building a turnout

Jesper that looks awsome, Nscale even whew!!

Gary on a tiny switching layout I had, the turnout's point rails were'nt gaped just the other end of the the frog. But I have seen a diagram showing the way you described with a switch built into to a under the table manual throw. Might try that way be prepared for some questions!:)

Thanks for the closeups my camera just won't do that. :(

t.
 
T, If the points aren't insulated from the frog, they are whichever polarity the frog is. That means the point rail which is not against a stock rail will be the opposite polarity of that stock rail. This is the case with Shinohara turnouts, for instance. Take a look at commercial turnouts using this arraingement and notice how wide the gap between the point rail and stock rail is. It has to be to avoid having a short when wheelsets travel thru. If the backside of a wheel touches the point rail, that is a short. By gapping them and giving them their own feeders, you can install the point rail much closer to the stock rail, improving appearance, and never have a short. The visual differance is significant, at least to me.

Gary
 
Hi Gary now it's all rushing back to me, been awhile since I've built them. Installed the turnout and hooked up some feeders to test run the loco's through it. I was a little worried some of my older deep flanged loco's would snag on the spike heads but they did'nt and the engines run through it smooth. A few more well placed spikes and it's on to the next one, YEAH!

That white thing is a temperary stryene throw bar.


t.
 

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Jesper, I can see where it would be a pain to clean off the glue residue from the pcb ties in order to solder. It sounds like painting after laying the rail is the best way to go. A suggestion, if I may: I see you used several pcb ties in a row near the frog, which makes sense. Otherwise, you used one every other tie. As I mentioned to T, I like to gap the points from the frog. I like that distance from the point rail to the stock rail to be as small as possible (when in the open position) so gapping is needed to prevent shorts. In your case, I would suggest having two pcb ties next to each other where you will place the gaps, in order to assure the rail ends stay in alignment.

T, What did you use to fasten the temporary styrene throw bar to the points? CA? Do you plan on using a pcb tie for the permanent throwbar? I'm wondering what effect the CA will have on the ability to solder to the points later.
 
Thanks Marty and Steve! with help from master switch builders like Gary and Jesper I can't go wrong.

Gary, The throw bar isn't actually glued to the rails. Heres how I made it. The styrene throw bar slides under the stockrails with another piece of styrene (.O30 thick I think) that is cut with an angled notch on each end glued on top of the throwbar. The notches are designed for the inner base' of the point rails to rest against through the slight inward pressure of the point rails. They work really well. and not being permenatly attached to the point rails are allowed to pivot easily.

t.
 
Gary the throwbar design is from an MR artical. I could never come up with something so simple that actually worked :D.

I noticed Jesper's switch has a hole cut off to the side for throwing the turnout. How do you do yours. what kind of throws do you use?

t.
 
T, I use slow motion stall motors mostly, I want to use manual throws(under table with choke cable type linkage) on industrial sidings but haven't messed with them yet. I use both Tortoise and Switch Master motors. I originally put the hole in the throwbar between the rails, only because thats all I had ever seen and hadn't considered anything else. A while back I started putting it off to the side as Jesper does. My thought is to hide it under a nonworking switchstand someday.

Gary
 
T, I only cut the slot off to the side because I have seen others do that. I don't know if it has any advantage / disadvantages. Remember this is my first hand build layout, so I still have a lot to learn.

Gary, the pictures you have posted (here and in other threads) looks absolutely fabulous. Do you have a webshot account or another website where we can enjoy more of them?

Jesper
 
Thanks Jesper, but no, I don't have a website. I know nothing about how to set one up, I get some space for free with my ATT provider, but just can't seem to devote any time to figuring out how to utilize it. I'd rather work on the layout. But, just about everything thats worth seeing (and some that isn't) has been posted here somewhere.

Thanks again, Gary
 
turnouts

hey guys i recently found this forum and its so good i havent even had to ask a question yet! but i got one now im am planing to start handlaying track on my new layout and i was just wondering how you build turnouts off the bench without a jig. and do you glue it to the ties as you make it or solder the whole thing together first then glue it to the ties later?
Any help would be great as i would like to try building turnouts on the bench before i build them right into the layout.

Thanks and again awsome forum!
Chris
 
:wave: :wave: :wave: Welcome to the-gauge Chipmunk! :wave: :wave: :wave:

Gary Pfel is probably our leader in hand laying and there are some fairly recent threads in the technical forums that may help. I hope he will be along shortly and have some answers for you. I hope to hand lay track sometimes soon too.

http://www.the-gauge.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=8503

Ahhh, here's what I was looking for:

Actually, I hadn't thought of it in the many posts I've made here over the years, but anyone interested in handlaying turnouts for the first time may be well advised to buy a BK kit to get started.
Click to expand...

from:

http://www.the-gauge.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=8487&perpage=5&pagenumber=1
 
Hi chipmonk and welcome to The Gauge.
If you do a search for hand lay track / turnout you should get several threads as this an often discussed subject.
Recently I switched from N to HO, and are now working (slowly) on my first diorama

http://www.the-gauge.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=8700

where I use PC ties and C55 rail. Since this one was my first HO turnout I decided to build it on top of a template I downloaded from here

http://www.handlaidtrack.com/tie-templates.html

but what I did when I build my N scale C40 turnouts was to just glue the ties down and then build in place, and I will probably do the same with HO when I start building my layout.
 
Jon, I don't think there is any difference in doing N or HO when using PC ties. I find solder and PC ties really easy and fast to use, but I still haven't got the courage to try spiking, I think spiking requires a lot more 'Holy guacamole' than solder and PC ties does :D
 
hey guys thanks for the help i have had some ties glued down to give hand laying a try for a while now but have been reluctant to start...i went to radio shack to try n scrounge some PC ties though it seems that cutting ties from a 4"x4" sheet is impracticle no matter how cheep! anyway finally took the plunge and just tried spiking with micro engineerings small spikes i got with my track laying materials and they work much easier than i thought so i may not need PC ties after all! My track is even c55 and as long as the wheels are fairly new metal wheels they dont hit the spikes. i didnt drill any piolit holes and puched the spikes right into the soft ties and cork this seems to work great and actually moves quicker then i thought i would suggest giving spiking a try before soldering

Jesper i have to comment on your HO diorama w/hand layed track that is a fine piece of work, it inspired me to go down and really try and put down some track!

Chris
 
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