So my main line and yard have been in place for a while…but the yard is not yet fully ballasted. My son and I were looking at the yard and thought it might be cool to add one more section of track that would connect the end of the yard to the mainline at another spot… well…the mainline is already ballasted, weathered, etc. I am afraid to do anything,
So I have 2 questions. Have any of you done this? If I do this, I would only need to remove just enough of the mainline to fit the turnout in… what is the best way to do that? I am not sure how you would pull the ballast out and all that…
thank you all,
I personally have never done it but I watched a guy do it one night at the club. Same deal ballasted weathered the whole nine yards. So he was kind of explaining what he was doing as he went along. He first took a razor saw I believe it was actually an Atlas track cutting saw. He preferred that over a dremel as he said it made a thinner cut then the cut off wheel and nicer then a rail nipper. He then did one of those things that made everyone go ah ha! he started spraying the section of track to be removed with a spray bottle of water to loosen up the ballast after all it’s glued down with white glue and water which is water soluble. After maybe 15 minutes he too the shop vac and sucked up every bit of ballast. At the time the track was laid the club used yellow carpenters glue we have now since been using Latex adhesive caulking.
He just took a 1" putty knife and slipped it under the track a gently started prying and working the knife back and forth. I would say with in 5 minutes or so he worked it loose end just popped it up. The roadbed had to be sanded smooth and he opted to cut the extra piece he would need to make the switch pad out of Homabed he too the putty knife and also worked both pieces of track that remained loose enough so he could slide rail joiners on t the rails. I would say the whole deal took him maybe an hour and he had the new turnout just spiked in place so he could test fit everything.
I guess the hardest part would be making the first cut.
I just got through trying to do exactly that. I have an 18-inch radius curve at one end of my layout, and the plans for the Phase II expansion call for a pair of turnouts on that curve to connect to the new section.
The key to the problem is “turnouts on that curve.” If you’re replacing a straight section of existing track with the straight section of a turnout, it’s a piece of cake. Rail nippers, putty knife, vacuum cleaner.
If the section you’re replacing is a curve, though, it’s going to be the drop-in replacement from Purgatory. The curve radii won’t match. The turnout has a short straight section at the point end, which will alter the whole curve.
It took me a month or so to get this right. My first mistake was trying to just drop in the turnouts in the first place. The second mistake was replacing the whole curve with whatever pieces of track I had on hand Saturday evening after my LHS closed. I finally got it right by going out and buying two new sections of flex track. I had to rip up the roadbed and re-lay everything down to the base. Of course, the reward is that I can now run fussy steamers and fidgity passenger cars around that curve again, and not worry about derailments.
Remember, prototype railroads would do what’s necessary to get good, trouble-free trackwork, so you should do the same.
Mr. B your a lot more adventurous then I am cutting in a curved turnout on completed track work. I cut in ONE on a section that is basically hidden from view and the track was only held down with track nails and I had a fun time getting it just so. I just never seem to have the luck matching the existing curves radius with commercial turnouts. Hence thats what got me interested in Fast Tracks
Looking back over this experience, I think you’re right. The rest, although time-consuming and at times frustrating, was simply dealing with the mechanics. Looking forward, there’s a better layout.
Have done it many times, no big deal. Others have given good directions on how to remove and replace so I won’t list it all again, but it is not a big undertaking. I can remove a section of track, replace roadbed with a switchblock, lay the switch and needed trackage all within a few hours. Letting the new ballast set and dry will take a little more time.
As a note, I use Homabed roadbed, and the Homabed switch blocks, so the hardest part for me is reaching and handling the changes. I can speak with some authority as my layout was first started in 1984 and has seen a lot of tracks removed, replaced, changed, added in the years between.
Bob
The most important thing, apart from realizing that yes it can be done and guys have had to do the very same thing all the time, is to acknowledge that yeah you are going to be undoing some hard work and will have to redo So there will be reballasting and other work in your future.
Without knowing what you did to lay your track, my own advice is to not try to get precise about doing this exactly where the turnout rails start. That is, I’d back away a foot or so from both ends of the turnout and remove that entire piece of track (and probably the cork roadbed if that is what you used as roadbed). So you might be removing very nearly 2 1/2 feet of track.
