Gettin' the Kinks Out

From the beginning I've had a kink in track in the mainline going around the Matthews freight yard that I've tried to ignore. I was doing great with that until I tried to run my new (Christmas present) Bachmann Spectrum 4-4-0 locomotive through the kink. The front "4" wheels derail almost every time they hit the kink. Poor trackwork will eventually catch up with you!


Here's another view of the kink shown on the right track by the turnout.



Here's the tools I used to fix the problem. The alcohol is 90% which is the same stuff I use to wet areas before I apply white glue when I'm doing ballast or scenery.

The good thing about alcohol is that is will quickly dissolve dried white glue, and since I used track nails to secure the track and not contact cement, the removal was a simple matter of wetting down the ballast and landscape around the track section I needed to remove.

After allowing the glue to work a few minutes I went to work with the scraping using various tools including a screwdriver, putty knife, and dental tool.

I had the vacuum handy and cleaned up the loosened material as I went along.

Next I pulled out the track nails using my track cutting pliers.

I used my Dremel tool with a fiber reinforced cutoff wheel to cut the track. I used a fiber reinforced cutoff wheel instead of standard cutoff wheel for two reasons: 1.) The reinforced wheel doesn't shatter like the non-reinforced wheel, and 2.) the reinforced wheel is larger in diameter making it easier to make a right angle cut through the track.

So, once you cut the track, how do you undercut the plastic ties so they can be removed to allow for the track joiners? It's easy to remove the ties when the track isn't in place because you can just snip them with your cutters and slide them off the end of the track. With the track in place there isn't any way to easily cut up through the plastic tie joiners. I solved the problem by heating the tip of my dental tool, sliding it up under the track and through the plastic piece joining the ties. I could then easily slide the ties off the end of the track.

Here's a view of the cut before I used my hot dental tool technique to remove the ties. The joints have to be offset.

Here's the area cleared of ballast and track. I also cut back the plaster scenery area to the right to allow for a larger radius turn.

Here is the new track in place with the rail joiners soldered on both ends.

And the finished (not painted or ballasted) product with the kink gone. The new 4-4-0 locomotive runs though the area without a hitch!

I learned my lesson on track laying - do it right the first time! If something is not right after you lay the track, fix it right away.