Llagas Creek Railways
28 Carlisle Road
Claysville PA 15323
Prices: See text
Website: www.llagastrack.com
Gauge 1, code-250 track; brass rail; plastic ties; stainless-steel rail joiners; available in narrow- or standard-gauge configurations; available assembled or as components
Pros: Good-looking track; good rail profile; UV stabilizers in plastic ties
Cons: Supplied rail joiners too long for consistent tie spacing
The rail itself measures out at .251″ tall. The foot of the rail is .195″ wide, while the web is .045″ thick. The head of the rail is .102″ wide by .072″ high. The gauge (distance between the rails) is 1.782, or 45.25mm—well within standards. The rail is available in standard 6′ lengths ($12.95/length).
Tie strips are made of a hard, molded plastic with a built-in UV stabilizer. Ties are hollow, open at the bottom. The 1:32 scale, standard-gauge tie strip has eight ties and is 5″ long (75¢/strip). Each tie is 3.18″ (8’6″, scale) in length by .22″ high and .28″ wide (7″ x 9″). There are 20 ties to the foot. The 1:20.3 narrow-gauge tie strip also has eight ties, but is 9″ long ($1.25/strip). Each tie is 3.8″ long by .3″ high by .4″ wide (77″ x 6″ x 8″, respectively). These ties are spaced 10 to the foot. In addition, to contribute to the rustic narrow-gauge look, ties are slightly offset from one another to look a little uneven—a nice touch. Both ties have molded-in wood grain.
Our narrow-gauge review sample was supplied with a pair of stainless-steel slide-on rail joiners, 1.024″ long (#SSRJ250, $13.95/20). The actual spacing between the narrow-gauge ties is around .710″. The space between the standard-gauge ties is about .360″ Thus, these rail joiners, while being stout and robust, are too long to allow consistent tie spacing between sections. Also, stainless steel will not oxidize in the same way that brass will, so the joiners may become more visually conspicuous over time.
Rails are gripped by molded-in “spike heads” and tie plates. On the narrow-gauge section, these heads are large and robust. However, on the standard-gauge section they are much smaller, though probably still to scale. This may or may not pose a problem, depending on how roughly the track is handled. There are a lot of them per foot of track, so this may not be an issue. Tabs are molded into each tie strip, with screw holes for mounting the track to a sub-base of some kind. When the track is fully ballasted, these tabs will be concealed.
All in all, this is a well designed, well made product. Any garden railway built with Llagas Creek track should last well for many years.
