03-05-2011, 12:19 PM
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
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