# Code 250 aluminum track



## markperr (Jan 7, 2008)

Thinking about adding some track to the layout and brass track is getting somewhat prohibitive for my budget. I'm looking into Llagas Creek code 250 aluminum. I'll be running battery power so conductivity is not an issue. Are there any other issues I need to concern myself with regarding the use of aluminum code 250 with brass code 332?

I'm not really even sure what specifically to ask about. Just don't want to be "unpleasantly" surprised.

Mark


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## Rods UP 9000 (Jan 7, 2008)

I haven't used Llagas Creek but have used Micro Engineering 250 alum 
Is is not robust as brass or stainless You will need a very good foundation like concrete roadbed or some way to keep foot traffic off of it 
You will not need a railbender if you do BIG curves. Its bends easily 
.


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## up9018 (Jan 4, 2008)

Mark, 

I plan to use Llagas 250 aluminum myself, for the same reason's you are. The one thing you need to think of that Rodney didn't mention is the considerable size difference between 250 and 332. You will need a transition of some kind. Otherwise keep us posted on how it goes. 

Chris


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## East Broad Top (Dec 29, 2007)

If you're using the Llagas Creek stuff, buy the pre-assembled sections. Yeah, it's a few pennies more per foot, but the money you'll save on anger management classes will more than offset it. Seriously--the tie strips are VERY tight to slide on the rail. When I used it, I slid them on 2 ties at a time, aided by a squirt bottle of soapy water to help them slide on better. But beyond that, you shouldn't have any issues. As Rodney says, you'll want a firm foundation beneath it, but it needn't be concrete. I just floated mine on a trench of crusher fines. It withstood being occasionally stepped on by me, the neighbor's dog, and the occasional wild animal (including deer) without ever showing any signs of kinking. The 4" diameter maple branch that fell during an ice storm... that kinked it. 

Personally, I'd still use a railbender with it. It's easy to bend by hand--I was doing 10' minimum radius--but I've found that running a railbender over the rails releases the internal stresses that want to bend the rail back out straight. If you do kink the rail and have to remove a section, if the rail is not pre-bent, it's going to want to straighten out and you'll be hard-pressed to get that curve smooth and even again. 

Later, 

K


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## Brandon (Jul 6, 2011)

I haven't seen reports but you might anytime you put two different metals together you can see problems but for some reason even those who have mixed for 10-20 years report no problems. Also Llagas doesn't have rail clamps but I have track from Llagas and Sunset Valley and SVR's railclamps did fit Llagas fairly well and Split Jaw makes clamps specific for both in a few different metals. Llagas only has brass fish plates. Also you might want to consider painting the rail since aluminum doesn't weather. Also I'd +1 to buying rails installed already in the ties. Llagas makes good stuff.


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## Dick Friedman (Aug 19, 2008)

I use Llagas Creek code 250 aluminum rail AND switches, with track power. My track is on a simple base of ballast, and seems fine. It doesnot expand or contract too much as I've noticed. It is easy to bend for large curves, but a rail bender would make them much smoother. I think you'll like the closer to scale track size.


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## Dan Pantages (Jan 2, 2008)

Putting rail in ties is easy. All you do is gently heat up the ties with a hair dryer or heat gun and the rail slides on like oil down a tube, even faster if you make a simple jig, strips of wood nailed to a piece of ply that the ties fit between to keep the plastic ties square. No need for that messy soap, WD40 or whatever. I did about 500ft of Llagas creek and with 2 of us working one can slide the ties on the rail faster that the other person can warm up the ties. It can also be done by spreading the ties out on a dark table in the sun, in 75 to 80 degree weather, 10 / 15 minutes in the sun and it’s more than warm enough. 

Brandon - Llagas has stainless steel, nickel silver and insulated rail joiners (the best looking ones on the market). They also have Rail blenders, cast nickel silver for code 250 to 332.


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## Semper Vaporo (Jan 2, 2008)

The retail price differential between buying "assembled track" vs "rail and ties" is small, but the shipping costs between "assembled track" vs "rail and ties" is tremendous!

I assembled 150-ft of track (put ties on rails) by myself in a short and very pleasant afternoon. Spent more time making a fixture to hold the rail upsidedown at the right gauge. I used a small router (Dremel, Moto-tool in a router add-on) to route two 1/8 wide grooves about 3/16 inch deep (with the closest sides of the gooves 1.75 inches apart) in a 7-ft long 1x10 board. I needed 8-ft radius (16-ft diameter) curves, so I bent individual rails to that curve. To hold them upsidedown I needed to make a "compass" that was 8-ft long to hold the router. It had two pivot holes at a bit over 1.75 inches apart to route the grooves at the right gauge.

I used the file on my Swiss Army knife to bevel the edges of the foot of the rail so it would not have burrs that could catch on the ties/molded-in-spike-heads. I also wiped the foot of each rail with a rag that I had sprayed with Armour All (normally I hate that stuff as it leaves everything gooey feeling and slickyfied, but that was a good thing in this case).

I also purchased the assembly tool that LLagas Creek sells. It is just an overpriced stick of wood with notches at the tie spaceing so it is easier to slide the 4 tie sections on. (You pay for the time someone spent cutting dados at the "right places"!)

I put the rails upsidedown in the grooves in the board, then slid on one set of ties and pushed them up a few inches. Then put on another set and slid the first one to near the middle, and the 2nd one to where the 1st one was. Then I put on the 3rd and slid the 1st one to the far end and the 2nd one to the middle. I just kept adding 4-tie sets to the end and sliding the ones already there closer together. The section was assembled in just a few minutes. The curved tracks were no harder to do.

I made the rail bender using a thick metal plate and three 1/2-inch diameter rollers. Two of the rollers are mounted in holes about 1.5-inches apart and the third one in a slot so it is free to vary how close it is to being between the other two. I found that I could not tighten the bolt on the adjustable roller enough to hold it in place so I drilled and threaded a hole in the end of the slot so a threaded rod inserted from the side would press on the bolt in the slot to hold it in place. I only made one adjustment to the spacing to get the right curve (just lucky I guess) but I learned that I had to "push" the rail through and refrain from the inclination to "pull" the rail from the other end. Pulling resulted in bad uneven bends, but "pushing" resulted in near perfect curves.


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## Torby (Jan 2, 2008)

@import url(http://www.mylargescale.com/Provide...ad.ashx?type=style&file=SyntaxHighlighter.css);@import url(/providers/htmleditorproviders/cehtmleditorprovider/dnngeneral.css); So, where do you get this wonderous stuff? I went to their web site, and they have general descriptions, but no llists and prices, and I clicked a few of their dealer lists, to find no lists or prices.

Like this: http://www.gardenrrsupply.com/brand...lways.html


(Hey, did I actually post something without a line of gibberish at the end?)


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## markperr (Jan 7, 2008)

Here's a price list from llagas creek's site: 

http://www.llagastrack.com/pricelist.html


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## Torby (Jan 2, 2008)

Thanks.


@import url(http://www.mylargescale.com/Provide...ad.ashx?type=style&file=SyntaxHighlighter.css);@import url(/providers/htmleditorproviders/cehtmleditorprovider/dnngeneral.css);


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