12-20-2010, 11:45 AM
I've had a similar experience actually. I finished hand laying a good four foot section of double track on my first layout but apparently didn't gap the rails enough. Once the furnace kicked during the winter that particular section of track went all out of whack, bent and buckled. It was ridiculous. The rail ends pushed so hard on adjoining track that it actually closed some isolation gaps in a turnout that I cut with a dremel disc! It was almost surreal. Granted I'm spiking rail to wood ties and you have flex track. However I can say with some certainty that the rail does expand and it can expand enough to throw it all to heck. I did take pictures, but cannot seem to locate them...if I find them I'll definately post them up just to make a point.
My solution to the problem was kind of simple in a way and for all intents and purposes it seems to have worked, or at least, there is no buckling this time around. For starters, I capped off the vent for air coming into the room. The vent would blow hot air right onto the layout and make the whole area very warm. The layout sits just a few feet away from the furnace but the furnace itself does not radiate a lot of heat all the heat from the forced air is sent through the ducts to the rest of the house. Which is how it should be. Closing off the vent allows the layout area to remain at a more stable (cooler) and consistent tempurature. For layout # 2 I also did all if not most of the track work during the winter months, when the house actually is at its warmest. Call me paranoid. When the basement is cooler in the summer months I don't notice any significant "shrinkage" and when the house is warmed during the winter there is no noticable change in expansion. For gaping, I just stuck a business card inbetween joints and left it there while I spiked. Maybe I over thought this, but so far so good.
Just wonder if seasonal changes and room tempuratures might have impacted this in some way? I also wonder if perhaps certain stock or batch of Nickel Silver Rail are more susceptable to this type of event?
My solution to the problem was kind of simple in a way and for all intents and purposes it seems to have worked, or at least, there is no buckling this time around. For starters, I capped off the vent for air coming into the room. The vent would blow hot air right onto the layout and make the whole area very warm. The layout sits just a few feet away from the furnace but the furnace itself does not radiate a lot of heat all the heat from the forced air is sent through the ducts to the rest of the house. Which is how it should be. Closing off the vent allows the layout area to remain at a more stable (cooler) and consistent tempurature. For layout # 2 I also did all if not most of the track work during the winter months, when the house actually is at its warmest. Call me paranoid. When the basement is cooler in the summer months I don't notice any significant "shrinkage" and when the house is warmed during the winter there is no noticable change in expansion. For gaping, I just stuck a business card inbetween joints and left it there while I spiked. Maybe I over thought this, but so far so good.
Just wonder if seasonal changes and room tempuratures might have impacted this in some way? I also wonder if perhaps certain stock or batch of Nickel Silver Rail are more susceptable to this type of event?