Tracklaying tools

Tools for laying the track

For railway modellers who cut flexible track, hold the spacing and fasten the rails. At fohrmann.com you find the tools for model railway tracklaying, from the cut to pulling the nails.

Tracklaying rarely fails in the plan and often in the first metre: a crushed cut, a curve still under tension, a nail that splits the sleeper. The order is fixed. Set the distance to the next track, bring the rail to length, then fasten it. You lift and clean once the line is right, or when the current drops out.

Set the spacing before you fasten

Parallel tracks need an even gap, a different one in the station than on the open line, and more in a curve than on the straight. The H0 figures are in the guide to H0 track spacing. Spacers hold that value while you line the track up. A track gauge then checks rail and wheelset, so the flange does not bind.

Bend flexible track to the radius and lay it on the roadbed without tension. If it only holds its shape while you grip it, the curve is still loaded. It will pull clips and nails back out of line. How to bend, clip and hold the gap is covered under laying flexible tracks.

Cut the rail without a burr

A rail cutter shears nickel silver and brass in the smaller gauges instead of crushing the profile. For gauge 0 and for a heavier rail, a fine rail saw is the calmer cut: the kerf stays narrow and the head does not wander. Pincers squeeze the rail head. The flange lifts there, and pickup fails.

After every cut, take the burr off the face. A fine file is enough on the edge. In the rail groove, a thin cutting disc in a PROXXON drill grinder does it, with light pressure so the profile does not overheat. Which tool suits which gauge is under cutting flexible tracks.

Drive nails and lift them again

A hammer on the sleeper hits the rail as often as the nail. The nail pusher holds the nail in the shaft and presses it into the roadbed without a blow on the profile. The pricker marks the spot for the screw or nail first, so the head does not cant.

When the line has to come up, the nail lifter raises the nail or the clip. The narrow edge goes under the head without tearing the sleeper or bending the rail. Lift, line up, fasten again. Pulling a clip out of a curve that is still under tension bends the rail.

Keep the rail head clean

Oxide, dust and paint mist on the rail head break the current long before the track looks dirty. A track rubber takes the film off and leaves the profile. Coarse abrasive paper along the whole length cuts grooves into the head. The wheels then polish those grooves, and contact stays uneven.

Clean point frogs lightly. Geometry decides whether the flange runs through. Keep the flangeway free of ballast and fibres, and do not round the head. Clean when a locomotive stalls, not as a habit on every running day.

Buy Tracklaying tools at Fohrmann Werkzeuge

You buy the tools that make tracklaying work: cutting, holding the spacing, fastening, lifting and cleaning the rail head. Further specialist tools for wheels, couplings and the layout are with the tools for model railways.