Handlaid Turnouts

Model Railroader Layouts and layout building
1

In the Midieval Days of model railroading, hand laying track and turnouts was common, if not the only means available. Commercially built turnouts made things easier for more people to build a layout and the science of handlaying track all but disappeard.
Up until recently, information on hand laying track and turnouts was sparce. The subject seemed to have gone underground and only a few “old hats” continued the pratice. Turnout parts and kits have always been available more or less, but when an artical on hand laying turnouts in Model Railroader was published, it made me wonder if there is a resurgence in hand laying track and turnouts.

[?] Did you start from scrap or do you buy a kit?
[?] What advice or opinions do you have for handlaying turnouts?
[?] Were you happy with the results?
[?] Have you done or tried something more complicated like a double slip switch?

2

gsetter,

I was having substantial problems with several manufacturers turnouts on my layout. The biggest problem was a loosening of the pivot on the point rails. This is not an easy fix on a layout that is scenicked and detailed. Fix one thing, destroy something else.

Salvation for me came in an article by Tony Koester in MR some years ago. He showed how to build a turnout that appeared to solve every single problem I had experienced, so I bit the bullet and built one. I have now replaced every commercial turnout on the layout. The track on my layout is commercial code 70 flextrack, that much handlaying is for someone else.

I can only suggest you get a copy of the article and judge for yourself. Just because I am happy with hand-built turnouts does not mean anyone else will be.

Keep the siderods greased.

Tom

3

I start from scratch with plain rail and wood ties. I use Micro Engineering ties to match my ME flextrack, but HO 6"X8" stripwood can also be cut to match ME flex (which has slightly undersize ties).

Don’t expect the first one to turn out (no pun intended) perfect. Allow yourself to get better with practice.

Use an NMRA gauge to carefully place every component, and to check your work when done. Test the operation after each assembly step with a spare freight car truck.

I use a broken piece of hacksaw blade to clean solder out of the flangeways. Some blades are almost perfect matches for the NMRA flangeway standard, at least in HO.

Solder the guard rails to the stock rails; this helps to keep everything in proper alignment and promotes durability. Use plumbing solder (no lead) on the points; I’ve found it to be more sturdy than plain lead bearing solder.

Except for the throwbar, I don’t use PC board ties. Spikes and solder around the frogs, guard rails and points maintains alignment. I also don’t use jigs for assembly or preparing parts. I use a fiber-reinforced cutting disk in a Dremel tool to grind rail where needed and a flat mill file for finish work, which saves a lot of time. If you use a template for installing the ties and marking a few key locations like the frog point, jigs aren’t necessary for rail assembly. Fill in any small gaps inside the frog point with solder.

Yes! The quality of the operation through a scratchbuilt turnout can exceed any commercial product I’ve tried and the cost is minimal (maybe less than $2.00 US per turnout).

[quote]
QUOTE:

4

Thank you sir! I have a few follw up questions.

Is this just a personal preference or because of added cost?

I priced jigs and template and they’re not cheap. However would it help a first timer?
If a jig isn’t necessary for rail prep and assembly, what do you use to check the angle for cutting the frog and for the switch points? For checking the angles for the wing rails at the knuckles? How is the closure rail and stock rail for the diverging route located?
Are your closure rails and point rails one piece or are they seperate pieces spiked at the heel?
Do you build the turnouts in place or on the work bench?

I’ve been labled a perfectionist by a few, but I’ll try not to get frustrated. If I mess it up, I’ll use it in a mini scene with track crews working on it.

How long have you been practicing hand laying turnouts?

That’s what hand laying trackwork is all about.
Thanks again!

5

I’ve had electrical problems at the same location (rivets at the heel) with a couple Atlas turnouts. What type of piviot or brand were you having troble with? Was it a electrical problem or was it out of gage?

Been there, done that. Kind of like plumbing repairs, isn’t it? A big can of worms!