Why? Well first of all, a turnout is a derailment opportunity as it is, but if there is going to be even a slight bump or irregularity in how the old or new track is going to match up (and there might be), I’d rather banish that problem to a foot or so away from the turnout itself. Second of all, for whatever reason due to how the rails cannot be weathered the same or how you have to ballast differently around the points, turnouts tend to stand out enough as it is. Matching the new track and ballast to the old might look slightly different and you’ll be drawing less attention to your new turnout if you can blend in the new look a foot or so away from the turnout. (And by the way commercial ballast can be like yarn – different “dye lots” can introduce different shades even for what is nominally the same color of ballast. That is why knitters buy all their yarn for a sweater at the same time. And that is why I blend all my ballast in a big plastic juice jug so that new and old purchases of the same make and color get blended before being applied to the layout)
If you are going to be cutting through the hardened ballast then I think I would use my
Vulcan,
My advice is never think twice. About ripping out some part of your layout that you can do better. I have done it many times, and the new section has never failed to be an improvement over the old.
Take a deep breath, whip out the Dremel, and start cutting. And follow Dave’s safety advice for the Dremel. Personally, I don’t care about the extra width of the Dremel cutoff wheel. I just cut a slightly longer length of flex track to fill.
If you have a hard time getting started because you think about how much work you’re undoing, just think about how much better the new plan will be instead.
Thank you to all, especially to allegheny for the excellent walk through on how to do it. I do not have a Dremel or the track saw, but I do have the rail nippers. I looked tonight and I think I see a nice place to do the cuts… on one end, I have a nice set of rail joiners that are not soldered… so that part will come out ok… on the other side I have a place that is just past a feeder wire… all of that area, from the feeder wire to the rail joiners is fairly straight and is all flex. I think I will cut about 3" or so past the feeders and then disconnect at the rail joiners. I will use flex on both sides of the turnout. solder on both ends and probably add another feeder.
I used some 22" sectional pieces to make sure the curve would fit inside the mainline curve and still be able to hit the end of the yard stub. It will, I just need to cut the stub back a bit but I have a good 2 feet to play with there.
I was not afraid of undoing my work really, but early on, I had some track issues, (which you all helped me solve…kinks and such) and everything is running fine… so I just dont want to mess it up. But as CT says… dont think twice… I have been mulling over this change since Christmas day when my son and I talked about it. It is nawing at me to do it, so it must be the right thing to do 
Chuck one quick note don’t do what my friend at the club did and as I asked him just before he was getting ready to ballast the new turnout. "Did you remember to make the hole for the switch machine? It’d funny as hell to hear this guy grumble and curse under his breath.
By the time that I had finished reading your question, I had formed an answer in my mind.
By the time that I had finished reading the others responses, I began to feel that I had nothing more to add.
Like the other responders, I pull up ballasted track all of the time, usually because the quality of my original track laying handiwork was somewhat poor. But, I have also redone track work to remove and relocate existing turnouts and crossovers. So, this is not necessarily a difficult task.
The key consideration is how you ballasted the track work. I secure the ballast with a 50/50 mixture of water and matte medium. This provides a firm but soft texture, making it fairly easy to pry up the track and ballast in one piece with a one inch putty knife. Then, I clean the dried ballast off of the track with the blade of a mini screw driver. I can always salvage the turnouts because I always take care to apply a minimal water/matte medium mixture when initially ballasting. Salvaging flex track is a bit more iffy.
I use the putty knife to cut out the track/ballast section by first cutting through just outside of the ties up and down the piece to be removed. Then, I gently pry under the track and lift. With care and patience, it always comes up with little effort.
If you secured your ballast with White Glue (e.g., Elmer’s), that comes up easily as well.
Good luck and report back on your results.
Hi,
I have made these changes many times whith just a rail nippers.
Trace on the existing rails the place of the new turnout whith a hobby knife.
Hold by spiking temporarely the last ties of the remaining track to be sure it does’nt move when cutting.
Cut the rails a little bit inside the tracing whith the nippers. pop away slowly the parts of rails you have cut.
Take of all the ballast and vaccum the area.
File the cutting edges of the rails to the tracing points.
Drop the turnout in the gap and trace the place where you need to put the actuating wire for the trowbar; drill the necessary hole…
Slide rail joiner on the remaining rails completely, if needed, remove one ties; your turnout is a drop in now.
Whith a small screwdriver slide the rail joiner on the rails of the turnout, check the level of the remaining track and the new turnout and solder the join if you want.
Using Nscale track I have made this kind of change in an around 40 minutes.
Marc