Could that be because the Grandt tie plates are designed for O scale? Jace Kahn
General Manager Ceres & Canisteo RR Co./Champlain County Traction Co. I know Roger says the the applied (Grandt) tie plates are too thick, but as I recall (from one that came through our hobby shop window) they are about 1/2” thick, or about .008” in S. I don’t have a big problem with the extra.002”... However, they are a tad wide. The .010 x .125” Evergreen strip is actually closer to the correct width. I find the tie plates are useful when joining two different rail sizes as well. Because the tops of the ties are all the same after sanding, matching the rail tops at the joint can be a problem easily fixed by putting a tie plate (or one or two stacked evergreen strips, whatever is needed) under the smaller rail to bring it up even with the larger rail. Usually, I will extend the plates for about 6 ties beyond the joint. I usually also solder these joints to make sure the tops of the rails remain aligned. Have fun! Bill Winans --------------------------- Bill, The Evergreen strip is a good tip that I'll probably use when building and laying turnouts for use with flex track. That way they will look more like the adjacent trackwork. Ben Trousdale _,___
