[John Webb]

In dockside track it was common to provide a check rail bolted through spacers to the running rail to leave a clear flangeway before the space between the tracks was filled. (See page 22 of Bob Essery's book "Railway Signalling and Track Plans".) If you can reproduce this in minature in some way to stop the flangeway getting clogged up all to the good. Possibilities might be:
(i) Thin card or 'plasticard' cut into thin strips and glued to the sleepers
(ii) rail likewise - although this may leave too large a gap
(iii)an inverted length of rail, lightly oiled or greased, laid on the inside edge of each running rail and left there until the plaster has set and then carefully lifted out. (The oil/gease deters the plaster from sticking to the rail.)

I have to say these are all methods I have read about at one time or another - I've not actually tried any of them for myself.

Regards,
John Webb

 

[John Webb]

QUOTE (screwy @ 11 Apr 2008, 12:32) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>What is causing me grief now is the poor running. I have just cleaned all the rails again, cut away more plaster, sanded the lot, lightly sanded the rail tops with emery paper, hoovered, then cleaned the rails again with the track rubber and the loco wheels. The larger engine will now travers all lines although not quite as smoothly and slowly as it did before, the lighter loco just will not run over the tramtrack at all without sticking or stopping altogether....

Seems a possible silly question but did you clean the backs of the loco wheels? Any contamination there, especially if the pick-ups rub on them, could cause problems. Also if the back-to-back wheel spacing on the smaller loco is slightly less than that of the large one, could the backs of its wheels be catching on the plaster infill when the larger one doesn't?

I assume your track is nickel-silver not steel; you don't actually say in your posts. If the latter you may need to be fairly vigorous in cleaning the top of the rail to ensure the removal of all oxides, etc.

Hope you get it solved,
John Webb