I found this little tidbit online that shows some custom built switches. Of course these are really meant for the toy train crowd as opposed to those looking for a more scale modelling aspect but not everyone wants that and these may work just fine.
Bruce, while I am building mine with realistic tie sizing and spacing, the switches are a bit of a compromise and are not done completely like other switches for other scales or 2 rail track. The main thing about mine is the ties and not so much the rest of the design. I have a rather unique way of fabbing up certain parts. I’m really just curious how you did yours. There is no one right way to do it and if some people want to build different switches for their own carpet central then hopefully this can help them too. My goal isn’t to say any one approach is correct. It’s really just to show that tubular rail can be a wonderful thing to mess with and detail and is cheap and plentiful. It doesn’t matter if it is for a realistic protoypical model or a Christmas tree. Tubular track is fun!
It sounds like something I will want to try, I have some extra 027 curved that I could make into 031 more or less to get my double rail set up. These are 1950 era track. Have worked in AutoCad 5 years and sheetmetal for 35 so should be able to with all your help.
The switches sound like something I will need also.
One way I’ve made different radius track is to just take the inside rail completely off. Then move the inner and center rails over on the ties one space so the center rail is now the inside rail and the outside rail is now the center rail. Now you have a slightly different radius. That leaves you needing a new outer rail which I have caniballized from O-42 pieces and then just cut to length. It works pretty good but you end up with a lot of extra random rail pieces lying around. Tubular rail isn’t that hard to bend. You just go slow. You can make pretty much anything you want which is nice.
I think the main advantage of tubular track is that there is so much available at very cheap prices. I bought 16 straight pieces recently for $4. It was nice and clean. $0.25 per piece is the price it was in 1950. That was a fair amount of money in those days as a quarter would buy a loaf of bread with a nickel in change, but today, it is almost free. For my carpet RR, I have stayed with O-31 because I don’t have room for wider radii. I like to get as much track as I can in a small space, so that is why the O-31. I also think the 022 switches are extremely well designed and built and they will work almost flawlessly if they are reworked according to my post re 022 switches. My experience with the 1122 O-27 switches is not as good, and they have no fixed voltage plug.
No new pictures yet. I’ve spent the last 2 days cleaning up holiday decorations. I did notice something though which I will get some pictures of and that is of various tie spacings that manufacturers have used. As I mentioned earlier in the thread, there are 3 tie spacings available from Fast Tracks which correspond to 20", 22" and 24" on the prototype. I am using the 22" “branchline” spacing as it matches the Atlas track that I was copying. However I did notice that the closer 20" “mainline” tie spacing is a direct match for Lionel Fastrack! If you’ve ever wondered which manufacturer got it right, both did! I had also mentioned in the thread that my 2nd attempt used an old NMRA tie spacing for track that comes from the 40’s or 50’s which basically has every 5th tie spaced 3" apart center to center. It used 1/4" wide ties as opposed to the 3/16" ties I’m using now which is also basically what Atlas uses. That old tie spacing and tie width just so happens to exactly match old K-Line Supersnap and Shadow Rail track as well as old K-Line Super K O27 track.
I thought all of that was pretty neat. It’s not random. Someone somewhere at one time figured these out and others have copied ever since. What goes around comes around.
I am waiting on a new supply of spikes to arrive so I can finish building the straight that I started showing. Then I’ll show a curve. When I get the spikes in, I’ll finish that little bit.
Unfortunately the turnouts may end up being a bit too advanced for a tutorial as I am currently building a mold for the frog/guardrails that I will end up resin casting. I didn’t want to copy the old messy first one that I had built once. I wanted it to look nicer to match the track. That means it is more complex than it probably has to be but that’s OK. It’s time and not money. The center rail between the switch points where they diverge is actually going to be 1 piece that I will cut out of 1/4" bar stock steel and then blacken. This is above what many people can do although you could just work patiently with a die grinder it you had to. Then there is still the issue of the points themselves. I have a couple of ideas here but whether I copy the moving plate design of Lionel tubular turnouts or use actual rails is yet to be determined.
The good news is that since this is an O-54 turnout and that I’ll have molds made for the difficult parts, I could always supply parts, a simple template, and instructions as a kit for someone to build their own or I could just supply them assembled. If I can find some old O-27, 72" DIA track pieces, I’ll build a turnout from it too. That would be 2 different O-27 turnout options that are not currently available. After I finish the first one, I’ll decide if I want to make a kit an option. Would anyone be interested in it if I did?
Sorry I haven’t updated in a while. I am still waiting for a new supply of spikes to arrive and can’t really do anything else without them. Once I get them in, I’ll finish the last little bit showing the bonding and spiking process on the straight piece and then show how to lay a curve. It is mostly the same though. I’ll also show you have to make a very cheap and simple little trestle that is good for small ditches and gullies. It could be built in about an hour for a few dollars and looks pretty nice.
I have worked on a O-54 turnout which I teased you with above as it is in the picture of the workbench above. I am still working on the mold for the frog and guardrails which will ultimately be cast out of resin. That one is a bit of work up front but will be easy for anyone wanting to build their own turnout to just use my castings and some cut apart track.
I got my new supply of spikes! I’ll finish up the straight tutorial this week and show what is needed to do a curve as well. Then I’ll finish up my molds for the O-54 turnout so I can get kits done for those wanting to build their own. It’s going to be a bit to difficult to build them my way so I’ll supply the difficult parts and the instructions and then anyone can do it on their own. I think it’s time the tubular track users get in on the hand laying game too and that includes their own turnouts! Stay tuned over the next few days for the conclusion to the straight. -Fred
Wille be able to order the part sfor the switches right from you on here or what? Also I saw that you are making o54 switches, what about 042 and 072? Will we be able to the the parts for those as well?. I am very impressed by this series!
