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About the Layout
Introduction | The Track | The Scenery
The track is mostly flexible nickel silver rail from Peko ('Code 100') although the layout includes a number of sections of old Triang-Hornby 'Series 3' and 'Super 4' steel track. Nickel Silver is today's standard, chosen for its rust-proof qualities and flexible nature of the track, allowing complex curves to be created.
Sections of track laid in recent years has been 'weathered' by painting the sides of the rail a rusty brown colour, creating a more prototypical look.
The steel rail is of varying age (there are some pieces that are probably over 40 years old) and is used in a number of sidings and out-of-view areas. One section of the 'main line' in a tunnel uses 'Super 4' steel rail which is surprisingly as effective as the nickel silver rail for conducting and transferring power to the engine wheels.
However, the newer nickel silver is prefered because the track gauge matches the wheel gauge of most of the rolling stock, especially the newer items. For this reason, all points are nickel silver types.
There are a few problems with old locomotives and rolling stock running over the new track, but a gradual process of wheel replacement/adjustment and careful driving minimizes this. Problems are usually a result of the older wheels having large flanges and the gauge of the wheels being too narrow, thereby causing stock and engines to 'climb' over the finer scale points.
New wheels fitted to stock are metal types which usually replace the old plastic wheels which, among their other faults, are very efficient at collecting dirt, allowing a film to build up which causes running problems. For locomotives, an adjustment of the distance between wheels along an axle can greatly improve running quality.
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