How do I cut model railway flexible track?

If you are venturing into the world of flexible track then no doubt you are discovering that it is not just the track that is flexible, your track plans are now equally as flexible and you can now recreate exactly the bends and curves that you desire, another thing you will notice is that flexitrack will often need cutting down to size to make it fit your bespoke design, but how do you do it?

There are a few ways to cut the track, traditionally modellers have used a fine metal-cutting saw whilst holding the track in a vice, another approach is to cut the track using a thin abrasive disc that fits into an electric low-voltage drill. Alternatively, you could use side cutters which are known as track cutters when specifically designed for the job, being convenient and reducing the need for filing.

There is no right or wrong way because people model in different ways. There is, of course, a trade-off between the various possibilities but that is for the modeller to decide.

A good idea would be to start with an off-cut of track and have a practice with whatever tools you already have available to see how you get on and if you're not happy with the results then you can always invest in more tools and have lost nothing.

Whichever method you eventually settle on, you may have trouble sliding the rail joiners onto the freshly cut rails because of tiny jagged bits of metal created during the cutting process. This can in most cases be easily rectified by lightly sanding the ends of the rails (particularly the bottoms) before fitting.

Another problem you will have fitting rail joiners is the sleepers preventing them from being slid onto the rail ends. There are two ways around this, firstly you can gently prise the end sleeper away from the rail whilst leaving it attached to the preceding sleeper, then slide the rail-joiner between the sleeper and rail, this method if not carefully done can create raised sections of rail though and will result in the rough running of trains. The preferred way is to remove the end sleeper altogether from the end of the freshly cut track, this will look a little strange once laid as there will be gaps in your sleepers, however, the removed sleeper can be simply slid back under the track from the side once the track is laid. A top tip is to sand or otherwise remove the little mouldings that once attached the sleeper to the rail to avoid the original problem of raising the rail.

Cutting and successfully laying flexible track (as simple as it sounds) does, in fact, take a little mastering so a few pieces of old track and a couple of hours practising is truly the best advice when it comes to cutting track.