Saturday, February 15, 2020

Working with Micro Engineering bridge track

As I prepare to install the 200 ft BLMA through truss bridge I needed to first prepare the track that will be inside the bridge. 

On the 150 ft BLMA bridge I had used a Central Valley Model Works bridge tie set installing it in the center of a section of Micro Engineering code 55 track after some standard ties were removed.  That project was covered in THIS POST.


For this bridge I did just the opposite, removing some of the ties from each end of a section of bridge track and replacing them with ties removed from the standard track in the last project.   The ends of the rails must be nice and smooth to for the ties to slip off and on.


I laid the track out nice and straight on a soft pine plank and pinned it to hold it straight.  I also added a short section of standard track onto one end.  The bridge kit set comes with a pair of code 40 rails to make the guard rails.  I attached these with E6000 adhesive spread on the bottom of the rails.



Also included with a section of Micro Engineering bridge track are several sets like this one that have guard timber sections and parts for a barrel platform.  I only used the guard timbers attaching them near the ends of the ties with ACC adhesive.


The track assembly was air brushed with Model Master rail tie brown with the ends masked so they can be soldered to adjoining sections of track.  The outsides of the main rails and insides of the guard rails were then painted with a rail brown paint pen.  The tops of the main rails were cleaned off with a razor blade.  This assembly is now ready for the bridge.

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