Tracks

Electricity is inherently dangerous and should always be treated with respect. But with model railways the voltage is so low and there is no risk of electric shock at all. You can touch the track and you will not feel anything (and will not hurt...

There is of course the old tried and tested method, the track rubber which does the job, no railway modeller should be without one. But there are also other products out there which take the strain for cleaning large sections of track. Dapol for...

Peco Setrack and Peco Streamline are compatible with Hornby track as they all share the same gauge width of 16.5mm. The main differences are in the sleeper spacing and the sleeper colour. Apart from that, there is very little difference and they...

This a hard question to answer. There are no hard and fast rules about how often you should clean the track. Bear in mind the track carries the electricity to the engine, so if your track is not clean, your trains are not going to run correctly....

Once upon a time I would have said a newly bladed junior hacksaw and some warding files, but these days I would have to say get a pair of track cutters (not to be confused with sprue cutters which are entirely different). The reason why they are...

As we all know it takes 360 degrees to create a circle, a standard curve is 22.5 degrees and a double curve is 45 degrees. So to create a circle using double curves you would need eight pieces of track, and to create a circle using standard...

On the real railway line, the ballast would have come from a local quarry so the colour would reflect this. The colour will mostly epend on the type of stone common ones are limestone and granite, with colours varying from white to grey and brown....

Ballast is not really a uniform colour. Although it would have started off the same colour on a prototype line, over time the ballast would be susceptible to everyday dirt and grime from the locos. Here is an example taken at Havenstreet Steam...

The main reason for using underlay is to help to reduce the noise on your layout. If you run your train on track placed directly on wood, it resonates a lot and this is amplified by the void under the baseboard. The second reason is by putting...

The track is connected using rail joiners, also called "fishplates". They are thin metal plates that simply slot into the next piece of track and should be tight fitting to allow for the power to flow seamlessly to the next piece of track. They...

The time old tradition for laying ballast is to lay your ballast under/around your track and add watered down PVA glue mixed with a couple of drops of washing up liquid to ease surface tension. You can also find ready to use ballast glue which is...

How you remove ballast would depend on weather you are trying to remove excess ballast after laying and gluing your ballast, or if you are trying to remove an existing section of track for replacement or re-landscaping.If you are just removing the...