Warped Rack Rails

[Ger-Y-Nant]

Looked at my rack railway this morning and the rack rails have gone all bendy!
I assume this is caused by the cold we've had recently, but do they always go through this? Am I going to have to regularily re-lay the rack rail, or is there a trick to laying them so they don't bend?

Cheers,
Andy

 

[steven large]

can u take a photos of it mate as i wud like to see it to cause what is the problem?..yes same as me got bend as well!!!!! in the middle of the track on rockie creek!!!!!

 

[mike]

Looked at my rack railway this morning and the rack rails have gone all bendy!
I assume this is caused by the cold we've had recently, but do they always go through this? Am I going to have to regularily re-lay the rack rail, or is there a trick to laying them so they don't bend?

Cheers,
Andy

they do at 1st.. it also helps if uve spaced the clips out , ie 2 per section, 3 on a curve.. i found that if i clamp it and pulled the kinks out, after a week , it setaled down..

 

[Ger-Y-Nant]

Here are a couple of photos of my problem.

When is best to re-lay the rails, when it's warm or when it's cold? I suppose warmer is better as the rails will have expanded?

Cheers,
Andy

 

[themole]

When I had a rack line some years back, warping occurred often after warm weather.The trick was to release the rack and adjust. The rack would be ok until the next spell of warm weather, I fitted more clamps and the problem wasn't as bad. Alyn

 

[mike]

Here are a couple of photos of my problem.

When is best to re-lay the rails, when it's warm or when it's cold? I suppose warmer is better as the rails will have expanded?

Cheers,
Andy

as brusce has said , you really need more clamps, and to re lay it, set the clamps every 5 sleepers, or what you think best , as i said, i ened up with 2 clamps on ever section off rack, and 3 when it curved.. it still distorts , but not enought to disrupt running..

 

[Ger-Y-Nant]

I've stretched it out again and all's fine again, so I'll see how long it takes to go wiggly again.

Thanks for the advice, looks like I may have to get some more clamps...

Cheers!

 

[steven large]

u doing good job sort this out........wink.......

 

[stevedenver]

When I had a rack line some years back, warping occurred often after warm weather.The trick was to release the rack and adjust. The rack would be ok until the next spell of warm weather, I fitted more clamps and the problem wasn't as bad. Alyn

yep-just had this happen to me as well
0F frigid weather then up to 50F

a few bends-pull up gently to open the clamps and adjust and press down
do this when its warm to avoid damaging the rack rail connections etc-they will break sometimes unless youre very gentle and even with pressure