"SLOTTING" THE TRACK

[Newportnobby]

I hope this is the right place for such a topic. Those of us modelling eras before Continuous Welded Rail will no doubt remember the 'diddle-de-dum' as rolling stock passed over rail joints. On my last layout I used a needle file to score shallow slots at the correct intervals in my Peco Flexitrack, which gave an extremely satisfctory noise fom both coaches and wagons.Has anyone attempted the same with Flexitrack and how/at what point have you been successful?. I guess if you are using Set track this 'noise' is created almost automatically. Ta muchly.

[Geoff]

On welded rails surely they have expansion joins in the track, yep I loved the sound of the didley dum back in the day.

I have never even thought of putting slits into the track to get the original sound.

[port perran]

I use Setrack and yes I do get a sattisfying diddly-dum. You have to make sure that the joints aren't completely perfect though.

[Richard G Dallimore]

Interesting as I plan to do this but what is the required spacing?
Do you need to cut all the way through or just a groove.

[zwilnik]

You should also consider that you're hearing the sound from over the whole railway, not just the track and trains close to you as you'd get in real life, so it may be worth only slotting some of the track nearest your (or your audience's) listening position to avoid it becoming a mush of clacks.

[Newportnobby]

I have only ever done this on the rails at the front' of the baseboard and in station areas. Believe me, it really does work. Spacing wise, I make the slots at a scale length of a full size coach (not 57ft). Please do not make the slot too deep - the idea is not to alter electrical connectivity but to have the slot shallow enough to get the clicking sound as the rolling stock passes over it. Maybe it's best to experiment on a piece of test track.

[elmo]

I have done the same as you with a file. However, remember to take off the burr on the top of the rails, this can cause damage whilst track cleaning.

[poliss]

I'm not in favour of notching the track. It's just somewhere else for dirt to collect and interfere with smooth running of my trains.