# Imperfect track on purpose?



## LateStarter (Mar 12, 2016)

Allow me to make a case for imperfect track... indulge me for a moment.

I recently replicated a section of track that existed from the 1920's to the '90's, which ran through the woods, and was full of waves, wiggles, and kinks.
The low speed trains that ran on them were subject to 'hip-wags' nearly the entire way.

Intentionally copying this anomaly (on certain sidings and spurs) can add an ambiance of realism that many are missing out on.

It helps if this rail traffic can be limited to heavily loaded gons, flats, or hoppers... to minimize the wobbles, but experimentation can reveal a threshold.


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## Severn (May 13, 2016)

I've been thinking the same thing. Maybe the high speed passenger is as perfect as one can make it. The others varying degrees of wiggle.


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## Stumpy (Mar 19, 2013)

Prototype...


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## LateStarter (Mar 12, 2016)

Um... yeah, that's a bit much.


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## LateStarter (Mar 12, 2016)

BTW, the wags should be minor and intermittent... not continuous!


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## BigGRacing (Sep 25, 2020)

Who modelled that one ?


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## Old_Hobo (Feb 20, 2014)

I’m sure the engineers union would love that unsafe trackage......


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## flyboy2610 (Jan 20, 2010)

I lay much of my track by eye, although I do use a trammel to lay out the curves. I keep the straights reasonably straight, but if a bit of a waggle gets in there it's just more prototypical! Even if the 1:1 scale railroads lay track as straight as a string, it doesn't stay that way for long!


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## DonR (Oct 18, 2012)

One of our members has built an intentional wavering track similar to
that in the video and videoed it...maybe one of our techies can find it.
Think it was HO...and a few years ago.

Don


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## 65446 (Sep 22, 2018)

There's a member in another forum who depicts Maine RRing in stark fall/winter, does A1 excellent scenery, and has tertiary track very bent up like that ! It looks great and runs well too (Forgot his moniker)..So can you...M


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## MichaelE (Mar 7, 2018)

Last time I saw track that wasn't even as bad as that, the train fell off.


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## LateStarter (Mar 12, 2016)

MichaelE said:


> Last time I saw track that wasn't even as bad as that, the train fell off.


Yeah, but it stayed on the layout.


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## mesenteria (Oct 29, 2015)

I had track like that on my second layout's yard. I just wish I could honestly claim it was planned all along.


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## LateStarter (Mar 12, 2016)

mesenteria said:


> I had track like that on my second layout's yard. I just wish I could honestly claim it was planned all along.


I like it!


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## 65446 (Sep 22, 2018)

Post #11 
Because of the high quality / heavier duty power lines, large road locos, and shouldered ballast, this is likely a main line or secondary trackage / branch, where I doubt accident was caused by squiggly, wiggly, bumpity, tertiary or yard trackage ... 
The shot alone is not enough to determine cause...Looks wet around there.. Could'a been a washout or sinkhole.


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## Lehigh74 (Sep 25, 2015)

A few years ago, I took some shots of “imperfect” track in Lansdale, PA. That video of the Maumee and Western makes the track in Lansdale look good.


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## wvgca (Jan 21, 2013)

i left mine a little crooked, but not that much, lol


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## Homeless by Choice (Apr 15, 2016)

Wvcga,

Glad to see you back.
LeRoy


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## Jscullans (Jul 8, 2019)

I have a section of track that changes depending on the time of year. When humidity is high it has a wave in it and when it’s low that section of track is straight as an arrow


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## Shdwdrgn (Dec 23, 2014)

While working on my shelf layout I've been using a straightedge as I lay down the mainline (not that it always helps, unfortunately), however on the sidings I just eyeball it. I also intentionally add some wiggles to some of the ties. I'm going to be laying down a small ladder yard soon, I might have to try and add some wiggles to some of the track like this.


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## kilowatt62 (Aug 18, 2019)

I kinda like the wiggle and waggle thing myself. Im not a prototype nor a rivet counter type modeler but this does, to me, add realism in certain trakage areas. "I make no claims to being a track laying robot. Im human."


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## LateStarter (Mar 12, 2016)

*Other tips for old neglected track*_:_
BEFORE BALLASTING...
1.) Cut out some ties... eliminate a few.

2.) Cut out some ties; trim them to individual shape, and put them back, skipped outward, with ends (alternately) slightly beyond the bevel of roadbed.
Also, place some canted slightly askew.

3.) Cut some ties (on the diagonal) outside the rails to shorten them. Notch the cut ends to look broken.

4.) Cut some ties (on the diagonal) between the rails, discard one end, and notch the remaining diagonal cut end to look broken.

5.) Any ties that are mostly in long-time shade can be drybrushed with 'moss'.

[Notes]:
a.) Where ties (or a portion) are removed, the ballast should be slightly depressed.

b.) The older ties get, the 'grayer' they'll look. They don't stay dark brown forever.


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