Thanks for the tip. I think I may have that issue. I’ll dig for it

You don’t know unless you try.
I like the protypical look of a hand laid turnout, but I don’t think the visitors I have would be able to tell the difference between a hand laid and a Life Like turnout.
However, reliability is where the flange meets the rail.

Keep Your Wheels on the Rails!

Tom
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6

Preference only. I haven’t found that PC ties offer any improvement for me so I don’t buy them. Try for yourself before you finalize your own methods.

Probably not enough to justify the expense. If you have a commercial turnout as a guide, you can test fit your components against it to see if they match. Once you get used to about how each part should look you may just be able to eyeball everything.

I check the locations of each part with an NMRA gauge, once the stock rails are down the gauge locates everything else. Until you get used to the process and can locate the stock rails by eye, try gluing a photocopy of a paper turnout template (or photocopy a commercial turnout!) where you’re building your turnout, and use the rail locations on the paper to align everything.

As for checking angles, the cuts aren’t critical for the frog point, points or stock rails. I err on the side of grinding a little too much away. The resulting small gap in the frog point is filled with solder. If you test fit each part and its operation as you go, within a couple of turnouts you’

7

Thanks for the great tips Rob. [bow]
I’m ready to dive in! I have several short pieces of flex track that I can salvage the rail from and scale lumber leftovers.

8

I made a point making jig that works pretty good in my opinion. It consists of two pieces of shim brass and two lengths of rail soldered to the jig upside down. I then mount it on my stationary disk sander with a c clamp and feed rail in from the end. The disk sander will take the points down to a feather edge if you want them that fine and works a heck of a lot better than a grinder. After sanding one you cut it off with rail nippers and make as many more as you need or want. To sand the other side you just need to flip the jig over. Then you file the 90 angle in the bottom a tad for smooth operation. I also notch the running rail a little so the point actually sets in a little groove there. no more picking points.

9

Instead of starting a new thread, I searched and found this one. I started by scratch switch building experience with a big boy first, a N scale 3 way turn out. I only have one more frog to solder in and the cooresponding guardrails and I’ve got it made.

Key items: if I can do it, so can you. I learned how to solder last night for the first time, read some directions and off you go. #2: patience: yes it’s difficult, but not so much if you take your time, use your gauge and keep going. #3: Manufactured turnouts, I don’t think so, this thing is so cheap to build and I have so much satisfaction just looking at it that I won’t go back.

Tools: Good files, hacksaw blade, printed templates, NMRA gauge, iron and solder and a weight or a third hand to hold down your progress on the template.

I’ll post a picture of my completed switch when it’s done.

10

Hi from Belgium,

I have always use commercialy track for my Nscale Maclau River RR ,but a few years ago I was hooked by handlay track.

I make a lot of try ,with I admit ,very poor results because of the lot of adjustment needed, especialy in Nscale; you know turnouts in nscale are…tiny.

Lot had been say about it,but know I use the Fastrack .jigs system and I am absolutely convinced by their products.

They offer the jigs, tools to make the points, tools to make the frog, PC ties and a lot of other things which can help you to build turnouts. Many tips and helps can be found on their webside and on the blog of Tim Warris about his Bronx Terminal, to handlay turnouts.

With this system you could build realistic turnouts with NMRA tolerance, Dcc friendly, in the easy way even in a first try.

The turnouts you build with the jigs are accurate and don’t need a lot of adjustements, even to say no adjustements.

In the small scale like me they are very helpful; they offer a whole range of type of turnouts in all the popular scale even dual gauge turnouts.

I must admit it; the system is quite expensive when you need to buy the first jig and tools. But when you have made more than 15 turnouts, the price by piece is low.

A little method is necessary to build the turnouts; I prefer to prepare a lot of pieces to build a batch of turnouts in the same time, because your hands and eyes take the way to do it easily. I prepare the pieces accurately and in a finished state ready to put in the jig. Second I built the turnouts in series because again you take the way to do it easily.

In conclusion this system, even quite a bit expensive, could give you excellent results in a first try especialy in the small scale.

