Does anyone "stagger" their rails?


cncproadwarrior

cncproadwarrior

North of the 49th
I intend to use 3' sections of flextrack for my layout and was wondering if anyone staggers the joints on their track. This would probably be easy to do with flextrack by moving the non-fixed rail of the first section of track to where the end is half way to the fixed one and then just pushing the non-fixed rail of the next section through the first section and so on. Anyone understand that?:confused:

That way, the ends of each rail would be staggered and not at the same spot.:rolleyes:
 
I haven't done that myself, but I've known a few people that do - it's a great way to help prevent kinking at the joints on curves!
 
Yes, it's actually good practice to do this since it does help prevent kinks on curves as well as straight tracks. Prototype railroads usually try to stagger joints so a single failure won't cause a catastrophic failure in the track compared to joints directly opposite each other. If one joint fails that's opposite the other joint, the pounding of a train will usually cause the other joint to fail in short order, causing the rails to spread and the train to derail.
 
actually, it will happen naturally if you have a few curves in there, the outer rail will end before the inner. Even if it doesn't do it, as has been said it is a very good idea to make it happen.

You will also notice that on most flex track, one rail will slide easily and the other won't. use this feature in your plans.
 
I was just going to say it happens naturally with flex track on curves. I just let the track falls where it may, and joint them there. Avoids derailments, especially on curves.
 
If you want to stagger them yourself, use a dremel to cut the rail after you put it down and then either put in rail joiners or wire the parts seperately.
 
I always stagger my joints by simply sliding the non fixed rail back 38 scale feet or so, especially on curves.
There's a mile or so of track on the Central Manitoba Railway that was replaced with panel before the CNR sold it. They were in such a hurry to get it in before the inspection that they left the joints lined up with each other... the roughest section I've ever been on.
 
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