I have a problem that just occurred after about 7 or 8 years of operations. I have one 1 uno tunnel on my layout. in about 4 scale miles of double main line an probably the same distance in single. this tunnel is probably 18" to 20" long. For some reason the track has expanded and moved making a bow in both tracks. They are now almost touching. First question is why now, why there and what happened to the nails holding it in place? Second question is how do I fix it?

Interesting. Any recent changes in temperature or humidity in your layout room?

Is the track inside the tunnel ballasted? If not, then I surmise this is why it happened inside the tunnel. The rest of the layout is nailed and glued in place because it is ballasted. Unfortunately fixing it is going to be tough. What I would do is to use a dremel cutoff tool to cut a gap in the rails and see if I could straighten it out. Shouldn't take very much gap to straighten a 2 foot section of railhead, I would guess less than 1/16". Once the track is straightened out and resoldered I would prolly use a long syringe or turkey baster or something to reach in as far as I could and put some glue of some sort in there to help keep it still, and run a magnet car - if you have one - through there to catch any pulled up track spikes.

Hopefully some more people will chime in with there own ideas. Good luck.

The track is not ballasted and the temperature fluctuates a lot and has since day 1.

Have you soldered the track joints. Is the track butted up tightly with no gaps?

This sounds pretty unusual, Les, especially after so long without problems.
A couple of months after my track was in place (all rail joints soldered) but not yet ballasted, some of the straight track developed side-to-side "wiggles" - not visible at a quick glance, although obvious when a train was running in those spots and very obvious when sighting along the track. I was told this was caused by the flow of electricity through the rails as the trains ran, although others have said that explanation to be nonsense. Most of the irregularities were corrected by pulling track nails and repositioning the track as required - mostly minor adjustments. In one area though, I had to pull all of the track nails right to- and then into a broad curve. The straight track was then re-aligned, while at the same time "working" the apparently-excess rail to the curve, where it dissipated in a slightly increased radius. I have no explanation of why this occurred (the room is a fairly constant temperature and humidity and the lumber used in layout construction had been in the room about two years before being used), and no explanation why it never occurred again - I left it for some time expecting a re-occurrence, though. Eventually, I did ballast the track and have had no more problems.
Puddlejumper's suggestion may work, but I have a feeling that your problem may not be a natural occurrence: if I recall correctly, your layout is in an outbuilding - is there any chance that you have unwanted visitors in fur coats?
If so, you need to find the point(s) of entry and plug them, then eradicate the remaining culprits. To move track to that degree, it's unlikely to be mice, but perhaps squirrels could cause such an issue.

Wayne

When all else seems beyond reason or logic...........


and it happened in the tunnel..............where they can't be seen doing their dirtywork. :o

With all the stated conditions, I think Puddlejumper might have the best idea. The alternative would almost have to be removing the "tunnel" .....in as close to one piece as possible.....making the corrections, and replacing, and blending in, the covering scenery ( etc. )

Sumpter250 Wrote:When all else seems beyond reason or logic...........

Blame the gremlins !!

and it happened in the tunnel..............where they can't be seen doing their dirtywork. :o

I like the gremlin idea. Now it has grown. the tunnel is immediately to the left of this bridge. the track is glued to the bridge or was glued to it .


The track comes out of the tunnel and goes right onto the bridge. Now the track is no longer glued to the bridge but now it has moved also. This is one big gremlin. I am going to try what puddlejumper suggested and see what happens .

Les: The club that I belonged to had the same problem in more than one area of the layout. In our case it was due to temperature changes. Our benchwork was constructed from high density particle board (even the legs were cut from 11/4 inch particle board) and I believe that had something to do with the warping. As someone else mentioned, humidity could be an additional factor. Good luck. Jim K.

It may take a little bigger gap if more track has buckled. Work slow, a little at a time, you don't want to overdo it. I truly hope you get this solved. If you could take before and after photos I am sure it would be appreciated, and let us know how it goes.
Dave

Hey, Les!

In your detective work, did you think to ask the people in the canoes if they saw anything ...

No I didn't think to ask them. If they were there when it happened I am sure it must have scared them. It had to make some noise.
Dave I can't get before pictures as it has already happened.

Les, I mean before and after the repair. So we can see how things worked out. Any reason to see more pics of your layout is a good reason.

OK here is a before. The track in the tunnel is somewhat straight now. That might be because the bridge is now messed up



Oh forgive the tunnel entrance to the left I forgot that was there. I guess I need to move it when I go back out

When I first read this post, I had no idea what would cause your problems. I'm wondering now if the underlying bench work is drying out and shrinking over time. I suspect cutting gaps in the rails might allow them room to straighten out and absorb the shrinking forces. You would need to solder new drops to each section of layout that is isolated by the gaps, but you would not need to put in any styrene filler because you are not adding new "blocks" to the railroad. Don't forget to cut gaps at both ends of the tunnel, and perhaps to the opposite end of the bridge.