Following a shot of

11

Baloney. Its been out there all along, just because you haven’t noticed the articles in the magazines (and there have been dozens) doesn’t mean its disappeared.

I start from scratch, not scrap. I buy wood ties, spickes and rail. I use paper templates to layout the switches. I bought a 1922 track manual for my prototype on e-bay and it had diagrams of switches from #3 to #14 (yes, I said #3). I reduced them to HO scale and that’s my templates.

Take your time. Its not a race. Don’t be afraid to try new things and different methods. I don’t think I have built switches exactly the same way on any two layouts I’ve worked on.

Wouldn’t still be doing it if I wasn’t happy.

I have done several lap switches, but never a double slip (don’t particularly like them and haven’t found one in the area I model).

Dave H.

12

I build frogs on the workbench. Here’s how I do it.

On a piece of homasote i glue a piece of paper. I draw two lines crossing at the frog ratio. I spike a temporary piece of rail along one line and then spike a rail to gauge from the temp rail.I remove the temp rail and respike it along the other frog line and spike a rail to gauge from that temp rail. That gives me the two rails spiked as below. This fixture is good for a dozen or so frogs. It looks like the drawing below. The horizontal line i will call the “straight” rail or route and the other one the diverging rail or route.

I then spike the frog rails in gauge to the to rails.

I make a wing rail for the straight side, putting in the bend and flare before lay the rail. I spike the straight part in gauge to the straight rail.

The wing rail is then slid towards the frog until the wing is in check gauge to the diverging rail. It is spiked in place

I turn to the other wing rail, and spike it to gauge on the diverging rail.

I slide it toward the frog in check gauge to the straight rail.

13

I’m new to the hobby as well (well about a year and half now).

  • Like the earlier poster, I started with a Fast Tracks set.
  • Learn to solder, slow down, and check your work frequently.
  • I was estatic with my very first one, and have come to enjoy making trackwork.
  • Not a slip, but crossovers that share the same rail, and a yard ladder that includes 4 switches all of which share the same piece of common rail.

Lots of folks like to poo poo the Fast Tracks jigs due to their high cost, and that’s fair - they are not cheap.

Nor, as is rightly pointed out, are they strictly necessary.

However, for some of us, especially who are new to the hobby, they are worth every penny if only from an educational standpoint. I don’t have someone here to teach me in person, and clinics are expensive. It is very rewarding to have a fully functional turnout the first time, and certainly aids in enthusiasm. This latter part to me is important, as hand laying track takes a lot of time.

After working with the Fast Tracks set, I feel a lot more capabile, and am going to start doing new turnouts, such as curved ones, sans jig.

My final opinion on hand laying track ? Yes please!

I have found handlaying to be a lot of fun, but it is neither economical (as in dramatically cheaper) or a quick process. For example, to complete a 3 foot section (just straight trackwork)

  • lay bare ties - 20 minutes (wait 24 hours for glue to dry)
  • stain ties - 10 minutes (wait 24 hours to dry)
  • ballast ties - 15 minutes (wait 24 hours to dry)
  • lay rail - 1 hour (including measuring ,bending, spiking, soldering electrical feeders, joiners, etc).

Naturally some folks are faster or slower than others - and doing a larger section all at once will be more time economical than a small section, but I think it’s a valid example of the time expenditure. 1 hour, 45 minutes of my time well spent.

14

So I’m not yet complete, but almost. I like it, there are some adjustments to be made, learing curves to climb, but its cheap, fun and it works. Jason

15

Our new MR special issue, Realistic Reliable Track, includes an article by John Pryke on mass-producing handlaid turnouts, and articles by Paul Dolkos and Tony Koester that describe ways to handlay turnouts using commercial components. I still build my own turnouts pretty much as shown in Tony’s December 1989 MR article (reprinted in the Kalmbach book Trackwork and Lineside Detail). There’s a photo of one of my hand-built turnouts on page 45 of the special issue.