The frogs and guardrails are going to be a single resin casting. I’ll supply that part, the tie template, the center rail piece between the points, and instructions. You’ll need to supply the track parts such as a curve piece and straights. You’ll also need to buy the spikes and glue. I am still working out the points details so I’m still not sure if those will be a tutorial in the instructions or an actual supplied piece. You’ll also need to supply the mechanism to actuate the turnout whether it is a ground or some other means. I am not making these powered. I started with an O-54 curve which is why it’s first. It wasn’t a strategic decision. It’s just the first curve piece I grabbed out of my bin of track pieces. I could do an O-42 or an O-72 but I don’t have any O-27 profile O-72 curve pieces so I’d have to find a few of those in order to do one. I do have some O-42 though. I’ll start with the 54 as it is much of the way complete and then I’ll do the 42. I don’t know if I’ll do a 27 or not. I’ll also do a cheap, simple trestle tutorial and maybe a little kit. It’s so simple that maybe not. Between the tubular projects and getting my business, Delta Track Systems (stud rail, outside 3rd rail) off of the ground while still working a full time engineering job, time is pretty limited so I do little things when I can. I have time for the O-27 stuff between the other stuff as some of it is just a waiting game for supplies and prototype pieces to arrive. My days pretty much start at about 6 am and end at midnight every night just to get this all done. Stay tuned. -Fred
Mechanical. Oilfield related. I live in Houston and that’s the predominant industry here. The daily routine anymore is more simple packaging design and drafting rather than any real “fun” stuff. We are really backed up and I’m the fastest at packaging here so I get to do that all day. If my new track company works out and I get too busy, I’ll re-evaluate things then. Fortunately I have a wife who is supportive of the idea and who makes more money than I do! We each work an hour away from where we live (in opposite directions!) which is about 50 miles per direction for each of us so anything that would allow us to move to one side of town and save money and time would be welcome. It hasn’t been a good time to be looking for new jobs. Especially when you already have a good one. Keep it and be thankful.
As a side note, for those of you interested in upgrading your tubular track as I am showing in this thread but who don’t want to take the plunge on large quantities of materials, would anyone be interested if I supplied a simple kit that has the necessary ties, spikes, instructions, and a actual size paper template so you can build your own? I could fiqure out approx what each tie and spike costs individually and then just bag it up. This way no one would need to buy 1000 ties at a time and could play with a couple of pieces to see how they like it before they commit to buying larger quantities. I could print up a paper template that anyone could just use white glue to glue the ties down to it and then lay and spike the rail on top. Then just cut off the paper or go ahead and glue it down. It doesn’t matter. Keep in mind it would probably still cost around $2 or a little more per track piece but at least you could give a few pieces a shot for cheap. If it’s your thing, then you can go buy parts in bulk. I’m not going to supply those but it’s easy to tell where to get them. I just figured I could separate some pieces out for those curious but unsure about
What pieces do you want first? Straight, curve (O-27, O-42, O-54)? How many of each? Do you want them stained like mine? I stain my ties in bulk so it’s no big deal if you want them. I’ll see what I can work up. I’m still not a business and am not trying to make money off of these little packages. I’m just helping those who are curious out so basically I just want to cover my parts costs and shipping.
I would be interested in the 042 curve, but I think you were saying you are not doing 027 profile at this time? 027 as in .187" high track. Im new so trying to say it the right way. Right now im trying to put down some track for my first layout. All my parts are Lionel and Marx from the 50’s, track and trains. I hope I can do alot on my own. Your articles are very good. thanks
I currently only have O-27 profile track. I do have some old taller O-31 track but it is a part of an old department store layout from 1952 and I’m not messing with it. I’ve personally always preferred the O-27 mostly because it is the cheapest. I wasn’t planning on doing a 27" diameter curve piece but may as well since I have lots of it around. I do have some O-42 though so I’ll draw the template in CAD sometime this week. I’ll start with an O-42, the I’ll do the O-54 and then the O-27 curve. These are all the lower O-27 profile. Then I’ll get my first switch done which is the O-54 piece. I’ll slowly expand from there. The diameter is a bit strange as Lionel measures from the outside of the ties and not any of the rails. The centerline is tighter than what the number would seem to indicate. My turnout is even tighter still by a small amount. There are variations from track piece to track piece in tinplate so I basically just built the switch as an average of the pieces that I have. They’ll work just fine but don’t sit there trying to figure out what radius they really are. It doesn’t matter as long as they match the track.
In the next week or so I’m also going to start a thread on building a small, simple trestle for use over a ditch or very small gully. That one is very easy but you need to know how to hand lay first so I need to finish the last couple of steps on these before we move on.
Here are the pieces that we need to attach the rails to the ties. As we can see we have the 3 rails and the 2 extra track sections used to line them up and hold them.
Next we need to apply the adhesive. For this we use Pliobond. You need to use a glue that will remain a bit pliable hence the name. Epoxy will not work. Shake the bottle well. It has a way of separating inside and the fist liquid you get out will be the worst smelling thing that won’t stick so shake well. Now apply it well to the back of each rail. It is recommended that you apply it to each surface and then let them sit for a few minutes before pressing each piece together. I don’t do this. I attach them immediately and begin spiking so when the glue sets up I know each part is held together.
Now that the rails have glue applied to them, place the rails over the ties. Center them and then lay it down. You can move it a bit if you need to. It won’t set up for a while.
