My friend and fellow modeler finally returned My Trackwork and Lineside detail for your Model Railroad book this past weekend (No wonder i couldn’t find it.I lent it to him over 3 years ago.) and i’m going to try and attempt my first HO hand layed turnout when I get the order from Fast Tracks in. (I ordered a bundle of PC board ties, the 500 piece bag of turnout ties, and a bag of ME rail spikes) and will have to get some rail stock (I’m sort of concerned because it has to be the I-beam strenght code 100 rail) from the hobby shop because my entire layout is code 100 rail.
Any suggestions or special tricks I need to know about before I start. I do have three track gauges and an NMRA gauge to help stay in gauge and i’m going to follow the step-by-step procedure from the article by Tony Koester that’s in the book. The turnout I’m going to attempt to build is going to have to be a slightly curved turnout because of it’s relation to the track that I’m going to have to tie into which means i’m going to have to build two of them for this to work. One curved and the other about a #5 lefthand turnout…chuck
I have found the Fast Tracks products to be very well made and the end result is a very sharp turnout. Did you get the Jig? If you did then it should be a fast process. If you are planning to build the turnout directly on the layout (as I am doing) then you will need to watch each step and make sure everything is aligned. The “Quick Sticks” have all of the nailing holes predrilled. I have used these to lay all my turnouts. In one place I had a turnout built using a jig and then I removed the wooden ties from the layout to make room for the PC board ties.
Before I started the work on my layout I built four test run mockups of the turnouts. I did two of the as curves.
The idea is to learn and to have fun. As you learn, you will make better turnouts, even ones that won’t ever fit into your jig(s). I ended up building two custom ones after I figured out how turnouts go together.
So, take your time, trust your instincts, expect some frustrations, don’t expect perfection the first one or two turnouts, and have confidence in yourself. If I can do this, any dolt can do it. [(-D]
One tip - ponder soon how you will achieve the undercutting of the stock rails’ feet where the points rails are to snug up against them. Tim uses a belt sander if I recall, but I used one of those dual-stone bench grinders. I just takes patience, a gentle but firm grip, and determination. Oh, and do grind away that template of metal as the plans show…all of it. Take your time doing this. Get it right and the rest of the turnout should be a breeze.
Having built turnouts both with and without notched stock rails:
Notching of the stock rails can easily be done by hand with a decent sized flat file.
When I notched the stock rails, I ended up laying the stock rails first, and custom-forming the frog where the gauges located the frog point.
When I don’t notch the stock rails, the points have to have a little vertical clearance (about the thickness of the base removed from the point) from the throw bar on the stock rail side to sit on the stock rail base correctly in the closed position.
Turning the PC board thowbar foil side down, and using round head pins inserted up into and soldered to the points (but not the throw bar) makes for a stronger point/throwbar joint than soldering the points directly to the PC board throwbar. With hingless points, the solder joint between points and throwbar is the weak point of the turnout - this will be especially true with code 100 rail. I have heard notching the inside rail base where the point would normally be hinged also helps relieve the stresses.
Isolate the frog area electrically - I tend to cut the gaps in the mid-point of the closure rails. Then power the frog area with a polarity contact. Jumper wire the points to their adjoining stock rails. Do this and your turnouts will never give you electrical problems - opens or shorts.
I have built about 30 turnouts from scratch, including the frogs and points with no jigs. My best advice: build your first five in an area of the layout that is very easily accesable. my first 5 were junk and 4 of them were in hidden staging [banghead]. After the first 5, the process really became easy and the turnouts work extremely well.
Since then, I have ripped out 2 because of a change in the staging track plan and 2 of the crummy ones remain. They work for 99 out of 100 trains, but they are going to be replaced. Lesson learned.
The only ‘special’ tool I use to build specialwork is a big flat file - 10" or 12" length. Easy to control with rail clamped in a vise (or vise-grips,) and really quick. Caution - you can file metal off, but you can’t put it back on.
I never notch stock rails. I always undercut the points. I file the point bevel from the gauge side (aka inside) to leave plenty of metal to support the knife-edge at the end. When building curved turnouts it’s always easier to lay the stock rails to your desired track lines and let the frog number turn out to be whatever it wants to be.
I use the same basic method - inverted PC board, and bent brass wire for a throwbar hinge. I hinge the pints at the butt end by soldering the base of the rail to a vertical wire nail, which turns in a slight
This is how I plan to build the turnouts. I’ll tear out the existing rail and install cork roadbed where the new turnouts will go. (I know you should use homesote, but i’ve found that thru the bridges i’ve built, that a drop of CA glue on a rail spike will hold it firmly in place on cork roadbed.) Next, I’ll drill the tortoise machine hole between the head blocks and I’ll lay all ties associated with the two turnouts. (It will be a crossover turnouts setup with gaps between the rails of the opposing frogs.)
