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Handlaying Z Scale Track with Code 40 Rail

Made very good progress over the labor day weekend on the Z scale diorama layout.  Projects included:

• Finishing laying all the ties for the track.
• Laying down the rail.
• Putting up the extruded foam mountain forms.
• Covering the foam forms with plaster / Sculptamold.

Why handlaid track?  Appearance mostly, but also because I happened to have a good stash of Code 40 rail I’d already purchased for use on some N Scale sidings, and thought it would be a fun challenge.  The Z scale railroad is for display only, not operation (unlike my N scale endeavor) so it won’t include any switches, and I’m hoping to get some decent photographs from it when it’s done.  Peco makes some Z scale flextrack apparently, but it’s fairly large (code 65 i believe) and didn’t look right to me in photographs.

I purchased a tie rack jig from Fast Tracks, and proceeded to lay down the ties, which took a few hours, but went off mostly without a hitch.  If I had to do it over again, I would more carefully draw the centerline on the roadbed to prevent a few areas where I got off the correct radius, but they’re hard to notice, and most of the track is hidden on this layout so it’s not the end of the world.

I also used for the first time a Fast Tracks Rail Roller, without which the entire project would have been doomed.  This tool makes it possible to bend rail very accurately and consistently to precise radii, something that’s a must when you’re handlaying.  In Z scale, the code 40 rail I was using was too small and delicate for spikes, so I ended up having to glue down the rail using Pliobond.  If I hadn’t had pre-curved rail this never would have worked.

One limitation of the rail roller which I believe is unavoidable is you don’t really know exactly what radius of curve you’re bending until you try it.  You can rebend rail to fix the curve, so it’s not a horrible problem, and I’d rather have to guess a little then buy a different tool for each code of rail that you use.

All in all, the handlaying was enjoyable, and not too difficult, but I’d like to take a moment and really complain that the NMRA doesn’t have a standards gauge for Z Scale.  This is just unacceptable and I’m really left wondering just how hard it would be to come out with a standards gauge for a scale that’s been around for 20+ years.  Very disappointing, and it made this project a lot more time consuming and stressful using my homemade gauge than it needed to be.

“Do you not want your trains to run at all?”

“Why do you want to make it any more difficult than it already is?”

“I’ll see you back here purchasing some Peco track once you screw it up!”

These were some examples of the good natured ribbing I was receiving from my local hobby shop, and I’m happy that this module is small enough (just 1 by 3 feet) that I’ll be able to bring it in to show off my results.  The bottom line is the train ran great its first run, and the flexibility of the handlaid track allowed me to put in two very wicked tight-radius curves that make the visible track plan a whole lot more interesting.

Check out some pictures: