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Take a piece of Atlas Flex track. Remove the free rail. Put three screws into a scrap of wood. Push the rail through the three offset screws to put a permanent curly cue in it. Reinstall it into the flex track ties. Trim the ends with a rail nipper, and install Atlas connector ties that will accept rail joiners. The track holds the curve all by itself just like a piece of Atlas Snap Track.
Yes, I learned of this little trick a few years back. It can help with curved ends of flex track where the rails never seem to want to stay curved. The downside is that you don't end up with the natural easements that flex track can give you.
You're right, I can't claim the idea...
Got it from the Gn15 Brits who are superb modellers and very inventive. I'm planning a micro layout, so the small radius curves allow fitting a continuous HO gauge layout into a depth as shallow as 24 inches...
Gregg,
I will use that tip when I make my train shelf layout....coming soon. This way I won't have to fight with the tracks to pin them down and it should make it easier to get the joints more accurate.
-Art
Yes... with preformed curves, it allows you to experiment building and running different layout designs without needing to pin anything down. I'm going to try even smaller radii, as all the shortys have no problem negotiating extremely tight curves.
... it's way too large for the tiny scale of the layout. 