05-30-2017, 09:26 AM
Ouch, that doesn't look good! However, I suspect the warped track has more to do with the wood framework shrinking than the nickel silver track expanding. Add a couple of missing expansion gaps, and long straights like that are a disaster waiting to happen.
Whatever the reason for the warped track, you have my sympathies, and I hope it didn't do to much damage to your train schedules! I am a FREMO member myself, and have been to a couple of FREMO meetings here in Norway, but I have yet to attend one of the larger ones in Denmark or Germany.
I haven't noticed any warped track on my garden railroad, maybe because there's hardly any straights at all. Plus, only the turnouts and a few of the ties are screwed to the framework, allowing the rest of the track to move quite freely. There are, however, a couple of kinked track joints, mostly due to poor tracklaying and bending the track by hand. One of my planned projects this summer is to rip out both end curves, use a rail bender to bend the rails into smooth and even curves, and put it back together. I also want to put down the few pieces of track still missing; the outer curve by the slope, and the third track at the station, which continues past the terrace. Hopefully it will be done by the end of the summer...
Whatever the reason for the warped track, you have my sympathies, and I hope it didn't do to much damage to your train schedules! I am a FREMO member myself, and have been to a couple of FREMO meetings here in Norway, but I have yet to attend one of the larger ones in Denmark or Germany.
I haven't noticed any warped track on my garden railroad, maybe because there's hardly any straights at all. Plus, only the turnouts and a few of the ties are screwed to the framework, allowing the rest of the track to move quite freely. There are, however, a couple of kinked track joints, mostly due to poor tracklaying and bending the track by hand. One of my planned projects this summer is to rip out both end curves, use a rail bender to bend the rails into smooth and even curves, and put it back together. I also want to put down the few pieces of track still missing; the outer curve by the slope, and the third track at the station, which continues past the terrace. Hopefully it will be done by the end of the summer...