Dos and Don’ts, and Rules of the Railway

Do

1. Allow plenty of time for track cleaning. Try to find ways of cleaning your track that do not involve heavy abrasives. One method I use involves metal polish, and another uses that rather strong citrus cleaner.
2. Leave adequate expansion gaps in your track. It can get up to 30 degrees in the sun, and metal expands when heated.
3. Buy the best, which is not necessarily the cheapest. It is better to pay once up front, than to pay two or three times later. You can save money by buying in bulk, from a wholesalers.
4. Try to keep your control panel permanently fixed. I had a portable one, and it was a pain in the you-know-where to connect every time I had a running session.
5. Try to keep your high-voltage electrics indoors.
6. Remember that long cable runs imply voltage-drop, so use higher-rated cables for distributing traction current to your layout. So-called “layout wire” is only suitable for droppers: I use 6-amp lighting cable for my main cabling.
7. Make your curves the biggest radii that will fit.
8. KISS - Keep it simple, stupid.
9. Enjoy yourself.

Don’t

1. If you are tempted to run very long trains and are using tension-lock couplings, don’t forget the “lock” part of the name. Mystery derailments can occur because the weight of the train causes a pair of bogies to lock into a solid 8-wheel configuration, which can be dragged off the track at curves, especially if the track is uneven.
2. Don’t be tempted to have long steep gradients. 1 in 75 is quite enough. Make sure that the track is flat, and any changes of gradient are smooth and gentle. Don’t forget that what is even now can end up uneven later if the supports warp.
3. Don’t have too many points, and remember that dead frogs are easier to use outdoors than live frogs.
4. Don’t forget the ravages of nature — both the weather and wildlife. Birds and foxes defecate, steel rusts, nickel silver gets a dirty-looking coating that affects conductivity and takes a lot of effort to remove. You don’t need to paint rails, though. And remember that wood rots, so use plenty of preservative.
5. Don’t run in high winds.
6. Don’t rely on fishplates for electrical conductivity, nor rely on the built-in contacts for electrical connectivity through pointwork.
7. Don’t plan your layout in such a way that you cannot reach parts of it. Trains derail, track needs cleaning, and you should be able to get to all spots easily. Remember also that you are not getting any younger, and what is OK now might not be OK in 10 or 20 years’ time.
8. Don’t rush things, and don’t skimp on construction.
9. And, lastly, don’t be tempted to put mains voltage through the track to deter next-door’s cat from sitting on the layout.

Rules of the Railway

These are not original, and are not covered by my copyright. Some of them were inspired by an article in Model Railroader September 2000, p. 59.

1. It’s my railway and I’ll do things my way and run what I like.
2. If I don’t know something, I’ll make it up.
3. If it looks right, it most probably isn’t, but nobody will notice anyway.
4. If you don’t like something on my railway, that’s your problem; don’t bother me with it.

Definitions

Spare Room

Any room without a layout in it (Tony Koester, Model Railroader July 1998).

Copyright © 2000–2006 Jane Sullivan (except where stated).