine? That's great. I'm surprised, but that is great. 

Regards, Greg


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## GG (Jan 1, 2009)

OK, I have AML flex combined with a Train Li dual bender. Poised and ready to "bend" 

I am not expecting trouble am I?

Nightmare Newbie at your service....

gg


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

Of course not, see how closely the rails fit to the "spikes". They do not use screws to hold gauge. That's the point, you have to remove the Aristo screws underneath to flex the rail, and you lose gauge. 

I can see this is going to be a neverending argument for some. I guess I'll take some pictures and put a caliper on it to show the danger. 

Let's not argue anymore that it can or cannot happen, if anyone does not believe me, do the experiment yourself, and see how comfortable you are, it's your railroad. 

Regards, Greg


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## Bret W Tesson (Jan 6, 2008)

I recently purchased some of the Aristo 8' rails and tie strips. I never even thought to put screws into the bottom of the rails in my installation. All but one short section was used for straights. My trains track just fine without the screws installed. Greg is correct about the lack of accurate gage, but it's been my experience that on straight sections this has no impact on performance (that might not be the case if you use true prototypical wheel sets aka small flanges). I can certainly see where a tight radius curve would be more likely to derail without proper guage but for straights, it's not as critical.....just my experience.


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

Thanks Bret for noticing how the "fit" is. I completely agree with you about straight track. As everyone can see the original post was about BENDING track, thus it would be curved. This is where gauge seems to make a big difference in my experience also. I actually have tight gauge on some of my Aristo track, i.e. it FAILS the Aristo gauge. Others who have removed ALL the screws on curved track have had the rails actually spread enough to have the locos drop between the rails. 

This does NOThappen to everyone, but one club in Florida had a lot of problems, and they were on the Aristo forum quite a bit, and replaced all the tie strips, but still had the problem. I believe they wound up shimming the rails closer. They were running heavy brass engines, and I SUSPECT that the wheel treads were thinner, so it all makes sense they had problems. 

So this is just a heads up. If I was running nothing but "flex" and I had locos that did not have the "LGB" type of wide treads and deep flanges, I would probably avoid Aristo track. That would be my recommendation. 

If you did not have these circumstances, then you might be ok. 

But here, where someone may just be starting out, why not start with something that might not have any chance for the problem? Just things to consider. 

Regards, Greg 

p.s. only the sectional track has the screws affixing the rails. When I bend it I leave some of the screws to hold gauge.


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## aceinspp (Jan 2, 2008)

One thing we did when bending the Brass track was to leave the tie screws in place and on the side you will bend cut the small strip that holds the ties equal in place. Works great and keeps the correct gage for the track. Later RJD


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