Good luck with your turrnouts,

Andy

16

Back in the early 60s, before I really learned how to solder, I built a number of switches, including a right hand 3 way in place on a layout using templates hand-traced from one o the articles in MR. Didn’t have a track guage, so I used an Athearn passenger car truck during early assembly, then used an Athearn 200 ton 4 truck flat without weights for fine tuning. Since none of the LHSs I had access to at the time were heavy into mrr, I spiked my rail to 3/32" X 1/8" hard balsa glued to he Tru Scale road bed. Using MEW ground throws, my impression was that they had fewer derailments than almost any other switches exept for my single Tru Scale Hi Speed turnout. For financial reasons, now that my (former) employer decided I had earned the right to become a gentleman of liesure (I’m pushing 66), I have started to clean and recondition my old code 100 snap switches and the left over frogs and points from my past DIY efforts, which I will most likely combine with newer DIY switches using C100 nickle silver rail. Probably a lot of hand laid track as well. But first, to decide on a 6’ X 13’ island or a 9’ X 13’ doughnut, then sell the idea to the chief cook and bottlewasher.

17

Old hats my rear! I’m 15 and I prefer to handlay turnouts. I’ve done nothing for a layout installation, (due to the fact that I will be moving within the next year I’ve put the layout on the backburner and began practicing modeling skills) but I have done a few just to see what it was like. No fancy tools, no jigs, just some fasttracks PC board ties, 0.015" rosin core solder, an Iron, and a wheelset as a track gauge. [:)]

While the result was comparatively very poor, I still loved the way it looked compared to commercial turnouts. (I ABHOR plastic frogs and gigantic flangeways!!) It looked better than a commercial turnout, but wasn’t TOO detailed, which in my eye there is such a thing. Too much detail distracts the eye from the main focus, the train! But not enough is worse. There needs to be a good balance if you ask me.

[?] Did you start from scrap or do you buy a kit?

I guess one could say I started from scratch, though I did have a few supplies that are used specifically for handlaying track.

[?] What advice or opinions do you have for handlaying turnouts?

Do it, even if you aren’t good at it, just keep practicing. They both work and look leaps and bounds better than commercial turnouts if done right.

[?] Were you happy with the results?

Moderately. Like I said, it was poor, but it was my first one, and I was proud of it regardless.

[?] Have you done or tried something more complicated like a double slip switch?

Nope. I’m not that good yet. Besides, even though I do find complex trackwork interesting, I prefer to see a large steam locomotive lumbering over a turnout in the #10-#12 range. It looks incredible!

18

I don’t use kits. Basswood strips cut to length for ties, code 100 rail ripped out of old Atlas flex salvaged from a previous layout, ME or Walthers spikes. 4 spikes per tie, looks very good!

Practice and get good with your tools. Like anything else in this hobby (or life), developing a skill takes time.

I like my results, yes.

No specialwork; don’t have any need for it.

FYI–I lay the TO on the benchwork, to fit the circumstance; I don’t build them elsewhere and bring them over.

19

Hi again,

As read in the answer, there is two factors that are important when laying handlaid track, time and adjustements.

If you don’t use jig or some device to mass produce pieces of track it take a lot of time.

If you don’t us a jig, adjustement are long time sessions for a few pieces of track especialy in the small scale.

So I prefer to use jig even as say, and I admit it they are quite expensive, but on the other hand you could win time when building lot of turnouts and as far I am concerned they want no or little adjustement.

So the criteria is; when building a big layout did you want to take a lot of time to lay track before you could run a train or take not to much time about track and left time for other projects; if your philosophy is the same than me I prefer use jig to win time and of course use handlay track.

Marc

20

The difference in time is measured in minutes. Regardless of how you assemble the switches, if you build them from stick rail, you have to file off the same amount of metal. Really what speeds things up is to buy a 1" belt sander and sand off the metal rather than file it off. That turns it from a 10 minute job to a 1 minute job.

You can also “mass produce” switch components by making your own jigs for sizing and cutting components.