Next, i’ll lay the two outside and inside stock rails and measure them for the point rail notches. I’ll file the point notches in both stock rails. i’ll then file the point rails, after determining the center of the frog rails using the NMRA gauge so I’ll know how long the point / wing rails should be. (50’ - 52’ scale ft?) Once it’s all spiked down and checked with a truck gliding down the closure rail and an identical one installed for the other closure rail, i’ll install the frog rails between the wing rails and fill it with solder to form the frog. Then cut out the solder so the flanges glide smoothly thru the frog.
Now, i’ll take the PC board and solder the point rails to it (with a piece of brass against the points for better support?) (Couldn’t I solder a piece of brass sheet with a hole drilled in it to the bottom of the points and use small screws to secure the points to the throwbar PC board? ) Then i’ll install the gaurd rails.
Finally i’ll make all nessesary wiring and cuts on the closure rails and the frog rails before and after the frog and wire it to the tortoise machine to power it for the polarity issues and install the tortoise machine.
Chuck, unless you are using proto scale wheels, and also unless your skills are a bit iffy, or your vision limited and your use of the gauge suffers commensurately, I don’t see why you should be filling your frog with solder…?
If you build a decent turnout to a common spec, your wheels should not need solder for the flanges to ride on. Fast Tracks turnouts do not require solder fills, and neither should any decent turnout you…umm…turn out.
If you file your frog rails to a point and use appropriately shaped wings on your closure rails, filling the frog with solder is gross overkill. I pre-tin those parts, then place a short piece of pre-tinned wire into the flangeway to reinforce the rail edge to rail edge joint. Incidentally, that’s a good way to hide the frog feeder. (Doing the same to the guard rails takes care of the stock rail feeders.)
Soldering a brass tab to the point and anchoring it with a screw is, to pardon the comment, ancient technology. It appears all the time in the Trackside Photos of MR mags I bought for 35 cents. It worked then, so there’s no reason it shouldn’t work now. My personal objection is that the prototype doesn’t fasten their points to their throwbars with huge slotted screws. (I’d hate to have to handle the screwdriver if they did!)
I didn’t want to do this, but i’m forced to use code 100 rail and it’s stiff enough to eventually break the solder joint if the rail is soldered directly to the PC tie. Another fellow told me that the points really need to pivot a bit so the brass plate and the screw holding the points to the PC tie may be my only alternative to compensate for the stiff Code 100 rail. I have a set of micro screws from micro mark that should work well. (I hate the thought of handling the screw driver for such small screws! LOL) I’m also pondering the idea of cutting a slot on the diverging rails at the pivot points before the frog so the rail isn’t so stiff.
The solder in the frog was one of the steps in the book…Gross overkill -huh? How about if i solder in a thin brass plate under it all to secure both wing rails and the frog point together so that it can’t shift or move in the future?
Anyway, I got some Atlas code 100 flex track, cork pads, and two track gauges ordered from MB Klein and the PC ties, spikes, and turnout ties are on their way from Fast Tracks. (The single rail was too expensive so it was cheaper to order the flex track and just remove the plastic ties) I’ll have a week or so before the stuff comes in the mail so there’s time to get the final plans done…thanks for your help. I get frustrated before trying
Chuck, the only material holding my Code 100 rails in place on the PCB ties is solder. I use the building techniques that Tim Warris shows in his video at handlaidtrack.com. I have never had a solder let go, so my wings and guards stay put. I have several heavy HO engines that thunder through all my handlaid #8’s, some that are eight and ten-coupled.
take your time and get it right. Just search michigan city module and you will find my work My South Shore Michigan City module would not work with commercial turnouts, many switches have mild curves in them and it helps everything fit in on a small 18"x48" module making an interchange with the NKP/CSS&SB, crossing each other. Very neat and compact. I had all handlaid on it but change a few turnouts to commercial and the crossing to commercial, yes, I handbuilt the first crossing. I decided to ease the wiring issue and improve on detail on the crossing but due to the DCC ready thing with insulfrogs, that I don’t like, but keeping that, I just have to make sure any equipment running has good pickup. I have test run long trains over it and seems to run just fine. I’m happy with it, but theres tweaky work to do on it, well, a model railroad is never done…